RockSkipper

My pronouns are He/Him/His/Dude. If you're unsure which one applies to a situation, just go with dude, which where I live is generally acceptable in any context...

I encourage my fellow AI artists out there to include the following tags when submitting a piece of art, in addition to the insulting requirement of the "Created using AI Tools."

#synthography

#artificial_intelligence_art

#ai_generated_art

It helps fellow synthographers (AI artists) find your work, and keeps away those who might not want to see it (and who might leave a nasty comment or whining if they did). It's sad that we need to take these steps, but apparently many people don't have open minds.

Also, be sure to check out the DeviantAI group to join a community of like-minded persons, and Challenges4AI to see what kinds of contests are going on out there in the field of AI.

Good luck, fellow artists!

Hmm, what should I open with?  I'm not a big player in social media.  I've just never been into it.  Never had  a Twitter account (X?), never had a Facebook account (Meta?). I recently opened a Discord account to communicate with people in my art competitions, but there's nowhere to add that to the "Social Media" tab of this My Info thing. DeviantArt is the most social that I've ever been on a computer.  I'm very sociable live and in person, just not on the Internet, where you never know who you're really talking to.  So, how about this:

---> I don't float, and I never have. <---

There's a fun fact to begin with.  

I really enjoy hiking.  I've hiked places in the western US, the Grand Canyon, the Northeast, on Kaua'i and the Big Island of Hawaii. Those hikes were amazing experiences.  I hiked out to the Green Sand Beach, the Black Sand Beach, the most southerly point in the United States... I also completely forgot to bring any water along.  The heat really isn't that bad (at least not if you're used to a hot climate like I am), but the climate on the east and south of the Big Island really pulls the water out of your body.  I truly put myself in danger; I was very seriously dehydrated - I was failing the skin test by the time I got back to Kona. But it was worth it!  (Don't tell anyone that I just said that...)

I got to travel down the Colorado River from Glen Canyon Dam (Lake Powell) to Lake Mead; that was pretty awesome.  Weird though, the Grand Canyon's temperature can be freezing up top, yet boiling downstairs.  Interesting, huh?  The river water, however, is very cold (averages 50 degrees Fahrenheit - that's 10C)! I suppose that shouldn't be surprising as it's born from snowmelt in the Rockies.  I highly recommend wearing a spring suit at the very least.  A helmet is also a good idea, and a Type III PFD is a must - even if people look at you and laugh. Let them see about laughing when they're struggling to stay at the surface of rapids while getting their heads bashed on the rocks!

I really like water sports, but as I specified up top... I sink like a stone.  So it's a little worrisome.  I get some laughs every time I show up with my bright yellow PFD... but it's hard for me to even tread water for very long without it; I'm 121 pounds of little to no natural buoyancy.  Thus... an absolute necessity for floatation assistance!  Keeps my head above water and everything.

I've always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but that dream remains unfulfilled.  It certainly doesn't help that I don't even own a guitar in the first place!  I'd love to write music, too (without AI assistance), but again... that is another dream unfulfilled - and unlikely to succeed anytime in the foreseeable future.

I would also like to learn programming.  I've tried using books like A Complete Guide to Programming in C++, Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional... I even tried the Complete Idiot's Guide to C++  but I just end up getting lost, no matter what I read.  Kind of sad, huh?  I learned FORTRAN in college.  Very useful, isn't it?  I mean, there are so many times that you see apps in the Microsoft Store coded in FORTRAN. To be fair, though, at the time I was in college, most of the scientific programs were written in FORTRAN, so it wasn't something just completely off the wall!

Right now I'm doing a ton of research for a science fiction story (let's be super optimistic and say a book).  I've read more than 4,000 pages so far just to make sure that I get the tech and history right!  So, y'know... please keep your fingers crossed!

I love dogs of every kind (well, not pit bulls).  I don't have one right now for a few reasons, but I found a great treat called Canine Carry Outs (in either bacon, or beef and cheese flavors), which the dogs on my street love! All I have to do is go out the front gate and they'll come running. My neighbors call it "doggie cocaine."  I'm fortunate that the people on my street and cul-de-sac all own dogs, and bring them up to the grassy clearing next to my house (the HOA-designated "tot lot") to let them run and play!  Makes me smile.

This likely sounds strange, but I really don't know how, when or why I got into  AI art.  Sure am happy that I did, though!

For beginners, I recommend ImageFX, by Google. I used to recommend Bing Image Creator, but Microsoft has just gotten a little too full of itself. But, I sometimes use ImageFX just to quickly test an idea. The quality really is pretty good.

Right now, I use a combination of KREA, ArtBot and ImageFX. My laptop's low VRAM just can't keep up with necessities of running AI engines locally.

If you want to upscale your images without deforming them (as would happen just putting them into a normal resizing program), I highly recommend the program Upscayl. It's free, installs on your desktop (for Windows, at least) and works like a charm.

Getting back very importantly to my comment about flotation and sports?  If you're going into the ocean alone, - first, just don't do it - make sure that you're aware of the type of beach and prevailing currents that you'll be dealing with.  Also, make sure that someone knows that you're going out in the first place! I learned those lessons the hard way on the Big Island when I went snorkeling off the west coast.  I got very, very lucky, because without that luck, I would have disappeared into the Pacific with no one knowing anything about where, when, how or why I vanished.  That's even with my ubiquitous PFD.  I managed to grab a piece of lava rock on the northwest coner, drag myself up ten feet of the vertical wall and hike eight miles in the wilderness back to Kona.  So, if you ever go snorkeling, anywhere? Don't just let someone know you're going... but only go out with a partner!

Want to have some stupid fun?

I can't believe that I'm 50! The AARP sent me a fancy plastic card that declares: Welcome to the "50s Club" Seriously?

I didn't grow up with the term "y'all" in my vocabulary, so it never took or made any sense when studying German and Spanish, which include a "y'all" form of address.  Instead, I grew up with "dude," which as I mentioned earlier, is an appropriate form of address in just about any situation.