Stephen King Shares Terrifying AI Art of Pennywise
AI art has become quite common these days, and the results can be anywhere from fascinating to terrifying. American Scientist previously explained the method as "artists writing algorithms not to follow a set of rules, but to 'learn' a specific aesthetic by analyzing thousands of images. The algorithm then tries to generate new images in adherence to the aesthetics it has learned." We've seen a lot of interesting things as a result of AI art, and author Stephen King just shared a pretty epic piece of Pennywise the Clown. The horror icon was made famous by King's book IT, and screen adaptations of the story have only made the terrifying villain more popular. Now, we can't unsee this new AI version of Pennywise.
"This was done by an AI bot. I asked my tech friend, Jake, to put Pennywise on a bike and this came out," King wrote. You can check out the art below:
This was done by an AI bot. I asked my tech friend, Jake, to put Pennywise on a bike and this came out. pic.twitter.com/J5oAI3Tozq
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) August 20, 2022
Recently, King said he doesn't plan to write any more books about Pennywise. After the success of Warner Bros.' two-part IT movie adaptation, it was announced that a prequel series called Welcome to Derry was being developed for HBO Max. Naturally, many fans wondered if King would be involved with the show. The author clarified his involvement and talked about any future IT projects while on Bloody Disgusting's The Losers Club Podcast.
"Well, I don't have a relationship to Pennywise now," King shared. "Because I have no intention of going back to IT... it's in the hands of people who are doing this... Andy and Barbara [Muschietti] are going to do Welcome to Derry, they're talking about it anyway. And they've got sort of a handshake deal, I think, with HBO Max."
Recently, King's son Joe Hill had his own work adapted. The Black Phone starred Etan Hawke as "The Grabber," and Hill told Screen Rant that the character was originally a part-time clown but they changed him to a magician due to the success of IT and the popularity of Pennywise.
"I had one big creative contribution, which is — I don't know if we want to get down in the weeds. I had one big creative contribution, which was when I read the first draft, it was very, very faithful to the story and, in the short story, when Finney is kidnapped by The Grabber, the guy introduces himself as a part-time clown," Hill explained to Screen Rant. "He still was a part-time clown in the film, in the screenplay, which was kind of a natural evolution, because the character somewhat echoes the crimes of John Wayne Gacy. But I read the script and, I can't remember if IT had come out at that point or was just about to come out, and I said, 'Guys, I don't think he can be a part-time clown, not with Pennywise about to explode on the American consciousness. I just think there's room for only one deadly clown. So what if we made him a part-time magician instead?'"
What do you think about the Pennywise AI art? Tell us in the comments!
