š§ Storytelling with DALLĀ·E
I recently got access to DALLĀ·E 2 ā︎.
I was super excited, like a little kid getting a new toy. Though DALLĀ·E (here on, I will be referring to “DALLĀ·E 2”, simply as “DALLĀ·E”) is not a toy by any standards, yet it gave me immense pleasure while waiting for it to render an output for my prompt.
For those unaware of what DALLĀ·E is - It can generate realistic images from your text prompts.
Not impressed? Here are some examples -
Prompt: a cat enjoying a cup of tea, gothic
Prompt: man fixing a computer, medieval painting
Prompt: dinosaur plucking flowers from garden, realistic
Impressive right? There’s a lot more of such examples here - DALLĀ·E 2 ā︎.
After trying out hundreds of prompts, I got a fair bit of understanding of the possibilities and limits. Which has already been extensively documented, so I won’t be going into that.
What I am trying now is how convincing would it be to illustrate a really simple children’s story with DALLĀ·E and get away with it.
Why children’s story you ask? Because they are much simpler and has a higher chance of DALLĀ·E yielding a convincing image.
In order to keep it interesting and highly absurd, I wrote a small story myself.
So, here we go -
Adventure of Muffin
Prompt: monkey looking at glowing banana in the sky, cover art
Muffin - The Munchkin
In dense forest of Amazon lived ‘Muffin’ - A cheerful little monkey. Who zoomed from tree-to-tree playing with his friends.
Muffin lived with his Mom, Grandpa and 2 brothers. Mom and Grandpa would bring in food from far away trees.
Muffin loved Banana. Every time Mom got home with Banana, Muffin would jump past his siblings and swiftly take the bunch away.
Prompt: happy little monkey running towards camera with a lots of banana, digital art
Muffin used to get scolded by Mom for this. “You must share with everyone equally!” - Mom used to say.
Secretly, Mom was amazed by Muffin’s ability. He was indeed gifted with a super-power, he could jump the highest among any monkey his age.
Muffin was Mom’s favorite little kid.
Prompt: mom monkey scolding a little red monkey with banana, digital art
Muffin also loved playing tag with his friends. Muffin would jump onto the highest tree or run away faster than anyone could catch him.
On one such night, when he was hiding on top of a tree. He saw a banana in the sky.
It was not just any Banana, it was a glowing Banana!
Prompt: little monkey seeing a glowing banana in sky, digital art
All this playing had made Muffin hungry. He wanted to eat that Banana
He jumped up and tried to catch it, but he could not get it. He tried again with all his might, but he still could not reach it.
"Muffin! get back here. It’s getting late!" - he heard someone calling. He recognized the voice, it was Mom. Muffin walked home without his banana.
Prompt: little monkey jumping, trying to catch glowing banana in sky, digital art
Next morning, Muffin told his friends about the glowing Banana. They decided to search for it today.
They searched in East, They Searched in West. They searched in North, they searched in South. They searched everywhere
But, No one could find it. Everyone thought Muffin was lying.
Muffin got sad.
Prompt: little monkey telling his friends about banana, digital art
Seeing Muffin sad, Grandpa asked - “What happened to you, Muff-kin? You look sad.”.
Muffin told Grandpa about the glowing Banana. Grandpa understood what was going on.
With a smile, Grandpa said - “If you believe and work hard enough towards your goal, you will get what you want!”
Muffin didn’t understand it completely. But he was happy that Grandpa believed in him. He happily swinged back home.
Prompt: old wise monkey smiling, digital art
Muffin’s Detour
Few years passed, Muffin had grown into a handsome teen.
Muffin had learned to search, hunt and gather food. He would compete with his friends as to who will collect the most amount of fruits each day.
Muffin was just as agile as before, he would always be the first to return from search. And would always carry enough food that his entire family can have.
He would occasionally search for the golden Banana he saw as a kid. But he could not find it anywhere. And as days went by, he had forgotten about it all together.
Prompt: handsome monkey hanging from a tree with a bag full of fruits, digital art
Muffin, would go far and deep into forest in search of quality fruits and nuts.
On one such occasion, when he had strayed a bit too far from his home. He saw something behind a bunch of trees.
Curious, He went towards it. And, as he got closer, he could see a huge wall before him. He had never seen something so huge before in his life.
He tried to push it, but it won’t budge an inch. He climbed over it, but it still didn’t move a bit.
Prompt: handsome red monkey inspecting a huge white wall in forest, digital art
He looked over the other side. He could see a lot of buildings. Also, there were humans all over the place. He had only heard about Humans from his Grandpa.
