A review of 3 free AI art generators for classroom teachers
At least for now, AI art generators won’t be replacing my graphics libraries. Find out why!
When I first learned about AI and ChatGPT I experienced shock, denial, anger… all the bad emotions. In fact, I actually experienced a mild version of the seven stages of grief, and you can read about my process here.
Once I reached a reluctant acceptance (this is real and it’s here to stay, so I need to figure out how to deal with it!) I started playing with some free AI tools and thinking about how I might use them in my classroom. My first introduction to AI was watching my own children play with an AI art generator, so that’s where I started. I decided to put the same prompts into three different AI art generators to see how my images turned out.
The prompts
#1: I spend a lot of time looking for clip art to use with students. So, I wondered: can AI generate good clip art for me? At the time of this experiment I had been trying unsuccessfully to find a simple black and white image of ‘meat’ for a vocabulary lesson so I tried this prompt:
“black and white clip art sticker of a meat platter”
#2: I wanted to try generating a realistic photo I might use in class. So I asked for:
“photo of a doctor examining a patient”
#3: For a fun, whimsical prompt I tried:
“Cubism style purple cows on a pink mountain”
#4: Finally, I wanted to see if the AI could handle languages other than English, so I wrote a French prompt.
“une fusée qui décolle avec un extraterrestre dans la fenêtre” (A rocket taking off with an alien in the window). Note: the first AI program gave me terrifying aliens, so I added the word “mignon” (cute) to the prompt.
Note: For each of these prompts, I used my first trial program (Open Art) and added details through trial and error until I got an image close to what I wanted. I then used the final prompt I’ve shared here on all three sites. For that reason, the prompts may be optimized slightly to the Open AI program.
Open AI
Website: www.openart.ai/create
Create an Account:
Required. It was easy to create by linking to my Google account.
Cost:
1000 free credits, good for 500 prompts. Once you’ve used up your free credits, they have subscription plans beginning at $1.99 per month.
Usage:
You own the images you create and may use them for any purpose.
Features :
Generates 2 designs for every prompt
Both images used the same art style and color palate.
Automatically saves all the images you create, including the prompts
You can create folders to organize your images.
Images are around 300 kb and can be downloaded with no watermark.
Time to create images varied from around 15 seconds to over a minute.
You can include negative prompts (i.e., words to exclude from the image)
#1: black and white clip art sticker of a meat platter
Here’s what the site gave me:
While both designs gave me what I asked for, I’m not sure a student would get the word ‘meat’ from either of these without more context. I actually tried this prompt several times, adding more and more detail. This was the best it got.
I probably wouldn’t use these in class.
#2: photo of a doctor examining a patient
At first glance, I was pretty happy with these. But, the longer I looked at them the more they bothered me. In the first image the doctor’s eyes are a little odd. But then I noticed the hands in the pictures. Weird, disturbing, hands with between three and seven fingers. One odd disembodied hand growing out of the exam table. I might have nightmares about these images. Also, it’s interesting that both of the doctors are males and both patients are females in suits. Obviously, I could refine my prompt to adjust this, but clearly there are some issues to overcome here.
I wouldn’t use either of these illustrations with students.
** update ** On the day I posted this blog, I heard on a podcast that the creepy hand issue has been fixed. Obviously, this technology is evolving quickly - Maybe in a few months I’ll come back and laugh at this post!
#3: Cubism style purple cows on a pink mountain
These two images exceeded my expectations. They are almost exactly what I asked for. My one critique is I think they’re more orange than pink. But, they are fun, cute, and whimsical. Cubist perfection.
#4: French prompt: A rocket taking off with a cute alien in the window
Well, the AI clearly understands some French, but we’re going to have to agree to disagree on the definition of ‘cute’! Also, neither image includes a rocket taking off, so it missed an important element.
Observations:
Images were generally accurate, but not always what I had in mind.
It doesn’t do a good job with realistic people.
In general, the longer it took to generate an image, the less I liked the image.
The home page for this site showcases user-generated art which is different each time and, unfortunately, had a lot of racy cartoon images of anime or fantasy-style women.
Final Score: 7/10
Craiyon
Website: www.craiyon.com
Create an Account:
Not required. If you create an account, you have the ability to save your work.
Cost:
Free, ad supported. The free account generates images very slowly (1-2 minutes per prompt). Paid accounts reduce the number of ads and increase the generation speed.
Usage:
You own the images you create. If you have a free account, they request you provide a link back to their website.
Features :
Choose which category you want to generate: art, drawing, photo, or none
Generates 9 low-quality images for every prompt (about 1.5 MB for the panel of 9)
Upscale” any image (i.e., increase its quality to around 150kb) for free - this takes 1-2 minutes per image.
Images had some stylistic variety but were all in the same artistic genre.
