AI Artists Are Creating Fat, Black Sci-Fi Characters
He was hung. “Science fiction is a bit like my church,” said Smith, now 47 years old and who lives in Philadelphia. “It’s spiritual and very connected to whom I am as a black and queer person.” The problem with its church, however, is that there is not much black representation (or queer).
The general public science fiction presents black characters like Morpheus of The matrixMace Windu of Star Warsand the lieutenant-commander of the forge and Nyota Uhura of Star Trek. But in general, black characters do not have the same importance and the same time as their white counterparts. And when blacks are present, they tend to be supposed and conventionally attractive. Gras black bodies are a rarity.
“It just surprises me that big people in general are treated and represented as second class citizens in science fiction works, or they are made to represent something like greed, lust or wicked Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Dune. “I used to make a series of queer science fiction reading entitled Laser Life,” he added, “and when I was looking for guest readers, the very first story that I received was a bad guy who was big.
Thus, when he came easily accessible to AI art generators last year, Smith, already an established visual artist, adopted these tools to create Several black, fatty and queer characters of a more inclusive futuristic world. Among them was Marcus, whom Smith made life live using Midjourney and DIDAn AI platform that creates speaking avatars. Marcus runs an Electric Afro Science Institute division, which Smith called “an independent Afrofuturist organization led by superheroes that works in biomechanics, cosmic engineering, nanotechnology, medical alchemy.”
Smith describes Marcus, who is queer, like “a kind of smart alec. A large cuddly nerd who thinks he’s a bit gangster. He likes to study butterflies and ants and tries to see what insects can be replicable in human life. ” In an animated portrait of Marcus, which Smith posted on his Instagram, the character asks: “Who will draw me here?”
