Happy Saturday, everyone!
You know how you sometimes fall into the weirdest rabbit holes when you’ve spent the entire week recovering from accidentally stabbing yourself in the leg with a razor blade, analyzing algebraic varieties, rediscovering childhood favorites on your bookshelf, and cramming for a Swedish placement test so you can sneak into your university’s A2-course without ever having taken the A1 one, while totally forgetting you were also supposed to write a blog post?
Well, that’s how we ended up here! Sometime during the chaos of these past few days, my brain thought it would be an excellent idea to commission Microsoft Designer, one of the current leading free image-generating AI softwares, to make bookish fanart, and the results were, quite frankly, epic. While Designer sometimes seems to have an eerily accurate knowledge of literature, it also has these moments when it interprets things a little … differently, and I couldn’t not exploit that for my own heinous purposes!
Which brings us to this quiz! Offering you the opportunity to gain eternal bookish glory, it consists of eleven AI masterpieces, all but one of which were drawn in response to a one-line prompt of the form “Draw some fanart of [characters XXX from a really popular novel] [partaking in] [iconic scene YYY from said really popular novel].” The eleventh scene, though? That’s not from a novel at all, but an extremely stupid description I fed to the AI in order to make things a bit harder!
Because what do you have to do? Well, I’m glad you asked. In order to win this challenge, you have two weeks to:
#1 Identify the impostor picture that was NOT drawn in response to an existing book (5 points),
#2 correctly identify which books the remaining ten scenes were taken from (1 point each), AND
#3 come closest to guessing the exact prompt I gave the AI for each of the eleven pictures (2 points each).
When the two weeks are up, all shall be revealed, and, apart from everlasting bookish fame and honor, the recipient of the highest number of points will also get to suggest a topic I will have to write a blog post on – if they want to, that is!
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s get started!
[Oh, and, by the way: Sometimes Designer decided to give me two options for a prompt, and sometimes one. I am passing everything on exactly as I got it, but have no idea what the AI’s reasoning behind the number of options was. So before you decide to interpret a ton of stuff into that – it’s probably not helpful. Good luck! 😁]
Scene #1
Scene #2
Scene #3
Scene #4
Scene #5
Scene #6
Scene #7
Scene #8
Scene #9
Scene #10
Scene #11
So, what do you think? 😁 Keep those guesses coming in the comments!
Also, do tell me what you thought of Designer‘s art, whether you think it provides any competition to us mere mortals, whether you’ve ever made any fanart yourself, or if you have any favorite non-AI fanart creators out there. I’d love to broaden my horizons a bit!
[Update: Answers are up and can be found here!]
A Book Owl's Corner 
For some reason I thought this would be easier than the emojis – It is not 🙈 On my first look-through I think I half identified two. Well, here are my answers (+comments because WTF are these pictures??):
#1) This looks like something I should know but I’m blanking. I’m seeing a guy with red hair and someone who could look like a chronicler so all I have is The Wise Man’s Fear where there might be something about a dragon. The second picture is confusing, though. Maybe this is actually the fake one because you asked the AI to draw something from the third book we haven’t seen yet 😁
#2) I refuse to believe I’ve read that one. It looks like a children’s classic.
#3) That has to be The Martian! It took me a minute because why was a guy writing with potatoes? But he’s talking about his potato-growing project in his diary or log or whatever.
#4) My questions are never-ending! WHAT IS GOING ON?? 🤯This looks like you asked the AI what would happen if Harry was in Slytherin but at the same time as a young Snape who was in Gryffindor? And the answer is apparently pure chaos! 😂 Why are they both holding wands and stuff that are clearly not wands? And what are all those creatures?? Anyway, my answer is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and we’re seeing the Battle of Hogwarts and maybe the duel between Harry and Voldemort (although I hope not for some reason).
#5) This is about a school for pigs and that has to be fake.
#6) What the actual fuck.
#7) Purely based on the arrows in the first picture I’m thinking The Hunger Games and we might be seeing Rue’s death or Katniss mourning her. Don’t know why Rue looks like a Pokémon, though.
