Last week I wanted to test the ability of OpenAI’s image generation API. I needed a challenge to combine the language model with the image generator to see how creative it could be in creating 40 newsletter category covers in one batch.
I decided to see if o3 could build a rubric to re-create the humor of Gary Larson’s The Far Side. Before you see the conversation (below), here are my favorite images it created, based solely on a single word AI category name.
Below are highlights from the first portion of the conversation where GPT builds the formula to create prompts for Far Side inspired cartoons. It then converted my existing Python scripts for Ideogram’s API into a GPT image API script.
Italics text is me, plain text is OpenAI o3:
If I wanted to write a rubric, that would help me generate image prompts that would be similar to Gary Larson’s the far side comics what do you think the elements should be and how could we construct a process that would generate an image prompt that would be funny and subtle and have all those elements of humor and irony that make the far side wonderful? I’m going to give a large language model my rubric and then I’m gonna give it 40 artificial intelligence categories and I’m gonna have the large language model. Use the rubric to generate prompts for these fun cartoons and I’m gonna use them as cover images for my weekly newsletter categories let’s walk through this step-by-step and see if we can pull off this challenging assignment. If you need anything from me like examples or anything, just let me know. Here are a few (I provided some examples).
Below is a play-book you can hand to any GPT-style model so it consistently turns “AI-topic X” into a single-panel, Far Side-flavored prompt. I’ve broken it into three parts:
- What makes a Far Side cartoon a Far Side cartoon? → A concise rubric (with weights)
- The generation workflow → Step-by-step instructions the LLM should follow every time
- A template + two worked examples → Something you can drop straight into your script
| Weight | Element | What to look for / include |
|---|---|---|
| 20 pts | Comedic Premise (Incongruity) | Mash two worlds that don’t normally meet (e.g., cows & cars, Einstein & the NBA). The tension is the joke. |
| 15 pts | Anthropomorphism / Role-Reversal | Animals, objects or cosmic beings behave like clueless humans or humans behave like animals/objects. |
| 15 pts | Dead-pan Caption | One short line under the panel; sounds like a wry narrator, not a punch-line rim-shot. |
| 10 pts | Visual Simplicity | Sparse background; action and joke read in <3 sec. Think “proscenium stage” not “Where’s Waldo?”. |
| 10 pts | Character Expressions | Bug-eyes, slack jaws, smirks—exaggerated but still minimalist. |
| 10 pts | Irony / Dark Whimsy | A little morbid, a little nerdy, never mean-spirited. |
| 10 pts | Subtle Extra Detail | A clipboard, chalkboard equation, wash-room sign—small prop that rewards a second glance. |
| 5 pts | Plain Line Art + Flat Color | Pastels or muted tones; no glossy 3-D rendering. |
| 5 pts | Timeless Setting | Avoid tech time-stamps unless needed for the joke. |
A perfect prompt evokes every row; 70+ pts usually “feels” like Larson.
2. Generation Workflow for the LLM
- Pick the angle (Premise Stage)
- Receive the category label (e.g., “Neural Networks”)
- Brainstorm 3–4 incongruous pairings or role reversals involving that topic.
- Choose the one with the clearest visual gag.
- Outline the panel (Sketch Stage)
- Identify setting, main characters, prop for subtle detail, and action.
- Check against rubric for anthropomorphism, simplicity, irony.
- Write the caption (Caption Stage)
- ≤ 15 words, dead-pan, present tense or past-perfect.
- Avoid obvious punch-line markers (“Ha!”, “LOL”).
- Compose the image-gen prompt (Prompt Stage)
- Start with “Single-panel cartoon in the style of Gary Larson’s The Far Side:” to anchor aesthetics.
- Add visual description from Step 2.
- End with “Caption: ‘…’” including the line from Step 3.
- Return JSON
{
“category”: “Neural Networks”,
“prompt”: “Single-panel cartoon in the style of Gary Larson’s The Far Side: … Caption: ‘…’ “
}
Rubric self-check (Optional but helpful)
- Score the prompt quickly (0-100). If <70, iterate once.
3. Template & Worked Examples
Prompt Template
Single-panel cartoon in the style of Gary Larson’s The Far Side:
[Setting — keep it simple].
[Describe key characters, including any anthropomorphic twist].
[Describe the incongruous action or moment just before the punch].
