Roving Desert Whales
Episode 2: Let’s generate an image!
This week, I went hunting for a safe and simple way to try out AI image generation. There are literally hundreds of sites out there that will enable you to generate an image, some a little sketchy, some with confusing pricing. I wanted one that had a free plan, felt stable, and didn’t require me to hand over a credit card just to experiment.
After some poking around, I landed on NightCafe. It lets you generate a few images for free as an anonymous user — no account required. Perfect for a low-stakes experiment.
My First Prompt
I started with something whimsical:
“A whale running through the desert. Red rock formations in the background.”
Out came an image that was… honestly, not bad! A giant whale somehow charging across the sand, cliffs of red rock behind it.
It wasn’t exactly what I had pictured in my head, but that’s the tricky part about AI art. You describe an image in words, the AI interprets those words, and the result may not quite match the mental picture you were hoping for.
The Prompting Dance
This is where the real fun — and sometimes frustration — begins. You tweak a word. You add an adjective. You try again.
And again.
And again.
Suddenly you realize why companies like NightCafe work on a credit system. Every image requires heavy-duty computer hardware to crunch through billions of calculations. That electricity and computing power isn’t free.
To put it in perspective: the energy required to generate a single image might cost a small fraction of a penny. Then you add in the infrastructure costs and the price could be over half a penny. But multiply that by thousands of curious users trying five or ten variations each, and it adds up quickly. That’s why you start with a free handful of credits and then, if you’re hooked, you buy more.
A Little Help from Another AI
Of course, there’s another trick: you can ask a language model like ChatGPT to improve your image prompt. The goal is to turn a loose idea into something that plays nicely with how image generators “think.”
So, I prompted ChatGPT with the following question:
Can you improve my prompt so that an image generation AI will more likely capture my intention?
"A whale running through the desert. Red rock formations in the background."
Oh, yes. And add legs. Maybe like an elephant.
ChatGPT responded:
“A gigantic whale with thick elephant-like legs, running powerfully across desert sand. Dust clouds rise around its feet as it charges forward. In the distance, towering red rock formations glow in the sunlight. Surreal, cinematic, highly detailed.”
I fed that prompt to NightCafe, et voilà!
Is This Creativity?
That’s the question I kept circling back to.
If I describe an image, and an AI generates it, who is the artist? Me, for sparking the idea and steering the direction? The AI, for executing the brushstrokes in pixels? Or is the real artistry in the dance between us — me tossing ideas, the AI responding, and together shaping something neither of us could have created alone?
I don’t have a neat answer. But I do know this: it feels playful, surprising, and just a little bit magical. And that’s enough to keep me experimenting.
Give it a try!
A little research about NightCafe:
NightCafe Studio is based in Cairns, Queensland, Australia, with printing and warehousing partners globally. The company’s core goal is to democratize art creation, allowing anyone—regardless of artistic skill—to experience the joy and satisfaction of creating art.