Posts authored by Erin Ptah
Unlock with Patreon
I had an LLM write a summary for the next Leif & Thorn book, let’s see how accurate it is
But first, a recap: We’re gearing up to make the next Leif & Thorn book!
I scored an invite to BackerKit Crowdfunding, a new service from…well, the company I was already using to handle half the work from my campaigns on Kickstarter. So, yeah, we’re crowdfunding Volume 6 directly on BackerKit.
It’s still a few months out, but can you give us a boost by signing up to get notified when it launches?
Meanwhile: I have this LLM free trial. (Didn’t ask for it, but it’s here.)
So I tasked it with writing a “funny and engaging” summary for Volume 6.
All the strips that will go in the book are already published on the site. Free and accessible to read. Collected in their own labeled category, even! And every strip is transcribed, in plain, easily-machine-readable text!
This is practically gift-wrapped for a bot to scan all the material, pick out the major character names and a bunch of common recurring phrases, and synthesize a summary that is…generally recognizable? In the right ballpark? A little confused, but it’s got the spirit?
And yet.
All the text after this cut/separator is generated by the LLM. Let’s see how it did, shall we?
Continue reading I had an LLM write a summary for the next Leif & Thorn book, let’s see how accurate it is
Call for Leif & Thorn guest strips! Deadline: August 12
Open call for all artists! Leif & Thorn is taking submissions for guest strips!
- All ideas and art styles welcome
- Draw your favorite characters, explore any era or any AU, show the world your secret headcanons
- Only limit on the content is “keep it PG-13”! Basically, no more sex or violence than the regular strip, okay? Otherwise, go wild and have fun with it
- Format: PNG, GIF, or JPG
- Size: up to 900 x 900 pixels
- You can send in multiple pages/strips, if you have an idea that’s too big for just one
- Submissions deadline: August 12, 2023
(I previously took these a few months ago, and got a couple amazing strips — but I would like enough to fill a whole week! So we’re opening this up again, with the plan to post all the submissions in a row.)
Safest way to get the strips to me is by email (sailorptah at gmail dot com). You can also PM me on Deviantart, or submit them via Tumblr.
When you send them in, include whatever name you want to be credited by. And if you want me to promote your gallery/blog/fanfiction account/webcomic/Etsy store at the same time, just send me the link!
Dash for the Prevention, page 3
Roundup of webcomic news (good, gay) and AI news (heavy sigh)
A tournament to find the most obscure/unknown webcomic is running on Tumblr! An incredible place to trawl for putting new comics on To Read list.
“1 like = 1 rec for a webcomic with major LGBTQ characters” on Mastodon is falling behind the Tumblr version. Go give it some shares, so I can put all the recs on both sites?
Finally did a big update to the Help, I Want To Start My Own Webcomic Site, How Do I Start guide. Now it has a bunch of references to Toocheke — which I haven’t actually used, so anyone who has, do please comment and tell us about it!
I’ve been invited to the closed beta of Crowdfunding by BackerKit! Not much on my creator profile yet, but more about Leif & Thorn Volume 6 will be there…soonish.
I’ve also been presented with a “fill your site with low-quality SEO-spam glurge articles faster by using an LLM” limited-trial feature. Now I just have to figure out the 20 funniest possible things to use it on.
…and, speaking of LLMs:
Me, queueing a Leif & Thorn where Coco yells at officials for replacing all their human staff with non-field-tested “AI” when lives are at stake, to post on May 8: “This is surely an exaggerated fantasy situation I am inventing as a cautionary tale, and not something that will literally go down IRL in the next 3 weeks.”
The next 3 weeks:
Yyyyyeah.
Did not want that to become a fulfilled prediction! Really hope this doesn’t become a trend. (Both the “putting people’s lives in the hands of chatbots” part, and the “hyperbolic comedy skeeviness coming true” part.)
Pride Month recs are back!
It’s June again, and you know what that means: time for all the gay webcomics to spend the month hyping each other up.
Here’s my contribution:
1 like on this Mastodon post = 1 rec for a webcomic with major LGBTQ characters!
1 like on this Tumblr post = also 1 rec for a webcomic with major LGBTQ characters!
To keep life simple, I’m giving the same recs, in the same order, on both sites. So far they’re keeping pace with each other — but maybe one will pull ahead? Reblog/share/boost/etc your favorite to keep the links flowing.
Dash for the Prevention, page 2
Dash for the Prevention, page 1
Off-Shoots Sketchbook: unfinished Character vs. Inspiration
