Nana’s Button Jar

In this blog post we are going to look at producing a children’s book in a somewhat fanciful way. In reality, we are looking at the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the realm of creativity, while producing the book. Although some of the focus will be on the use of AI as a resource, it will also be about the book itself and the messages it contains.

I must confess that I have had many mixed feelings about this blog post because it feels outside of my typical style, which has been more about featuring my own writing and other artistic output. I asked my wife, Denise, to read it and let me know if she felt it was worth posting. Since you are reading it, you can assume she did.

Just as a side note, Denise and I wrote and illustrated a children’s book at the time she and I were adopting Emma. It’s called The Forever Family, and it’s the story of Emma’s adoption, how she came to be part of our family. The writing is fairly simple, being a kid’s story, and my illustrations are not very good, but the story itself is sweet and relevant. Emma still has the handmade book and her children look at it from time to time.

Let’s look at some background, and the lead-up to this blog post project.

If you are a grandparent, you, like Denise and I, have an idea about what we want our grandchildren to call us. Denise requested early on that she be called Nana. Denise chose Nana because her Irish heritage has that as a typical grandma term, and because Emma called Denise’s mom Nanny. I asked to be called Grandpa because that was a typical moniker here in Canada that I have always wanted to have. To distinguish me from the other grandfather, I am called Grandpa Don from time to time. As for Adrian, Emma’s husband, and the grandkid’s dad, they call his father Pépère, due to his French-Canadian heritage, and they call his mother Grandma. Just for curiosity’s sake, my mother is the only surviving great grandparent, and the grandkids call her Grammie. Everybody knows who they are talking about when these names are used. I laugh at how well my 10-year-old granddaughter knows the meaning of all the various relation titles, like cousin, great uncle, etc. Heck, I was still trying to get that all straight in my mind well into middle age. 😊

One of the most amazing things I see these days, have for many years now, is how much the grandchildren love their Nana. It’s just unbelievable to see how much they cling to her and want to be with her. And the reverse is true, it is obvious that Nana loves them with all her heart and soul. 💖

Lately, I have been suggesting to Denise that she write and illustrate a children’s book. She said that she had no idea how she would do that, let alone what she would write about. We happened to be visiting in her room, Denise in her favorite rocker, a rocker that came from her own grandpa, and I sitting on the edge of her bed. I noted the lovely button jar on her bookshelf and suggested a book about Nana’s button jar. When she asked what that might look like, I suggested that each button was magical in some way and had a story. Actually, at first, I suggested that each button was the soul of a child she had scared to death, and the book could have tales that frightened the grandkids into good behavior and other such things. Sick grandpa, hey! 😊 Since I was just joking, I went further along to tell what I initially said just before this bit, a book with lots of good and loving stuff in it.

So, the children’s book idea was rattling around in my head on the back burner, as they say, and one morning I decided to see what the Bing AI would say if I asked if it could write and illustrate a children’s book. At this time, I was not aware of just how capable the AI was, or even if something like that was within its remit.

Me to Bing: If I were to ask you to write and illustrate a children’s book about a specific topic, would you do it?

The Bing AI responded with: Absolutely, I’d love to help with that! What topic do you have in mind for the children’s book? Also, do you have any specific ideas or themes you’d like to include in the story? Let’s get creative together! 📚✨

Me: Thanks, the story would include a jar full of buttons on Nana’s sewing room shelf and her grandchildren are asking about the button jar and what mysteries it has. Nana, being a kind and loving person, explains that the buttons each have a special meaning about love and self-acceptance and other good human qualities.

The AI did a great job, in my opinion, although it did not provide pictures or illustrations, but rather suggestions of what the illustration could look like. I had thought initially that it would supply text and finished illustrations, since I know one can ask the Bing AI to create images. Once the Bing AI supplied the story text and the text-based ideas of what the illustrations would look like, I thought that I might create the images using Loafetta and Loafina, along with an unknown volunteer, from my comic series to be the models for the book. After I pondered this some more, I decided that I didn’t want to spend weeks making illustrations just for a single blog post. As such, I decided to have the Bing AI, using the image creation function, make the images. I tried for quite a while to get the AI to create all the images for the story using the same characters and overall visual scheme, but it was just not possible. I found that I needed to tweak the suggested text-based image descriptions that the Bing AI had supplied to help create something that looked kind of like I wanted, something cozy and sweet.

As we move forward, note the rhyming nature of the story. I didn’t notice this at first, but Denise pointed it out after I showed her Bing’s responses. I should also note that the Bing AI first described the title page, and then supplied five or six pages with one or two at the end as a wrap-up to the story. It then asked if I wanted more pages and I said that I did. It added a few more and then added another wrap up page or two, one of them being the same as the first ending. I decided for continuity’s sake, that I would tweak the output to flow as one would expect, without the obvious original finish in the middle. Hopefully that makes sense.

We will get to the book shortly, but first I want to talk about using AI for this purpose. To begin with, I think that being able to have something like this created by AI is just fantastic, as long as whoever uses it gives credit to the AI and does not pretend that the work is their own creation. Being able to generate stuff like this means that anyone with a computer and a connection to AI can produce all manner of things for all manner of purposes. Not everyone is a writer or an artist, so this helps greatly!

Some folks balk that the AI is just stealing work from others and suggesting that it is something new. I asked the Bing AI one day if what it had created was an original work. It said that it was, that it learned all it knows from the internet and its programmers, but that the output was always its perceptions and its own work. I agree with this because it is similar to what all of us do. We learn from all manner of sources and we draw from that and then, if so inclined, we produce something new, a new book, a new piece of art, a new product. It’s the same in the design world, that is why there are so many similar things. Someone will come up with an idea, and sooner, rather than later, all kinds of things are created using a similar scheme. I have noticed this is especially prevalent in the graphic design industry, but it is common in the manufacture of clothes, vehicles, and probably anything else you can think of. So, one can ask, is anything really unique or new, but that is a whole other topic of debate.

