Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

So, I am between jobs and wanted to do something productive with my time. Being somewhat tech and design savvy, I thought I'd make some rad telemark-themed sticker designs to add to the community. So I had this design in mind, which should look kind of like an eighties Californian, hotrod/oddrod, cartoon-style illustration of a boot with it's heel lifted. In my mind, it looks freaking awesome.

Now. I can draw. But I'm lazy. So I turn to AI. MidJourney specifically.

But. No matter what I used as a prompt to describe the pic I wanted. I got an alpine boot on a frickin' snowblade. "The heel of the boot is lifted" I said. The images return contained thoroughly fixed heels. "A telemark ski boot on a big mountain ski - the heel lifted off the ski as in a telemark stance", I pleaded. Alpine skis in snowblades were presented.

Eventually I got really frustrated. I forgot about the sticker design and the focus on the boot. Just show me a god damned telemark turn or stance!!! Nothing. Just alpine, alpine, alpine.

In the end, I brought out the big guns and referenced what should be an unequivocal template of the visuals I was trying to generate. Sondre.

My last prompt was the simple, yet powerful "a person doing a schoolbook Sondre Norheim style telemark turn".

AI has got some blind spots still, it seems. Just look at the alpine dog shit it gave me in return. Guess I'll have to go look for my pencil case. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The last image has a lifted heel, but combined with that flying ski pole I think AI considers telemark failed alpine skiing. Maybe we can use that to our advantage, and telemark will be humanity's last hope in the inevitable robot uprising.

AI is artificial but not intelligent. And certainly not creative. Try to get your design down or find an artist to do it for you. A good artist will make your idea better. An AI will... well, you already know that.

Here is what Microsoft's Bing AI generated for me.

Tom M wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 15, 2023 3:04 pm

Here is what Microsoft's Bing AI generated for me.
Screenshot 2023-12-15 130100.png

I like it, not for the accuracy, but because like any tool, it tells you something about the "maker" whether you like it or not.

Getting there, getting there...

Weird technique though, with boots outside the bindings... very, very neutral. I would call it Z telemark. And the binding looks like a morph between skyhoy, linken & Xplore... with maybe some little chinese slippers from the Ming Dynasty.

They've left out the MAGA cap.

Make America Glide Again

Jurassien wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 16, 2023 12:59 pm

They've left out the MAGA cap.

Make America Glide Again

Wait we're not gliding now?