[PixAI] Depicting a Page of Youth with Serin | Verifying its Webtoon-like Expressiveness!

PixAI's new model "Serin" is a generative AI model that "specializes in expressions reminiscent of Korean Manhwa and Webtoons". In previous articles, I have shared my surprise when first using Serin and compared it with the existing model "Tsubaki".

This time, to delve deeper into its characteristics, I will verify "how well Serin can express narrative through a short story".

In Korean dramas and Webtoons, romance and poignancy often reside in "casual, everyday moments," and the atmosphere is built through lighting effects and the depiction of gestures.

The setting chosen for this verification is "a moment of youth after school". It is a casual yet unforgettable scene that occurs in daily life. I am excited to see what kind of visuals Serin will return when I provide descriptions I want to use as illustrations in the form of natural language prompts!

※ This article is a sponsored post requested by PixAI.

🟩 Depicting a Youth Story with Serin

What I am about to present is "a small story of two people who met at a bus stop at dusk". Please follow along as if turning the pages of a youth drama.

At the Bus Stop at Dusk

At dusk, a small bus stop a little way from the school building. The madder-red sky was quietly sinking into night, and streetlights began to flicker on one by one. A girl in a uniform sat on the waiting bench, her gaze cast downward. The small gesture of fidgeting with the bag she held seemed to be an attempt to hide her loneliness.

—Tap, tap, tap...

The sound of hurried footsteps approached, and a breathless boy appeared. "The bus hasn't come yet... I made it!" At the familiar voice, the girl's heart skipped a beat.

The boy, who had rushed in just before the bus arrival time, noticed the figure. "Oh? Are you heading home now?"

To the boy who sat down next to her after a short pause, the girl shook her head slightly. "Y-yeah... I just got here."

But in reality, the girl had let several buses pass by. A small lie told to hide her inability to be honest with herself.

A short silence fell between the two. All that could be heard was the leaves rustling in the wind and the sound of cars driving in the distance. While keeping her bag gripped "tightly," the girl quietly turned her gaze toward the boy. Noticing the gesture but unable to find the words, the boy looked up at the sky.

"Class was long today," was the casual remark the boy let out, breaking the silence. A sense of relief washed over the girl at such a trivial comment, and a smile spilled out. "Yeah, I couldn't help but feel sleepy." With a faint flush on her cheeks, the girl smiled softly. As if in time with her smile and pace, the wind blew, and the girl's hair swayed gently. The boy was struck speechless, his heart racing at her profile illuminated by the streetlight.

Noticing his gaze, the girl tilted her head. "...What?" The boy hurriedly looked away and gripped his bag tighter. "No, it's nothing." ...He couldn't say anything more. The feelings hidden deep in his chest welled up to his throat, but they wouldn't turn into words. From a distance, the bus lights began to illuminate the bench. The approaching light seemed to be rushing their time together.

As if summoning his courage, the boy said, "...Shall we go home together tomorrow, too?" The girl blinked in surprise, then nodded slightly. "...Yeah." A modest reply. But it was the answer the girl had finally managed to give after summoning all her courage. The boy felt his hope grow, saved by that modest reply.

The bus approached. The light from the streetlamp and the headlights overlapped, and the shadows of the two began to overlap as well. While superimposing themselves on those shadows, they unconsciously believed in their future together.

🟨 Thoughts on Creating This

What did you think?
Although it was short, I think I was able to depict a classic, very bittersweet story.
It's great, isn't it? Youth😊

What I felt again during this experiment is the "power to create atmosphere" that Serin possesses.
When looking at the illustrations lined up with the story, I think the emotional flow was naturally expressed in each scene, from the loneliness of the girl waiting alone to the tension of the two facing each other, and finally to the expression shown in the close-up.
Writing natural language prompts while writing the story to express it. This felt more like stacking up a story one image at a time rather than simply generating pictures.

Serin's strengths also stand out in character depiction.
It is a major advantage that consistency is easily maintained when detailed settings are written in text, and almost the same output results are obtained in every scene. Also, I strongly felt that being able to easily draw cute makeup faces is a charm.

The expression of light was also very impressive✨
From the orange of the sunset to the white of the streetlights at night, and even the bus lights, the soft expression that lets you feel the lingering effect is attractive. The illustrations for the warm and bittersweet youth short story drawn by Serin were of a level of completion that I was very satisfied with.

There is some fluctuation regarding background depiction, but it is sufficient if viewed as a single image. Whether consistency can be maintained by specifying this in detail as well is a point I would like to try in the future.

Serin showed that it is not just a "model that produces beautiful illustrations," but a model that carefully depicts the emotions of characters and the atmosphere of a story. This expressiveness is the greatest strength of Korean-style models, and I feel great potential for future applications!

🟥 Bonus: I turned the illustrations into a video!

PixAI also has an i2v (Image to Video) function that generates video from images, and it seems it has been updated to "v3.0," which improved the stability and consistency of video generation. I immediately tried it with the illustrations generated this time!

Just by uploading the image, it deciphered the atmosphere of the picture and reproduced the scene where the hair sways smoothly. It's amazing!
The eye color was different, but when I specified it individually with a prompt before video output, it expressed it properly👍

🌸 Summary

Through this short story experiment, I was able to re-experience the Korean-model-like characteristics that Serin excels at.
The emotional depiction of light that matches the story, the colors shifting from sunset to night, and the soft expressions of the characters naturally created the atmosphere of the story.

A natural expressiveness that gently nestles up to the story. The illustrations, which have a transparency that leaves room for the viewer's imagination without over-exaggerating the depiction, were perfect for illustrations.
It was an experiment where I felt that Serin has strengths not only in beauty as a single image, but also in conveying the atmosphere contained in the story!

🔷 Next Preview

Next time, I will leave the Korean-style framework and explore new ways to utilize Serin.
While trying out my favorite cat-ear characters and fantasy-style expressions, I will also cover PixAI's latest video generation update model "V3.0"!

Expanding the charm of still images further into moving expressions. Please look forward to seeing how far the range of creation will expand by combining Serin and new features!

Click here for the first article!

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