A Brush with AI: How I Became a Cartoon, a Cowboy, and a Masterpiece—All Before Lunch Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 637

I woke up in a particularly playful mood today—and instead of just keeping that joy to myself (or annoying my wife with too many bad jokes before coffee), I thought, “Why not share the fun with my readers?”

So, I gave myself a creative challenge: use the latest ChatGPT image update to turn me into art. Not metaphorically, but literally.

Over the past week, ChatGPT rolled out a powerful upgrade to its image generation tool. Not only can it now create high-quality visuals, but it can also add stylish text, mimic famous art styles, and apply creative effects that would make even Picasso raise an eyebrow. Naturally, I had to try it out.

What started as a test quickly turned into a full-blown digital art gallery—featuring yours truly in a dozen different artistic styles. I became a Simpson, a Van Gogh painting, a 3D Pixar character, a cowboy, and even appeared in a Salvador Dalí-style surrealist piece flanked by Einstein and Dalí himself. (Let’s just say that dinner party got weird.)

Starting Image

Each version came from a simple prompt. That’s the magic. The only real limit is your imagination—and maybe your ego, depending on the results.

Oh, and of course—the banner image for this article? Yep. Also generated with ChatGPT. One part art, one part AI, one part “wow, that actually looks like me!”

Add Fender Guitar in Dr. Seuss Style	Vincent van Gogh Starry Night Style	Simpsons style
3D cartoon cowboy as Magazine Cover	Great body shape with the guitar in 3D pixar Style	GQ cover image Style

Landscape image with me in the middle, Albert Einstein on my left and Salvador Dali on my right in Dali style of painting

Here’s why this matters beyond just having fun:

These tools aren’t just digital toys. They’re powerful creative companions for business professionals, marketers, consultants, speakers, educators—you name it. You can use them to create compelling content, data visualizations, book covers, course graphics, YouTube thumbnails, or social media posts that actually stop the scroll.

As Einstein once said (and I like to imagine he whispered this while I stood next to his image in the surrealist dreamscape):

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world.”

So go ahead—have some fun. Experiment. Get weird. Get beautiful. Get pixelated.

Then—here’s your homework—send me something you create. Really. I’d love to feature your AI-powered art or ideas in one of my future newsletters. You might just inspire someone else to imagine bigger.

Let’s see what happens when technology meets creativity with a dash of fun and a sprinkle of strategy.

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