Grandpa had always warned him about Humans - “Some Humans are harmless, but some are hostile, so you must stay away from them.”
Muffin decided to go back home. Just as he turned around to leave, he heard a loud sound and suddenly he was covered in something.
It was a net, he had once seen a bear stuck in it!
He struggled in it, tried to break out of it! He tried to bite it, scratch it and pull it - but nothing worked.
After some time Muffin fainted…
Prompt: handsome red monkey trapped in a net, trying to escape, digital art
When Muffin woke up. He was inside a large cage.
He could see several other monkeys inside. Some were taking a nap, some were eating, some were climbing and some were even curiously looking at him.
Muffin was confused and scared. He didn’t knew where he was or what was happening to him.
He tried to ask other Monkeys but they were just as clueless as he was.
Prompt: a lab with multiple monkeys in cage, digital art
Muffin looked around him.
There were dozens of monkeys all over the place. All monkeys were very calm. Which was very strange to him, since, every other monkey he had seen were very active and playful.
In a distance he could see humans with gas mask writing something on their pad. He could also see very strange apparatus with different coloured liquid all over the place.
Then he saw those humans press some buttons and smoke filled the room. Monkeys around him slowly lied down and slept.
Muffin too felt very sleepy, after struggling to be awake for a few minutes. He slept.
Prompt: an illustration of humans with gas mask inside a lab, taking notes, digital art
This time, when Muffin woke up he saw a black monkey in front of him. It was a female. Also she was wearing glasses like humans would.
She was holding a book. Not just holding, it seemed like she was reading that book.
Muffin was confused again, he had never seen a Monkey read a book.
She neared Muffin and introduced herself as April.
Prompt: handsome black monkey with glasses reading a book, digital art
April was born in that lab. She had never seen her mom.
Humans gave her food, care and a place to stay. They would give her medicines when she was sick. And tend to her wounds if she had hurt herself.
In return, she would be put through various experiments.
Some Good, Some Bad!
All those experiments over the year, had given her intelligence comparable to Humans. She could not only read a book, but has already read most of published english literature. She can solve most of the puzzles. She can beat a human in a game of chess.
She even scored a perfect 120 in IQ, which most humans can’t. Among all monkeys, she was the most favorite to humans.
Prompt: black and white illustration of a baby black monkey held by people in lab coat, digital art
April got everything she asked for - All the food she wanted was prepared for her. All the books she wanted to read were purchased for her. All the skills she wanted to learn was taught to her.
Her room was the comfiest of all. She had the best bed money can afford, her room temperature can be adjusted to a point. She had all the luxury that a monkey could only think off.
April didn’t stay with other monkeys inside a cage. She lived with humans, she interacted with them like any other human would do.
Yet… She was missing something, something that humans could never provide her.
Love of her family! A life living with one of your own!
Prompt: black mother monkey playing with a baby monkey, pastel drawing
Everything started making sense for Muffin.
This is a lab that had been capturing monkeys for experimenting on them. Also, according to April, they are planning to send them to someplace from where he can never return to his family.
Muffin was scared by this. He wanted to return to his home. He wanted to be free, along with his family.
Looking at scared Muffin. April said, she had a plan to escape. But she would need his help in that.
Muffin agreed.
April showed a key, she said humans gave her this key. So she could enter and exit monkey cage at her will.
Prompt: closeup of an ape hand holding keys, digital art
April said, if they try to escape humans could lock every exit door and release a gas that would put everyone to sleep. In fact, they release this sleeping gas every night so that they don’t cause any problems.
Muffin remembered seeing a human press a bunch of button and later smoke being released in their room.
April continued, This gas is controlled from a control station, which is in a different room. Apparently, April tried to enter this room on several occasion. But she was never allowed there.
There is an air duct at the top of this room, which connects to every other room. That duct also connects to control room.
April was not athletic, she tried to jump and but could not reach the duct. She asked other monkeys as well, but no-one could.
She said if someone could reach that air duct, then they should be able to reach that control room and disable everything.
Prompt: illustration of an air duct high on wall near ceiling, digital art
The Great Monkey Escape
Muffin looked at the vent. It was very high up, and there was no convenient way to reach it. He had to make the highest jump he had ever made to at least be able to touch it.
Muffin was confident in his jumping ability, thus agreed to the task.
When humans were taking a break from their lab activity. April freed Muffin, who swiftly moved out and right below the vent.
He jumped, but he could not reach it. He jumped again with all his might, now his fingers were inches away from vent.
He got a few steps back and and jumped with a run-up. He was finally able get a hold of the vent.