In the work below, you will see some bold text. That is what I used to have the Bing AI base the generated images on. It is similar to what the Bing AI suggested, but after a few trials I noted that it needed to be more specific in some ways, hence the change. The text in italics is what the Bing AI has produced, as well as all the images. The story text is in blue italics.

The book:


Cover Illustration Idea: A cozy sewing room with a shelf full of colorful buttons in a jar, and two curious grandchildren looking up at it.

Please create a cozy sewing room with a shelf full of colorful buttons in a jar, and two curious granddaughters looking up at it.

Created by Bing AI


Page 1:

Illustration Idea: Nana’s sewing room with the button jar prominently displayed, and the grandchildren looking up at it with wide eyes.

Please create a cozy image of a Nana with two granddaughters looking wide-eyed at a button jar in Nana’s sewing room.

Created by Bing AI


Page 2:

Illustration Idea: Nana holding the jar, with a warm smile, and the children sitting eagerly at her feet.

Please create an image of a Nana holding the button jar, with a warm smile, and the granddaughters sitting eagerly at her feet.

Created by Bing AI


Page 3:

Illustration Idea: A red button with a small illustration of a child in a red coat walking in the rain.

Please create an image of a young girl walking in the rain with red buttons on her raincoat.

Created by Bing AI


Page 4:

Illustration Idea: A blue button with a small illustration of a child in a blue dress helping a friend.

Please create an image of a young girl in a blue dress with blue buttons helping a friend play checkers.

Created by Bing AI


Page 5:

Illustration Idea: A green button with a small illustration of a child playing with friends.

Please create a cozy image of a Grandpa with a shirt with green buttons walking with Nana in the park.

Created by Bing AI


Page 6:

Illustration Idea: The children listening intently, with buttons floating around them, each with a small illustration of its story.

Please create a cozy image of two granddaughters listening to Nana with buttons swirling around them.

Created by Bing AI


Page 8:

Illustration Idea: A yellow button with a small illustration of a child holding a lantern, lighting up a dark path.

Please create a cozy outdoor scene of a young girl wearing a dress with yellow buttons holding a lantern lighting a dark path.

Created by Bing AI


Page 9:

Illustration Idea: A purple button with a small illustration of a child tying a scarf around their neck, smiling confidently.

Please create a cozy image of a young girl wearing a dress with purple buttons tying a scarf around her neck and smiling confidently.

Created by Bing AI


Page 10:

Illustration Idea: An orange button with a small illustration of a child wearing a hat, dancing happily.

Please create a cozy image of a young girl in a dress and hat with orange buttons dancing in the park.

Created by Bing AI


Page 11:

Illustration Idea: A pink button with a small illustration of a child wrapped in a cozy blanket, feeling safe and loved.

Please create an image of a small female child wrapped in a cozy blanket with a pink button.

Created by Bing AI


Page 12:

Illustration Idea: A white button with a small illustration of a child riding a bike, smiling brightly.

Please create an image of a young girl wearing a jacket with white buttons riding a bike.

Created by Bing AI


Page 13:

Illustration Idea: The children looking at the button jar with wonder, surrounded by illustrations of the button stories.

Please create an image of two granddaughters looking at Nana’s button jar with images of button stories swirling around the room.

Created by Bing AI


Page 14:

Illustration Idea: The children hugging Nana, with the button jar glowing softly in the background.

Please create a cozy image of two granddaughters hugging Nana with a button jar glowing softly in the background.

Created by Bing AI


I chose to end the discussion with the Bing AI here.

Isn’t that a great use of the Bing AI. I just love the storyline it came up with and the illustration ideas.

After working through this, I wondered what copyright or licensing issues there would be if a person wanted to use the Bing AI images in one’s own work, especially if one wanted to publish and sell the work. Let’s ask the Bing AI.

Me: Can a person use the images created by the Bing AI in commercial works, such as images in a book? Whether yes or no, please include any licensing information that is relevant.

The Bing AI: Currently, images generated by Bing AI are intended for personal, non-commercial use only. This means you cannot use these images for commercial purposes, such as in books, advertisements, or products for sale.

If you need images for commercial use, you might want to consider using DALL·E 3, which is accessible through Bing Chat and allows for commercial use of the images it generates. Always make sure to review the specific terms of use for any AI tool you are using to ensure compliance with licensing requirements.

It looks like one would need to pay for a subscription to Open AI, the producers of Dall.E 3, to allow image use in commercial ventures.

Let me wrap up by saying that if I were to write and publish a book like this, I would most certainly come up with my own text and illustration ideas because I think I would tend to feel that using the Bing AI to help with such things is a bit like cheating, but that’s just me. On the other hand, it sure seems helpful with generating ideas and getting one’s mind in the right frame by posing all kinds of things to think about. In the end, I think that using the Bing AI is okay if used as a tool that will allow us, as creatives, to dig deeper, and provided a deeper experience for those that view our work, perhaps even as a guide. And to make it clear, I don’t see any issue having the AI create these things for private use, say to write books for you to read to your grandchildren. Hummm, I wonder what folks like Dr. Seuss or Robert Munsch would think about this whole AI business stepping in on their domain? Lots to think about, for sure!

Let me know in the comments your thoughts on the story and using AI for such things.

Now go back and just read the story text and view the accompanying images. A very nice story, I would say.

Donald B. Cheke – October 14, 2024

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