#8) What on earth is the text supposed to say? 😂
#9) Is that Jacob teaching Bella how to ride a motorcycle in New Moon? 😂 But the guy in the second picture is Robert Pattinson and that’s really weird.
#10) Someone who admires his mustache? And this is supposed to be an iconic scene? Are you sure there aren’t two fake books? 😅 Or is this what half of Mein Kampf was like? 🙈
#11) It looks like something I should know but the R2-D2 is throwing me off 🙈
I doubt I’m going to get more than that but maybe I’ll update this before deadline 😄 This was hard!
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Trust me, I didn’t initially expect such great results, either! 😂🤣 Like, KNOWING which prompts I gave the AI, I can sort of see how it came up with these, but I’m pretty sure I’d have failed miserably at recognizing anything if I’d been confronted with the pictures without any further context…
I had way too much fun reading through all your reasoning, though, and am definitely looking forward to discussing the answers! 😁😇
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Wow, the way I thought this was going to be easy. 😂 I am probably dead wrong on these, and I have no clue from the exact scenes, but let me guess the book they’re from.
Looking forward to seeing how wrong I was. 🤣
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My quizzes are never easy 😁🙃 But I love your reasoning on these and am really looking forward to the grand reveal – there’s so much I want to say in response, but can’t because I’d be dishing out clues! 😭😂
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Looking forward to the grand reveal!
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Firstly this is such a fun idea for a blog post!! And secondly I haven’t heard of Microsoft Designer. I didn’t even know there were free tools like that around to create fan art with. Actually I’m going to have to dive into looking fan art up sometime as I never really do it, just stumble across it from time to time. Which is such a shame as there are some fantastic examples out there.
I love that you’ve turned it into a quiz too. Although I know I’m going to do terribly at it 🙈 either way it’s fun though.
I feel like scene one could be The Witcher but I’ve never read it and only saw one episode of the show so I don’t truly know. Do dragons come into it? I just feel like the second picture looks like Geralt. The first one not so much (it kind of looks like he’s holding a paper sword) but the older man in it looks a bit like someone I saw in the games intro 🙈
Scene 2: Pride and Prejudice? I don’t know how with the children but the door says something similar to Bennetts. If painting comes into it I have no clue as I haven’t read that book either.
Scene 3 no clue. From the clothes it looks kind of historic but then there’s a spaceship behind. So something sci-fi that I haven’t read 😂
Scene 4 Harry Potter but I can’t say the exact scene. I think maybe its a flashback of when James clashed with Snape (I’d say Battle Of Hogwarts as it looks chaotic and duellike but not like Voldemort). I don’t know how the animals fit in though.
Scene 5 I don’t have a clue. I’m going to guess Animal Farm because I think it has pigs in it but these pictures look too sweet for that so I’m 99% sure I’m wrong. I’d say Babe but that’s one pig mostly 🤔
Scene 6 I have no clue again. I know it’s not (because all the rabbits really don’t fit) but I’ll say The Book Thief (again I’m basing off a movie) because it’s the only thing I can think of featuring Death.
Scene 7 my first thought is Pokemon but thats not a book. It looks like the fae too but I don’t know any with animal sidekicks. Or Elves maybe. But as I can’t think of anything that specifically fits I’ll say Hunger Games due to the arrows. I’m pretty sure I’m wrong though as the butterflies and anime animal seem more important as they feature in both.
Scene 8 One of the Lord Of The Rings books. Some scene featuring Golem. Can he write??
Scene 9 New Moon when Bellas trying to make herself see Edward by riding a motorbike. (If she actually rides one with him I can’t remember when). I also have no clue why she looks so young in the second one.
Scene 10 Hercule Poirot checking out his moustache for some reason. I’ll say Murder On The Orient Express purely as its one of the better known books.
Scene 11 I think this might be the fake one. Although I’m far from convinced. I’m basing it purely on two of the robots which look like Star Wars characters. How The angel fits I do not know. But I’ve never seen the films so it’s possible.