[Include 1 subtle background detail or prop].
Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines.
Caption: “[Dead-pan line]”
Aspect ratio 16:9.
Example A – Large Language Models
Single-panel cartoon in the style of Gary Larson’s The Far Side:
Inside a quiet public library. Two towering bookshelves lean inward like worried onlookers.
A bulky mainframe computer wearing tiny reading glasses whispers to a dog-eared paperback
while a row of paperback books huddle behind it, taking notes on clipboards.
One book titled “Human Speech 101” peeks out of the pile.
Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines.
Caption: “Early attempts at large language models lacked conversational nuance.”
Aspect ratio 16:9.
Example B – Generative Adversarial Networks
Single-panel cartoon in the style of Gary Larson’s The Far Side:
An art museum after hours. Two identical paintings of a bowl of fruit hang opposite each other.
One painting leans out of its frame, scowling and holding a red “REJECTED” stamp.
The other painting, sweating nervously, clutches a crude sketch of a banana behind its back.
Near the exit, a janitor’s cart carries buckets labeled “Training Data.”
Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines.
Caption: “Generative adversarial networks: still life and death reviews.”
Aspect ratio 16:9.
Awesome. Here’s a bit more about what we’ll need to create. The category name will be written across the image as a title. Here’s a text file with all of the categories separated by spaces.
I’d like the prompts to be written to a text file, but before we talk about that, let’s pause and be sure we’re on the same page. [I gave it my text file with all 40+ category names]
Key points
- Title overlay: I’ll explicitly direct the image model to render the category name across the panel (all-caps by default; let me know if you want a different treatment).
- Aspect ratio: 16:9, matching your newsletter covers.
- Consistency: Same aesthetic language in every prompt so the set feels like a collection.
Process
Hand the file back to you for download.
Loop through the 40 categories.
Apply the rubric workflow (premise ➜ sketch ➜ caption ➜ prompt).
Self-score; if <70 pts redo once.
Write the final prompt to the text file.
Quick confirmation checklist
- Overlay style – all-caps, centered at top, any font/color guidance?
- File format – plain text vs. JSONL?
- Anything to ban or emphasize (e.g., no religious references, keep it PG-13, etc.)?
- Ready to generate once the above is locked?
Let me know, and I’ll start cranking out the 40 prompts right away.
This is awesome! Can the prompts be written to a text file called openAI-prompts? I’ll use this file to create a Python code and leverage an API to generate the images. Do you want to know more about the API now or just wait until the prompts are all finished?
Got it! We’ll target openAI-prompts.txt as the output file.
Before I start generating, let’s lock in these last details:
| Item | Current assumption | Let me know if you’d like something different |
|---|---|---|
| Overlay title | ALL-CAPS, centered at top of panel, same muted Larson palette | Change font, color, or placement? |
| File structure | Plain text; one blank line between prompts (easiest to parse with Python) | Prefer JSONL instead? |
| Content guard-rails | Family-friendly PG-13; mild dark humor OK; no profanity or explicit violence | Any additional bans or must-haves? |
| API specifics | We can wait—once prompts are ready you can tell me the endpoint / payload format and I’ll help tweak | Happy to hear now if that’s easier |
Give me the thumbs-up (or any tweaks), and I’ll spin up the 40 prompts and drop them into openAI-prompts.txt for you to download.
– – – – – – – –
Here’s are the prompts from our chat:
AGENTS | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: A sunny suburban living room. A family of tux‑wearing cats sits at a board‑room table while six tiny robot mice give a laser‑pointer presentation about cheese acquisition. Large bold title text centered at top: “AGENTS” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Field agents brief the top cats on cheese acquisition.”
AMAZON | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Dense jungle clearing under a huge neon sign reading “FREE 2‑DAY RAINFOREST”. Delivery drones wearing safari helmets zip between trees as bewildered parrots sign for packages. Large bold title text centered at top: “AMAZON” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Amazon explores its original fulfillment center.”
ANTHROPIC | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: A prehistoric cave lab. Two shaggy cavemen in lab coats debate a moral code etched on a stone tablet while a sabertooth cat raises a paw to object. Large bold title text centered at top: “ANTHROPIC” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “The first anthropic principle is literally set in stone.”
