Neural style transfer has been widely used to transfer artist painting style to photographs creating new pieces of art. The opposite direction has motivated this project, and the latter investigates the ability to create photorealistic images. Can simple sketches be brought to life? Using only a minimalistic sketch, a photograph of a person and a neural style transfer algorithm, the machine can bring simple illustrations into life transferring the human characteristics, for example, the eyes, ears, mouth. The neural style transfer algorithm used in this work is trained on the pre-trained VGG-19 convolutional neural network and based on Leon A. Gatys' paper, "A Neural Algorithm of Artistic Style". "Hidden sorrow." is the outcome of this algorithm given a digital drawing and a person's photo.
“On the eve of morrow, shadows and sorrow, hidden in inaccessible depths, one million internal deaths” ~ ZR
“Hidden sorrow.” Deep learning art, 2020.
Content basis for “Hidden sorrow.”