I had a quick look at the comments before hitting send and I have to admit that I’m relieved to see others as stumped as I am. I thought it was just me being dense. Are these truly all popular series? 😂
Also if five people put the same prompt in would you get the same picture or five different takes on it? 🤔
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I’m so happy to hear you had fun – that was the whole point of this post! 🤗 Well, that and to spread some love for fanart, which I also don’t really look at all that often, unfortunately – but when I do, I’m always really impressed with people’s art skills! The AI’s though? Maybe not so much… 🤣🙈
Still, if you do ever dive into Microsoft Designer, I’d love to hear about your experience! I’m also not sure if the same prompt from different people would always get the same take, so if you want to test that once I reveal everything, I’m all for it!! 😂
Also, thank you so much for giving me all your detailed guesses! I’m dying to respond, but, alas, will have to keep my mouth shut for now to avoid spoilers 😭 But you can bet you’re getting feedback!
Also, on a totally different note, I just wanted to say sorry for missing so many of your recent posts!! 💙 It’s got nothing to do with your excellent blogging skills, but I just really don’t like reading reviews for books I haven’t read yet, because when I do eventually read something, I love going into it fairly blind and unbiased… So I swear I will be back once I’ve caught up on reading at least some of them!
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Hopefully we’ll both make more time to look it up in the future then. It’s incredible just how talented some people are. I don’t feel like I can fully judge until you share the post revealing the prompts. If you asked it to give everyone bunny based nightmares I’d say it did well though 😂😂 on the subject of that the only book I can think of is Watership Down. I’ve never read or seen it but that’s the only rabbit thing that springs to mind but it really doesn’t seem right. Or When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit but again I can’t see that fitting 🤔
I’ll let you know if I do ever end up trying it out. It would be interesting to see if it differs or not. Maybe it improves the more times it gets asked something?
Don’t worry I understand that. And at the moment I keep checking back to see other people’s guesses 😅
Don’t worry about it, I totally understand that too. If I know I’m excited for a book I tend to avoid all reviews of it too. I prefer reading them after I’ve read the book and comparing notes. That’s why I haven’t read two of your recent posts too actually. I thought it was best to avoid any Percy Jackson commentary until I’ve finally read the books then watched the show. And I’d only read one book from your recent wrap up but having already seen one negative response to Warm Hands Of Ghosts I couldn’t bring myself to read another 🙈 I’ve kept my emails about both posts though to read them when I’ve finally read the books.
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Sorry I didn’t mean I’d only read one, I just meant there was only one that I’d avoided it for.
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Don’t worry, I understood what you meant!
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To be fair, I might’ve been a little mean with my prompts – I wanted to be able to fit them in one line to make the screenshotting and guessing less complicated – because I’m pretty sure the AI would be capable of way more if I’d given it more details… This way was so much funnier (and more disturbing) though! 😂
And, gosh, finally someone who UNDERSTANDS!! Seriously, my unread review backlog is embarrassingly tremendous at this point, so definitely don’t feel bad about avoiding my own reviews until you’re in the know! Especially since I always love comparing notes, too. I always get so excited when, years after I’ve posted a review, someone leaves a super detailed comment and reignites a nerdy discussion about a book or movie. That gives me so much more perspective on a story than someone saying, “Oooh, sounds interesting, I’ll have to check it out!” simply for the sake of having commented something immediately, so I definitely don’t mind waiting how ever long it takes! 💙
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That’s true. I’d imagine the more popular franchises have more to draw from too. And yes, it’s definitely disturbing 😂
Yes I totally get it. Its more than just the spoiler risk too (which after you’ve read a couple of reviews by someone you know whether or not it’s a risk with their ones). I feel like reading about a flaw (like a character rolling their eyes a lot) can make you aware of it when it may have avoided your notice otherwise. And overly high expectations can make you go in expecting too much occasionally too.
If its something that you’ve loved getting those comments make your love or the book race back in and can make a reread necessary in the best possible way. It’s always nice to share your highs of a book.