Free images all include a small logo / watermark
Ability to include negative prompts (words not to include)
Images are not saved automatically, but can be saved if you create an account.
Suggests prompts to refine your images; the suggestions were helpful.
Prompt #1: black and white clip art sticker of a meat platter
At first glance I liked some of these images. But, as I studied them individually I realized the black and white images are going to be difficult for students to identify as ‘meat’. The color images are better (and may contribute to the overall impression of ‘meat’) but I couldn’t use them on a photocopied handout, and I specifically asked for black and white.
What’s that weird knife handle / bone shaped protrusion on the bottom center image? And the bottom right? It looks like a beaver pelt.
Maybe ‘meat’ is just a hard word to illustrate.
Prompt #2: photo of a doctor examining a patient
Yikes! These look like screenshots from a low budget horror movie about the dystopian future of genetic engineering! A couple of the images are OK (the one on the middle left, for example) but all of the hands look disfigured again. Several of these don’t include a patient. I have no idea what’s happening in the bottom center pic (does the guy have 3 arms?) I wouldn’t use any of these in class. At least some of the doctors are women…
Prompt #3: Cubism style purple cows on a pink mountain
Again, Craiyon disappoints. Most of the images include either a mountain OR a cow, but not both. None of the images have multiple cows. I do think the cows are cute and reasonably Cubist, but these unfortunately missed the mark.
Prompt #4: French prompt: A rocket taking off with a cute alien in the window
OK, clearly Craiyon can handle some French. It picked up on the rocket but left out the alien. I do like the images - the planet on the bottom left is stunning. Wait… is that a whale swimming around the planet? Hmm. I’m confused.
Observations:
The images were generally very simple and sometimes left out elements of the prompt.
The ads on this website are very aggressive - multiple ads open on the page with distracting video.
Although this site is the easiest to access, the images it generated were my least favorite. The slow generation time and the annoying ads were unpleasant.
On the plus side, this site has the most clever name!
Final Score: 4/10
Picsart
Website: picsart.com/ai-image-generator
Create an Account:
Required. It was easy to create by linking to my Google account.
Cost:
AI image generation is free. There are a lot of other graphic design features on this website which work better or have more features with a paid subscription.
Usage:
You are allowed to use the images you create “for any legal purpose”. The website maintains ownership of the images and may use or altar them.
Features :
Generates 4 designs for every prompt, with an option to generate more.
Images had the most variety of any site.
Your work is not saved automatically.
Images are around 100 kb and can be downloaded with no watermark.
Generated images the most quickly of any site, in under 20 seconds
You can include negative prompts (i.e., words to exclude from the image)
After entering your text, you are prompted to select from a large menu of art styles such as graphite pencil, watercolor, anime, or artists such as Rembrandt, Monet, or Andy Warhol. Each style includes a small thumbnail example.
#1: black and white clip art sticker of a meat platter
I wouldn’t use either of these in class. Neither really says ‘meat’ to me. The solid dark background on the second picture would not be great for making copies. And what’s up with that… panda bear? … Cow? … Unidentified mammalian creature? We’re off to a slow start.
#2: photo of a doctor examining a patient
OK, these are the least terrifying doctor images of the day! The hands look semi-normal (don’t look TOO closely!) We’ve got some female representation (although still no racial diversity). They’re not photo-realistic - perhaps that’s why they work? Unfortunately, I’m not sure either of these really says “doctor examining a patient” to me - more like “doctor talking to a colleague” or maybe “medical student turning on her robot professor”. So not exactly a win, but at least I won’t have nightmares!
#3: Cubism style purple cows on a pink mountain
These are cute. I think the ones from Open Art look more like cubism, but these are pretty good.
#4: French prompt: A rocket taking off with a cute alien in the window
OK! We have a rocket taking off. We have an alien in a window. It’s still not what I wanted, but I guess technically it got the prompt right. Props for the cutest aliens.
Observations:
The menu of art styles was incredibly helpful and, I think, resulted in images that were closer to my vision.
The images had more variety than the other sites, even within the selected art style.
Picsart did the best job with people.
Final Score: 8/10
The final result; AI art is pretty fun to play with, and generated some clever and funny images. Unfortunately, prompts #1 and #2 (the more realistic prompts I would most likely use in class) gave all three sites trouble. The Cubist cows were the best images of the day, while all three sites missed the mark on the alien in the rocket.
At least for now, AI art generators won’t be replacing my graphics libraries.
For MORE AI Art generator reviews, click here!
I encourage you to go play with AI a bit. It’s fun and interesting, and it makes you really think about using precise language. Hmm… I think there’s a lesson application in there somewhere! Stay tuned for more experiments and ideas about ways to use this new tool. And sign up for my newsletter so you won’t miss a blog post!
