Calling All Creators: Use your Generative AI skills to Win a Chance to Make Illustrated Avatars for D-ID

Background 

D-ID is a start-up in the Generative AI space. Our platform enables creators to generate photorealistic digital presenters from text. (You can read more about the company below).

Although we have an API and various platform plug-ins, the majority of use is via our self-serve studio at http://studio.d-id.com.

Our Standard Presenters

One of the great capabilities of the studio, and something that distinguishes us from our competitors,  is its ability to animate faces from a single image. As a result, we have many ‘standard’ presenters available off-the-shelf in the studio, which provide a diversity in age, gender and ethnicity:

Illustrated Presenters

Our AI model can also interpret illustrated faces and animate them.

Here are some examples:

But there are also many out there on the internet:

Jean-Baptiste Martinoli created a short film using only AI software including ours, which has won several awards at small film festivals: 

Li’l Fake is a virtual being of a rapper created entirely by AI from Dutch Creative Director Rodger Werkhoven

There are limitations to what can be animated, however. The AI model has to find a recognizable human face, so faces that are too abstract or cartoony won’t work. Nor will those on non-human-like creatures or animals.

The Brief: What we are looking for 

In short, we are looking for more illustrated avatars. 

We are looking for Generative AI artists and illustrators to help us add a further 8-10 faces to the studio to increase the range of styles and diversity of options for users. The faces need to have an illustrated, not photo-realistic feel, have a plain background, and meet our general image guidelines (listed below).

We have many different kinds of users, but for this project, we are looking for illustrated faces that can be used in a corporate setting, for marketing, sales, training use etc. (We are not looking for wild, alien or weird faces)

Some of the many illustrators we love

Helen Green – People Illustrator | United Kingdom

Paul Davey Illustrator | New York

Thomas Ehretsmann Illustrator | United States

Paige Weber – Painterly Illustrator | Pocatello

John Jay Cabuay – Digital Illustrator | Norwalk

Shenho Hshieh – Digital Illustrator | Los Angeles 

Kelly Smith – Fashion, Beauty, Pencil and Graphic Design Illustrator     

Usage

For every image we use, we will pay $100 for a universal, in-perpetuity license to use the image in our studio and make it available for our users.

How to submit your work

Send your submission to info@d-id.com using the subject line ‘Generative AI Illustrated Presenters’

Timelines

Submissions due:	9 November 2022
Selection Process:	10 November – 16 November
Winners informed:	17 November
Go live:	24 November

Optimal Image Guidelines

• Minimum head size within the image – 200×200 pixels
• The boundaries between the head and the edges should be at least 30% margin from all sides
• Head pose – frontal facing, no head angles
• Neutral expression or gentle smile with a closed mouth
• Avoid extreme / unique facial expressions
• Avoid face occlusions, wearables and accessories in the head area, preferably (not mandatory) without eyeglasses
• Good and solid lighting
• Solid background color
• Good image quality (not dark, blurry, or noisy).
• Facial hair is acceptable as long as it’s not covering the lips and inside the borders of the face
• Open eyes

About D-ID

D-ID’s generative AI technology elevates learning and development, sales, and marketing video content. Our platform enables creators to generate photorealistic digital presenters from text, dramatically reducing the cost and hassle of video production at scale. Customers include leading e-learning platforms, Fortune 500 companies, marketing agencies, production companies, social media platforms and content creators of all sorts. D-ID was established in 2017 and is backed by tier-1 VCs. Over 100 million videos have been created using its technology. The solution is available through a self-service studio, an API, and plug-ins and is instrumental in bringing AI assistants, remote communications and the Metaverse to life. Recent clients include Warner Brothers Pictures, Publicis, Mondelez, Skilldora and MyHeritage who have used D-ID’s platform to create extraordinary experiences.