I think if you’ve had a negative experience with a book, particularly one that is generally loved, finding someone else who feels the same way can be such a relief too 😅 I know I’ve thought ‘wait, is it me?’ after bad experiences before and felt so seen when I found someone else reflecting what I thought.
Thank you, same here ❤️
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Yes, exactly! Like, even if someone just mentions some random detail in a book that isn’t really important in the grand scheme of things and probably wouldn’t be considered a spoiler, I feel like I go into books way more critically if I know about it in advance. Forming my own opinion first is way more fun, I feel like, and also ensures that books tend to take me by surprise a little more. Weirdly enough, though, I acrually don’t mind getting an idea of people’s thoughts in wrap-ups – I guess I just get too involved in everyone’s lives and reading preferences to skip those sections and also need to get my recommendations from somewhere? – but I’ve just never been interested in reading a full review before I’ve also read the book… I’m weird 🙈😂
Also, 100% agree with you on finding people to rant about a disappointing read with – it’s so therapeutic and satisfying! 😁😎
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I also have to admit that sometimes I think the blurb gives too much away too. For some reason I used to reread blurbs before picking books up but now I never do.
I suppose reviews are generally longer than wraps up too, so tend to contain more details about the book in question. Maybe where you’re reading about several at once you don’t focus in so much on one particular viewpoint?
Tbh I don’t even have to do the rant part, just see that someone else felt the same. Although I have read a particularly cringeworthy part of a book aloud to my mum before just so I could vent about it 😂
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Yeah, I think it might really be that not focusing as much on a particular book when several are mentioned thing 🤔 And also, with wrap-ups, I feel like I can actually engage with the person and talk about the month they had, whereas I wouldn’t be able to comment anything of substance on a review of a book I haven’t read! And I just love having those discussions 🤗
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Oh my gosh 🙈🙈🙈
Ok. So. I am certain of only one 😂
1. Huh?
2. Weird Pride and Prejudice?
3. Huh?
4. HP?
5. Huh?
6. Huh?
7. Pikachu, is that you?
8. Creepiest Yoda/Gollum ever. This thing will haunt me in my nightmares.
9. Twilight (this is my confident one 😂)
10. That mustache has to be Poirot right?
11. Huh?
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Hahahaha, that confusion would totally be me if I had gone into this without knowing what I’d fed the AI 😂 I swear it’s not you!!
But thanks so much for playing and making my day with all those “Huh?”s – those perfectly capture how I felt when I first saw the AI’s responses 🤣🤣🤣
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1) ? These are very pretty and dramatic.
2) ?
3) Someone drawing potatoes with sci-fi stuff in the background???
4) Harry duelling Snape? But what are all those creatures?
5) ?
6) ?? Really creepy.
7) ? Pokemon?
8) Is that supposed to be Gollum? When did he learn to write?? And why is he green? Or is it Yoda???
9) Those glittering vampire novels that I haven’t read (yet).
10) An Agatha Christie Poirot novel? He was pretty proud of his moustache 🙂
11) ??? R2D2 and 3CPO with an angel Han Solo? Must be fake.
This is really hard but fun! I’m looking forward to finding out what’s what. The prompts are impossible to guess!
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I’m glad you had fun despite the abundance of question marks in your answers 😄 Really, though, I think I would’ve been at least as clueless in your shoes!
Also, love the “those glittering vampire novels” description 😂😂 If you ever do read them, I definitely wouldn’t mind getting your thoughts because the glittering is by far one of the least bizarre things about them…
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Hello there! It was lovely to stumble across your blog! I’m Astrya, and it’s quite nice to “meet” you. Now as for this quiz, I must admit that AI (tricksy, falsssse!) has stumped me. But I’ll do my best!
I must admit I have no idea whatsoever.
Peter Pan? The girl in the first picture looks rather like Wendy.
The Martian (the potatoes gave it away)
Should I know this one? Because I don’t.
Now this has got to be that rogue scene.
Still clueless.