APPLE | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Garden of Eden Genius‑Bar. A snake wearing a polo shirt troubleshoots a bitten apple for two embarrassed humans, swapping out cores from a wooden parts drawer. Large bold title text centered at top: “APPLE” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “First Apple Support session was awkward.”
AGI | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Research nursery. A robotic toddler in a playpen stacks alphabet blocks that spell “SELF”, while nervous scientists take notes from behind safety glass. Large bold title text centered at top: “AGI” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Tests for general intelligence begin early.”
AUDIO | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Pastoral concert hall outdoors. A bovine orchestra in tuxedos moo into brass instruments while a pig conductor waves a baton of alfalfa. Large bold title text centered at top: “AUDIO” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “High‑fidelity finally goes full pastoral.”
ARVR | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Stone‑age gamers wearing massive granite goggles wander into a grazing mammoth; one bumps into its leg while another tries to pinch‑zoom thin air. Large bold title text centered at top: “AR/VR” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Early AR/VR still lacked object detection.”
AUTONOMOUS | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Driverless stagecoach careens downhill while the horse lounges nearby in a hammock reading Horse & Travel magazine. Large bold title text centered at top: “AUTONOMOUS” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Autonomous mode lets the horsepower rest.”
BENCHMARKS | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Silicon gym. Sweating computers bench‑press barbells labeled “latency” and “accuracy” while a clipboard‑wielding stopwatch shouts encouragement. Large bold title text centered at top: “BENCHMARKS” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “It’s leg‑day for the silicon set.”
BUSINESS | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Ant‑hill boardroom. The queen points at a pie chart showing 70 % potato‑salad, 30 % soda cans while worker ants scribble minutes. Large bold title text centered at top: “BUSINESS” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Market outlook: heavy picnic season.”
CHIPS | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Sunny beach. Seagulls snack on shiny silicon wafers like potato chips while a frantic engineer waves a “Do Not Feed” sign. Large bold title text centered at top: “CHIPS” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Another reason the chip shortage persists.”
CONSUMER | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Mall dressing room for aliens. Little green shoppers try on rubber “Average Human” suits while a focus‑group clipboard observes through one‑way glass. Large bold title text centered at top: “CONSUMER” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Focus group studies the ‘typical earthling.’”
DEEPSEEK | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Blackest ocean trench. An anglerfish dangles a laptop as lure, reading search results to a confused octopus in bifocals. Large bold title text centered at top: “DEEPSEEK” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Search engine reaches new depths.”
EDUCATION | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Classroom of giant eggs on desks. Chicks pop their heads out taking multiple‑choice tests while a proud hen grades with red pen. Large bold title text centered at top: “EDUCATION” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Early‑bird education pushes hatch rates.”
ETHICS | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Lab scientist with a devil and angel on each shoulder; both fill out a compliance form while glaring at each other. Large bold title text centered at top: “ETHICS” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Ethics committee meets in real time.”
FIGURE | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Artist studio. A smug graph line poses on a chaise lounge while the painter labels the canvas “FIGURE 1”. Large bold title text centered at top: “FIGURE” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Figure 1 insists on better lighting.”
GOOGLE | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Enormous octopus librarian in a corridor of card catalogs, each tentacle handing scrolls marked Search, Maps, Ads, Email to tiny assistant crabs. Large bold title text centered at top: “GOOGLE” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Google rehires its original web crawler.”
HUGGINGFACE | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Therapy circle of teddy bears wearing smiley masks; one bear holds a laptop displaying code hearts. Large bold title text centered at top: “HUGGINGFACE” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “New release adds 20 % more warm fuzzies.”
IMAGES | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Overworked photocopier sweats as endless selfies march off the output tray and pose for more selfies. Large bold title text centered at top: “IMAGES” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Pictures now officially worth 1,001 words.”
INFLECTION | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Grammar police pull over a monotone robot, issuing a ticket labeled “lack of inflection—monosyllabic”. Large bold title text centered at top: “INFLECTION” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “AI fined for dull delivery.”
INTERNATIONAL | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Airport customs for ideas. Thought bubbles line up with passports while a bored official stamps “global”. Large bold title text centered at top: “INTERNATIONAL” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Languages wait in customs.”
LLAMA | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Lecture hall in Andes. Professor llama in tweed jacket explains context windows to attentive alpacas, occasionally spitting for emphasis. Large bold title text centered at top: “LLAMA” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Enrollment spikes after Llama 3 announcement.”