Prompt: red monkey examining an air duct in ceiling, digital art
Muffin moved quietly though the vents. Soon he reached a place that looked like control station.
After checking if anyone was inside, he quickly jumped into the room. He could see several different buttons and a huge monitor in front of him.
April had asked Muffin to cut off wires below the control panel, so that humans will not be able to use it at all.
Muffin did exactly the same. And his job was done.
Also before returning back to his cage, Muffin collected several clothes from storeroom. They had planned to use it as a rope for other monkeys to climb though the duct.
Prompt: red monkey cutting wires under a control panel, digital art
As soon as night fell, monkeys were ready to escape.
April opened each cage one by one. Muffin jumped back on the duct and extended a rope made out of clothes from the top.
Each monkey then carefully and silently climbed the rope. April went ahead and unlocked all the exit doors with ID that she had stolen from one of the guards.
ALARM STARTED RINGING!
Muffin who now knew way around the lab quickly sprinted forward and called out other panicked and clueless monkeys to lead them to exit.
Prompt: red monkey calling other monkeys to escape from laboratory, digital art
Monkeys ran through the lab towards the exit.
Muffin could see Humans running towards control center. They tried to press a few buttons, but nothing seemed to work. Muffin cutting off those wires from the panel had rendered it useless.
April now leading the pack, finally reached the exit.
Everyone happily jumped past each other to exit the lab as quickly as they can.
Prompt: multiple happy monkeys escaping out of a lab at night, digital art
As they were escaping through the forest, Muffin saw something he had only dreamed off.
There in the sky he could see the same glowing banana that he had seen as a kid. He quickly stopped, mesmerized by the sight of it.
Seeing Muffin stop, April stopped too. She asked, what had happened to him? Muffin pointed to Banana.
April then listened to Muffin’s story. She said, that is not a banana, that is moon. The very thing they are trying to run away from.
Muffin was confused!
Prompt: red monkey and black monkey looking at yellow half moon, digital art
Seeing Muffin confused, April explained - humans in lab were trying to experiment on monkeys so that they could send one of them to space, to moon!
They were modifying and preparing monkeys to live in the harsh environment of moon.
She even heard a rumour that there are lot of other labs working on this, and some had sent animals to moon and failed.
While they were talking, humans had caught up with them. April quickly pulled Muffin away and they were back on their foot, running away.
After taking several detours, Muffin, April and the party reached Home.
They were warmly welcomed by everyone.
Prompt: a settlement of monkeys at night on trees in forest, digital art
Muffin’s Resolve
It had been several months since they had escaped from lab.
April, using her knowledge, taught everyone to use different tools for hunting. They built houses for them to live and play in. They discovered new areas they could settle in.
Muffin still worked hard to collect food for his settlement.
Muffin and April had become best friends now. They shared their experiences with each other.
Prompt: monkeys building a house near river, digital art
Even though he was back with his family, he felt something was missing. He still could not get the image of that night they escaped, out of his head.
He got this dream, where he would try to reach a glowing banana. But it would always end with him unable to get it.
Once when he told April about his dream, she understood him. Muffin dreamed about it because he wanted to have it, he had a desire to acquire it.
April told, how when she was in that lab, she too dreamt of a fictional family she could live with, but the dream never ended on a good note.
Prompt: red monkey running towards a glowing banana in distance, digital art
April knew Muffin wanted to go back to that lab, April in fact saw him gazing at the direction of lab several times.
April asked him to think about it. If he went, he will never be able to see his family again.
She also explained that, even if he did go to that lab, the chance of humans letting him in, the chance of him actually being sent to moon, and the chance of Muffin actually surviving there was quite absurd.
Muffin was silent. He had this unexplainable feeling of emptiness. And he believed reaching that glowing banana was the only way out.
Prompt: red monkey meditating inside water, digital art
April promised Muffin - Whatever his decision was, she will be always there to look after his family.
Muffin thanked April.
Next morning, Muffin discussed about his decision with his family. While initially reluctant, they agreed to him to go for it.
A happy Muffin quickly prepared himself for his departure.
Saying his final goodbyes to his family and friends, he soon left in the direction of lab.
Prompt: a red monkey running towards a lab in middle of forest,digital art
April had taught Muffin a few gestures that would help Humans take him in.
Once he got there, he broke himself back into that half destroyed lab. Sneaking past several guards, he went straight into the lab. There as he caught attention of a humans in lab coat he started doing as April had instructed him to.
He rotated his hand clockwise, pointed in the direction of moon and kneeled down in front of them.
Humans who intently watched him perform, understood why he was here. Cautiously they approached him and showed him way to his cage.