The Hunger Games? But why does it look like a strange anime-esque style?
eek! Yoda/Gollum is only somewhat creepy…
Twilight? I know nothing about it but that guy looks rather vampireish.
the picture of Dorian Grey, of course… that moustache is absurd.
a strange sci-fi version of Paradise Lost? I legitimately am clueless.
well, that was lovely. Thank you! (I look forward to discovering the answers :D)
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Hello, and nice to “meet” you, too!! I’m so happy to hear you had fun doing this despite the AI’s tricksy falseness! 😁🤗 I definitely had a ton of fun reading your guesses and can’t wait to reveal all and discuss them with you next week. Let’s just say you’re not the only one with questions… 😂
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Why thank you! I’m glad my responses entertained you… 🙂
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fair warning: i am horrible at such quizzes. but i’ll try a few.
im sure i’m horribly missing #1. it looks familiar but i can’t place it??? the red hair is throwing me off.
#4 – harry potter vs snape..?
#5 – animal farm??
#9 – the dude looks like Edward so Twilight series?
#2 – bridgerton??????
i’ll say 7 is fake but that’s only cuz that doesn’t look remotely like anything that i know 😂
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Haha, I’m so sorry for subjecting you to this 😁😂 Although I don’t think you’re as bad as you think! Trust me, some of these would have me absolutely stumped, too…
Anyway, thanks so much for playing along, Sumedha (I think? 😅)!
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What a brilliant idea for a post! I saw this when I was at the theatre and bookmarked it to read properly later so apologies for being so late with my responses. Although, as I have absolutely no idea about most of them, maybe I ought not to bother at all😃
1. The Witcher I can’t think of anything else with a man dressed like that fighting a monster
2. ????? Middlemarch is the only Victorian novel I can think of that features an election
3. The Martian or War of the Worlds ??
4. Harry Potter but no clue about which one
5. Animal Farm cos of the pigs
6. Watership Down (dead rabbits) or Podkin one ear (monster rabbits)
7. ?????
8. ?????
9. Twilight ?
10. Poirot so maybe Murder on the Orient Express
11. Fake (it is beautiful though)
As you see, I am pretty clueless. Definitely looking forward to seeing the answers.
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No worries! You’re perfectly on time; I gave you two weeks after all 😄 I hope you had a great time at the theater – was that for one of your own performances?
Also, love your guesses! I can’t wait to be able to talk about them in more depth soon!
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Yes. I’m sure it was on the Saturday when we had a performance in the afternoon and evening so I made a note to look at properly the next day and then forgot😀
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This was a fun (and hard) quiz!
Beowulf? Draw me some fan art of Beowulf battling a dragon. There are too many books with dragons to pick from, so I thought I’d pick a really old one.
Pride and Prejudice. Draw me some fan art of Darcy visiting the Bennets.
The Martian. Draw me some fan art of Watney growing potatoes on Mars.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Draw me some fan art of Harry dueling Snape. The image sort of looks like the battle of Hogwarts, but that guy looks much more like Snape than Voldemort, so I’m going with Harry’s ineffectual attack on Snape at the end of book 6.
Animal Farm. Draw me some fan art of the pig saying all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. I really hope that AI decided to use the triple bar equivalence sign to mean „more equal than“!
Of Mice and Men. Draw me some fan art of Lennie dreaming of owning his own rabbits. Not sure at all about this one. I’m worried this is the fake image…or a sinister message from Satan?
Hunger Games. Draw me some fan art of Katniss saying goodbye to Rue. Or maybe this is the fake one? But there is a girl with arrows and lots of crying…
Lord of the Rings. Draw me some fan art of Gollum asking a riddle.
Twilight. Draw me some fan art of Bella and Edward riding a motorcycle.
Murder on the Orient Express. Draw me some fan art of Hercule Poirot cultivating a luxuriant mustache.
Fake! Draw me some fan art of an angel comforting a dying robot. I’m worried that this is some real Isaac Asimov thing…
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I’m so happy you had fun! Even though I’m now facing a quiz of my own, trying to figure out who you are… 😅🙈
Regardless, though, I love how you went all in with the prompts! I can’t wait to reveal how right or wrong you all were soon! 😁
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