LOCAL | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Tiny snow‑globe town under a giant satellite dish labeled “Global Reach”; townsfolk wave as data beams down. Large bold title text centered at top: “LOCAL” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Local news obtains truly global coverage.”
META | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Two mirrors face each other—inside the infinite reflections, office workers keep scheduling more meetings. Large bold title text centered at top: “META” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Meta meeting enters infinite recursion.”
MICROSOFT | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Medieval scriptorium. Monks stare at a glowing blue parchment reading “Thou hast performed an illegal operation.” Large bold title text centered at top: “MICROSOFT” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “First Microsoft patch day, circa 1140 AD.”
MISTRAL | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: French countryside. A rooster in a beret stands amid swirling papers labeled “tokens” blown by a powerful mistral wind. Large bold title text centered at top: “MISTRAL” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Model takes every word by storm.”
MOBILE | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Stone‑age commuters roll giant wheel‑shaped tablets while complaining about roaming mammoths. Large bold title text centered at top: “MOBILE” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “First mobile plan had terrible coverage.”
MULTIMODALITY | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Dog, cat, and toaster sit an exam labeled “Sight, Sound, Toast” while a proctor goldfish watches from bowl. Large bold title text centered at top: “MULTIMODALITY” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Appliance students ace the toast section.”
NVIDIA | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Green chameleon clicks GPUs into its scales like LEGO, blending into circuit‑board wallpaper. Large bold title text centered at top: “NVIDIA” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Adaptive camouflage architecture, version 1.0.”
OPENAI | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Treasure chest labeled “OpenAI” bursts open; curious ideas in lab coats scramble into daylight. Large bold title text centered at top: “OPENAI” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Finally living up to the name.”
OPENSOURCE | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Barn‑raising scene. Farm animals hammer code‑filled planks onto a communal barn while a chicken offers a pull request. Large bold title text centered at top: “OPENSOURCE” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Warranty limited to eggshell cracks.”
PERPLEXITY | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Corn‑maze shaped like a question mark. A data scientist with clipboard wanders, looking very lost. Large bold title text centered at top: “PERPLEXITY” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Score spikes during office navigation.”
OPEDS | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Newspaper opinion page where printed letters wear boxing gloves, sparring in tiny ring. Large bold title text centered at top: “OPEDS” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Editorial debate enters round three.”
PUBLISHING | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Ancient printing press spits out modern tweets; startled monks chase wayward hashtags. Large bold title text centered at top: “PUBLISHING” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “They hit send before proofreading again.”
QWEN | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Chinese dragon studying the alphabet stops proudly at Q‑W‑E‑N, ignoring the vowels. Large bold title text centered at top: “QWEN” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Turns out vowels were optional all along.”
RAG | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Clothesline hung with socks labeled ‘facts’; sewing‑machine robot stitches them into a patchwork quilt documentation. Large bold title text centered at top: “RAG” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Patches holes in its own memory.”
ROBOTS | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Factory floor. Humans wearing cardboard boxes pretend to be robots while real robots supervise with clipboards. Large bold title text centered at top: “ROBOTS” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Robots finally outsource menial labor.”
SSI | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Medieval joust. Knights display QR‑code shields, scanning themselves before charging. Large bold title text centered at top: “SSI” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Self‑sovereign identity meets chivalry.”
SCIENCE | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Mad scientist pours beakers of coffee into Erlenmeyer mug labeled “peer‑reviewed caffeine.” Large bold title text centered at top: “SCIENCE” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Repeatable results begin at 200 mg.”
VIDEO | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Cave wall painting buffers with a spinning wheel while frustrated caveman pounds the wall remote. Large bold title text centered at top: “VIDEO” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Streaming, circa 10,000 BCE.”
TWITTER | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Fence lined with birds chirping hashtags at passing worms; one bluebird holds a “ratio” sign. Large bold title text centered at top: “TWITTER” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “Early Twitter limited posts to actual chirps.”
TECH | Single-panel cartoon with loose, hand‑inked lines, bean‑bodied figures, muted flat colors, minimal props, and deadpan humor: Caveman tech support desk. Stone wheel customer hears: “Have you tried rolling it again?” Large bold title text centered at top: “TECH” Muted colors, flat shading, black ink outlines. 16:9. Caption: “User error persists despite rollout.”
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