Have you ever come across a project that feels like it was tailor-made for you? Well, that’s exactly how I felt when Jari, the creative director of Kurio Agency, approached me about a unique AI-based project for one of Finland’s largest energy companies, Helen.
Helen wants to talk about energy in a way that even a child can understand. Since energy transition affects children and young people above all. That is one reason why Helen made a children’s book – Ellen’s energy adventure. The book provides children and their families as well as experts in the field of education accessible information on the energy transition, different forms of energy, and the climate crisis. The book was written by Leandro Righini and Mick Scheinin. And its magnificent illustrations were created by Eveliina Saarentaus.
My part of the project was to create an AI-based social media influencer based on Eveliina’s hand-drawn character named Ellen. In the book, Ellen takes the reader on an exciting journey through different energy sources in a fairytale-like adventure that educates both children and their parents. The book itself is illustrated with Eveliina’s stunning artwork, which I can’t help but admire every time I see them.
But that’s not all! We also had to bring Ellen to life and make her appear as realistic as possible, so I started sketching ideas for the character in AI. Once we had the main features down, I created a personalized AI model to make Ellen versatile enough to fit into various situations and environments. We even had Ellen pose for some real-life photographs with Helen employees and the amazing iconic Finnish actress Seela Sella, who is the godmother of the children’s book. To get a life-like character as possible I used Stable Diffusion AI with ControlNet to get full control over the character with my own personalized AI model.
As an AI specialist, this project was both challenging and thrilling. I had to employ all my skills and tools to make
Ellen look as life-like as possible. The results, however, were beyond even my expectations. The project showcased the boundless possibilities that these emerging technologies offer in storytelling and visual productions.
I am grateful to Kurio and Helen for involving me in this fantastic project. Ellen’s adventures can be followed on various social media channels, and I urge you to check them out. This project proves that with AI, anything is
possible, and traditional methods can be complemented with these new technologies to bring stories to life in a
totally new way.
Read more about Ellen’s energy adventure here:
https://www.helen.fi/en/company/helen-ltd/about-us/ellens-energy-adventure
Follow Ellen on Instagram and Facebook @energiaellen:
https://www.facebook.com/energiaellen
https://www.instagram.com/energiaellen/
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