Muffin walked and voluntarily entered the cage. He was back in the situation he so wanted to escape before. Only catch being he wants to be here now.
Prompt: red monkey inside a cage, digital art
Following his intent to get back and his high IQ display. Humans had decided to give him a chance.
What followed was a rigorous training -
He had to run on a treadmill, lift weights and be dragged by a horse. He was dropped from a height with nothing but a rope attached to his waist.
He was rotated inside a gyroscope at an absurd speed. He spent most of his time within a pool sometimes with an oxygen tank, sometimes holding his breath.
Even though it was hard, Muffin endured it! Muffin could see the difference, he was bulkier and smarter than before.
He remembered his Grandpa’s words and worked really hard towards his goal.
Prompt: illustration of red handsome astronaut monkey sitting inside a pod, digital art
Soon all his efforts bore fruit. He was selected to be sent to Moon!
As preparations began, Muffin’s training got harder.
He saw the rocket that would be used to get him to his dream. Rocket was being filled with crates of supplies he was not sure if he would ever use.
He was told to press buttons when a particular image would appear on screen, he memorized everything.
Soon enough he got into his suit and boarded the rocket.
With a countdown… rocket took off!
Prompt: rocket launched from earth, digital art
When he reached moon, following the procedure that he was asked to, he alighted off the rocket.
As he got his feet on the moon, he saw one of the most magnificent structure he had ever seen.
It was a white desert, with a really huge glass dome in the middle.
Dome was big enough to contain an entire city within. Also, it was surrounded by what he would call, columns of mushroom like structure.
Prompt: a huge glass dome with forest inside, in white desert, digital art
As he walked inside the dome, he was welcomed by several monkeys in their teens.
Inside he saw an entire town being set with pockets of forests spread across the dome.
There were monkeys of all kinds roaming the streets. More than monkeys, everyone felt human in some way.
They were wearing dresses like human, they were selling and buying stuff from each other, they were riding small buggies in the white sand transporting goods.
Prompt: monkey clan welcoming a monkey in astronaut suit inside a white dome, digital art
Muffin was overwhelmed by everything that was happening around him.
A few monkeys, welcomed him and got him into his cabin.
There he was explained that the place was built not long back by monkeys. All monkeys living here have intelligence similar to that of humans.
Humans gave them intelligence and made them work for them. When demanded for freedom. They were refused, thus they started an uprise.
Soon humans came in peace and decided to send them off in space where they can live however they want.
In exchange, they wanted monkeys to experiment in the moon’s environment and trade technology with them.
Monkeys agreed.
Prompt: monkey uprising drawn on a whiteboard
Now everything made sense to Muffin.
They also mentioned that, Humans would occasionally send new assignments, supplies and some monkey to help them with.
Muffin was thus sent along as one of the consignments.
Muffin wondered if April knew about this. Even if she did knew she still chose the life she is currently living and that’s all that matters.
As he lived there, he got a glimpse at various experiments that were ongoing. One of such experiment caught his eye.
It was about a GMO banana that glowed!
Prompt: glowing bananas on a tree, digital art
Looking at the banana, Muffin had tears rolling down his eyes. it was that of happiness.
Honestly, as he was experimented on in lab. He understood he would be never able to get his hands on a glowing Banana. It was impractical, he thought.
Seeing one, he was really elated. He wanted to scream at the top of his voice. But keeping his composure, he slowly peeled off the banana he had gotten off the tree.
As he ate the Banana, he realized it had no taste. But, it didn’t concern him. He was happy right now, and that’s all that mattered to him.
Right at that moment, Muffin was content. He felt the void in his heart being filled by each bite he had.
Muffin had made up his mind. He wanted to stay here. And contribute to all experimentation.
Muffin was currently happier than he ever was.
Prompt: red monkey eating a glowing banana, digital art
~ THE END ~
I understand that story got too ambitious midway. Initially, I had planned it as a mini story with a maximum of 10 photos to go with it. But as story progressed, I saw the opportunity and grew it to what it is now.
None of the photos you see here were a one hit wonder. I had to tweak prompts multiple times or run the same prompt multiple times to get a satisfactory results.
With 50 image per day limit (with beta), and some images taking more than 15 attempts to achieve, it took me a good 2 weeks to generate all the images I needed for the story.
While this acted as a good experiment to test DALLĀ·E itself I am not sure if it is really a children’s story. As I was unable to confine the story within a kid’s vocabulary.
Nevertheless since theme of story is something that would appeal to a kid. I feel, it should act as a good bedtime story that can be read aloud by parents.
If you have anything to talk about, feel free to contact me.
Have a nice Day!