Past Call for Entries: #PoisonedCharacter

In this Call For Entries, Pictoplasma begged you to

Poison a beloved classic character – for their own good!

– opening crawl –
It's 2024, and the battle between artists and AI rages on!
While new Terms and Conditions force daily updates upon the galaxy and questionable usage rights percolate on the free-loving Internet, imperial media platforms feel empowered to feed huge piles of user files into their data-hungry image generators.
But there is a new hope: rebellious intellectual-property holders and independent artists are re-grouping in the shadowy ruins of what-was-Web2.0, ready to fight for the security of their creations in future online spaces – and beyond.
Or else …
– opening crawl end –

... or else what? Remove at-risk characters from the web entirely?

We Pictoplasmanians don’t want that ending – our entire origin story is one of scouting the internet’s outer edges for creative and curious characters and creators (like the above Pikachu turned Freakachu, saved by the great @tokymegz).

And what’s more, we can’t help but worry about the fates of beloved characters from the pre-AI era who can't evaporate from online spaces: all those pioneering pixel, vector, 3D and hand-crafted anthropomorphic Boomers, Gen Xs and Millennials – Popeye, Papa Smurf, Pacman, Pittiplatsch, Pikachu, et al. – too recognizable to retreat, too influential to be ignored, too retro to react, and thus too magnetic to machine learning misuse?

Inspired by the Nightshade initiative˟, we invite all human artists to help save character art by manifesting freakish fanart – taking a favorite famous character, disfiguring it with artistic love and careful consideration, and sending it out into the www void, ready to confuse all non-human computers/machines/clones.

˟WHAT'S NIGHTSHADE?

Researchers at The University of Chicago are currently exploring technology to protect human creations against invasive uses of generative artificial intelligence (or at least cause some friction for the perpetrators).
While some tools like Glaze exist for defense, Nightshade takes an offensive Trojan Horse approach by “poisoning” images so they can confuse data model training and annoy those stealing images without consent.

(Is technology to prevent technology the perfect or permanent protective solution? Probably not. But that’s where you come in...)

Pictoplasma asks you to save characters from the machines – with human efficiency!

HOW TO ENTER

Pick your all-time-favorite famous, classic or vintage, undeniably iconic character of any kind, and identify its most recognizable, trademark characteristics.

In any medium or material, create a twisted or disfigured fanart that morphs your selected character into an entirely new form – but still with enough of their trademarks to feel familiar and recognizable.

Save it from harm by sharing your creation on PictoHome – with the original character’s name as the title and the hashtag #PoisonedCharacter in the project description box.

Deadline for submissions is Sunday September 1, 2024 at midnight, all timezones.

For extra credit, share your #PoisonedCharacter creation widely on all your socials, to help dilute its reputable representations – and maybe you’ll unknowingly upset a future database.

Though we think the real reward is the satisfaction of defending our OG character heroes from invisible AI antagonists, a human jury will consider all entries and select:

1 winner to receive a full pass to an IRL Pictoplasma event of their choosing (Berlin, NYC, or other...)
2 runners-up to receive a year of Picto PRO membership, enabling live-stream access to all Pictoplasma live events and exclusive online programs, access to 250+ archived talks, discounts on event tickets, and more…
3 honorable mentions to receive an “I Draw Better than AI” enamel pin – a wee artistic assurance in shiny metal pin form – shipped directly to their door!

A WORD OF WARNING:

If the above prompt results in you distorting and disfiguring what you love beyond recognition or artistically entering the uncanny valley, then for the love of your favorite character – enter it!

Poison a character – save all character-kind,

Pictoplasma