A group presentation from the Core AI team on what we’re building. Progress since the team formation, next steps, implementation examples, and an open Q&A.
With WordCamp US just around the corner, one might about any new Wapuu designs on company swag in Portland. A couple weeks ago on vacation with my family, I was walking the beach boardwalk with our kids and saw several Labubus being swung around or otherwise attached to kids’ slingbacks. My brain immediately went to “what would a mashup of a Wapuu and a Labubu look like?” and just as quickly started prompting ChatGPT with image generation requests to get an answer.
The 4o model did a pretty great job from my initial, simple boardwalk-based prompt of “Can you design a mashup of a Labubu and a Wapuu?” even nailing the mashup name of “Wabubu”:
Absolutely — just to clarify first: are you imagining this mashup as a character illustration, a 3D model, or something else (e.g. plush, toy concept, sticker art)?
Assuming you’re looking for a character design mashup between Labubu (the mischievous, spiky-toothed character from The Monsters series by POP MART) and Wapuu (the cuddly WordPress mascot), here’s an idea for the concept:
Labubu × Wapuu Mashup Design Concept
Name: Wabubu
Core Traits Blended:
Wapuu body shape: round, simple, chibi proportions, friendly pose
Labubu face: mischievous wide smile, prominent buck teeth, large ears, and wild hair
Wapuu accessories: hugging the WordPress logo (or an alternate WP-related item like a laptop, Gutenberg block, or code bracket)
Wapuu’s round face but with Labubu’s wide, toothy grin and pronounced front teeth
Big mischievous Labubu-style eyes (slightly tilted, giving a prankster vibe)
Fluffy tufts of Labubu’s wild hair, slightly unkempt, poking out behind ears
Long pointed ears, one flopped down playfully
Body:
Retain Wapuu’s soft, rounded body and paws holding the WordPress logo
Covered in soft fur with Labubu’s tiger-like stripes subtly hinted in the texture
Small tail – could be a hybrid of Wapuu’s squirrel-style and Labubu’s wilder brush tail
Color Palette:
Golden yellow fur base (like Wapuu), but with darker brown/orange accents from Labubu
Blue-and-white WordPress logo contrasts nicely for emphasis
Pose Ideas:
Cheeky grin, clutching the WordPress logo sideways like it just stole it
One paw giving a “peace” sign or tiny devil horns
Sitting on a stack of code books or on top of a WordPress admin dashboard
Would you like me to generate an image of this version of Wabubu for you? If you want it to look more cute or more punk/mischievous, I can adjust the balance accordingly. Just let me know!
The first two generated images, however, missed the mark:
Even asking ChatGPT to show me what it thought was a Wapuu and a Labubu in a basic “a plus b equals c” sort of image was a struggle to get the entire image within the output:
At that point it was obvious that ChatGPT wasn’t super clear on what a Labubu looked like and needed a lot more coaching to create a landscape image of the mashup creation. So I shared an image of the first Wapuu and Labubu image from a quick web search to better define the image generation request and that immediately yielded better results:
From there it was much better at hitting what I was looking for in the Wabubu mashup both in a friendlier Wapuu version and a mischievous Labubu version:
At this point I felt it had nailed the general concept and started asking it to create different image style variants based on quick prompt variations:
Wabubu 3D plush Labubu styleWabubu 3D plush Wapupu styleWabubu full character sheet for animations or merchWabubu Studio Gibli versionWabubu Japanese anime versionWabubu Bob Ross painting versionWabubu 80s hair band plus neon imagery styleWabubu spider verse style animationWabubu origami paper animal versionWabubu studio laika claymation styleWabubu black and white coloring book styleWabubu Tim Burton gothic styleWabubu pixel art / 16-but sprite sheetWabubu kawaii bento box styleWabubu y2k vaporware aestheticWabubu chibi styleWabubu low-poly 3D renderWabubu embroidery patch style
Ironically with all the fun I had peppering ChatGPT with image generation variations I hit the cap of my monthly plan limit of image generations (yes, there are some variants and generations that I didn’t include here because they were just _bad_).
So at this point, ahead of WCUS, I’m curious… which of these are your favorite Wabubu variant? Which would you want physical merch of? What other image variants would you create? Do you prefer the more friendly Wapuu or the more mischievous Labubu variants? Which style do you think would make an epic enamel pin, plush toy, or swag giveaway at WordCamp US? Let me know your pick, or suggest a new mashup idea!
As my friendly competition with Jonathan Desrosiers and Jeff Golenski in contributing photos to the WordPress Photo Directory in 2024 came to a wrap, I’ll note that I didn’t manage to get a recap post out monthly and my photo submissions definitely ebbed and flowed but overall I’m pleased to see a grand total of 136 photos contributed!
Following on from my August & September post, let’s take a look at my October, November, and December contributions to the Photo Directory. Before October, I had 113 photos accepted and as the month of September wrapped up that number has increased by 23 to 136 photos in the directory.
P.S. – this post’s featured image comes from Openverse in searching for “October November December” and is “Banksia recurvistylis” by Jean and Fred is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Following on from my May, June, & July post, let’s take a look at my August and September contributions to the WordPress Photo Directory. Before August, I had 105 photos accepted and as the month of September wrapped up that number has increased by 8 (sigh, a couple slow months) to 113 photos in the directory.
Yeah yeah yeah, I’m hella delayed on this post and instead of tacking on August I’m going with May-June following on from March & April’s joint post to get caught up on my contributions to the WordPress Photo Directory. Before May, I had 62 photos accepted and as the month of July wrapped up that number has increased by 43 to 105 photos in the directory.
A bit delayed on this post, but following up on last summer’s USA lacrosse stick stringing I spent free time this summer putting together a Maryland flag lacrosse stick. After learning from last summer’s stringing, I assembled component parts to make a solid Maryland Terrapins lax stick.
The following images of my March and April contributions have been synced to Openverse (and thus easier to embed via the Image block’s “Select Image” flow to embed images from Openverse).
P.S. – this post’s featured image comes from Openverse in searching for “March April” and is “Forgotten Blossoms” by halfrain and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
February also included the new WordPress Photo Festival event, a global online photography competition organized by the WordPress Community of Kerala, India. The event ran from February 3rd to February 9th, 6:00pm IST and captured photos from participants around the world who uploaded them to the official WordPress Photo Directory using the #WPKeralaPhotos hashtag. 1,544 photos from 163 contributors were submitted to the WordPress Photo Directory during the event. The five best, unique entries each received a USD$100 prize, five additional folks received a consolation USD$50 prize, the three participants with the most number of photos received a USD$100 prize, and three additional participants also received a USD$50 prize (see all winners here).
I definitely stepped up my photo contributions during the event, ensuring that as quickly as any of my submissions were accepted/rejected that I submitted another photo. I’m pleased to have come in 26th place with 14 photos contributed to the event!
The following images of my February contributions have been synced to Openverse (and thus easier to embed via the Image block’s “Select Image” flow to embed images from Openverse).
