I redrew Gio with actual realistic human proportions (notice that his head is much smaller, relative to his body, than in any of my previous drawings) so that he matches my real world stature (height) and proportions, and decided to include two measuring sticks, with the first one on the left marked in feet for English measurements, and the second measuring stick to the right of the first is marked in decimeters for Metric measurements, for my international viewers outside of the USA looking at it.

For my USA viewers, one (1) decimeter (dm) is one-tenth (1/10th) of a meter, with 10 centimeters to a (1) decimeter; in English measurements that's 3.94 (approximately 4) inches - or, approximately one-third (1/3rd) of a foot, for every (1) decimeter. This is reflected in the picture by the measuring lines on the Metric measurement stick being one pixel lower than the measuring lines on the English measurement stick since there is not a one-to-one (1:1) translation/conversion between the two measuring systems.

Next to each measuring stick is Gio's height, with the first, taller line, labeled A, measuring Gio's height including his ears, which is 6 feet, 8 inches (6'8", or 80 inches), or 20.3 decimeters (dm), or 203 centimeters (cm). The second, slightly shorter line, labeled B measures Gio's height to the top of his head, not including his hair or ears; that measurement is 5 feet, 11 inches (5'11", or 71 inches), or 18 decimeters (dm), or 180 centimeters (cm) - which is my actual height in real life barefoot.

The English measuring stick is accurate to scale and matches the scale of Gio's height (as it is what I based the measurements for the picture on). The Metric measuring stick is off ever so slighty due to graphical limitations and English measurements not directly translating to Metric.

Still created using only Microsoft Paint - but only the Windows XP version this time, including the screen blur effect. I created the screen blur by doubling the canvas size from 288x216 to 576x432, and then resizing the picture to the same size (200%, in Stretch and Skew), and then resizing the picture and canvas both to 1728x1296 (300%, in Stretch and Skew) to create the screen blur effect. Apparently, the anti-aliasing-when-resizing-an-image glitch was added in to Microsoft Paint from Windows XP onwards, as Microsoft Paint from Windows 98, on which the XP version is based and is functionally identical other than not being able to open and save PNG files, does not have this glitch.

The Windows 11 version of Microsoft Paint has this same glitch with refinement (leave it to Microsoft to refine a software glitch rather than fix it) but it also applies to resized parts of images, in addition to enlarging part of an image larger the the canvas. The Windows 11 version also saves data (as it is now an app rather than a program like all previous versions up until Windows 10), which combined with now added AI (Algorithmic Imitation) capabilities, essentially means that Microsoft (assumedly) or anyone else with access to said data through the internet or other means can steal your art without your consent and also use it to feed and train AI art generators to copy your style.

The only ways to prevent this is either:

[i] (A) use it (Windows 11 Microsoft Paint) without an active internet/network connection and reset the app, also without an active internet/network connection, after each use to delete the data after each use to kill the art data farm for Microsoft/AI art generators to prevent the theft of your art or style - this also means that if you use a public library computer (or a computer in any other place with internet/network access) running Windows 11, you absolutely should not use Paint for this reason as it is a gross violation of privacy and now a trojan horse program to uninformed and unsuspecting users of it unaware of the previously aformentioned that is deemed to be safe because "it comes from Microsoft with the computer and is free" - yeah, at the expense of your privacy.

(B) The second, best, and most secure option is to just use an older version of Microsoft Paint - like the Windows XP version. For whatever reason, computers running Windows 11 will not allow you you to run the Windows 7/8/10 versions of Microsoft Paint, which is why I said the Windows XP version as it will run on Windows 11 (but has to be renamed so the computer isn't confused when you try to open "Paint").


- Gio
Wednesday, December 11th, 2024
5:28 P.M. Central Standard Time (CST)

Added at 5:34 P.M., same date as above:
The picture is at 50% Luminescense with a tint of 64 Red, and 16 Green (I forgot to add it above before saving finalizing the submission of the picture.).

Added at 7:55 P.M., same date as above:
I also forgot to add that I changed Gio's hair and pants from gray to black, as he's actually supposed to be all black - if he was in our world (or rather I was him), I'd appear as a humanoid cat with a slender build and weighing only 140 pounds (or 63 kilograms, kg) that is 5 feet, 11 inches (180cm) tall (excluding my ears, obviously), with black fur (with dark gray skin underneath), black, wooly hair with a widows' peak hairline, human-like hands and feet (with hidden, retractible claws), large, obvious fangs hanging out of both sides of my mouth, and yellow eyes with brown irises with slit pupils (makes sense, since I would be a humanoid cat), wearing black pants with a black military style belt with a golden brass military style sliding belt buckle, red plastic earmuffs with a black plastic support bar and black colored padding, brown sunglasses with brown polarized lenses the same color as a brown glass bottle, neon blue arm sleeves (like what an archer would wear when shooting arrows to protect their arms), and turquoise anklets - in other words, my appearance would match the picture above other than the graphics-limitation-induced grayscale.

Due to graphical limitations however, I used shades of dark gray as stand ins for black on Gio's fur, earmuffs (excluding the red part, which is red plastic), belt, and mouth/lip so that they are all visible to the audience.

(Added on Sunday, December 15th, 2024, at 12:25 P.M. CST)
I got the idea to intentionally "damage" my picture so that AI (Algorithmic Imitation, not "Artificial Intelligence") scrapers (whether I am aware of it or not, doesn't matter) try to use this picture as a reference for its dataset, it won't work as I used a two step process to intentionally "damage" my picture - and all of it requiring/using only Microsoft Paint (the Windows XP version).

WARNING: Before following the steps below, save the original file in a format that doen't damage your work (such as PNG), and then copy and edit the copy of the original file in a new window to prevent unintentional damage to the original file (your artwork) that you created.

The first step is to (1) enlarge the canvas to to the desired size (under Image, and Attributes under that), and then enlarge the picture to match the canvas size, and then enlarge the picture to the final desired size without enlarging the canvas to create a screen blur effect on the picture with the built in anti-aliasing-when-image-enlarged glitch in Microsoft Paint (Windows XP version).

The second (and final) step is (2) to save the picture as a GIF file (from Microsoft Paint, under File, and then Save As), as doing so will automatically artifact the image, obscuring clear contrasts between details within the picture so that the Algorithimic Imitation (AI) scrapers/miners/farmers/bots will have a much harder time using the picture in question as a reference. This is especially useful for pixel art with clear obvious details, such as my above drawing, as the details are still visible to the human eye from normal viewing distances, but when zoomed in, the clear contrasts of color between details are artifacted (damaged) so as to be hard to distinguish by a computer - rendering it nearly impossible for Algorithmic Imitation (AI) to copy the style as it is now covered in static from the GIF compression, thereby poisoning the AI thieves "loot" and ruining their plans.

Algorithmic Imitation (AI) is no match for Artist Imagination (also AI) - and the creativity that comes with it. Artists innovate, while Algorithms imitate (copy). They are not and will never be equivalent. Artist Imagination is the only "AI" I will ever use - and nothing is going to change that, ever - Gio.