About The Literal Artist

The Literal Artist is a three-panel comic machine built on one of the oldest jokes in visual storytelling: the request that is taken exactly at its word. Ask to be made taller and you are drawn standing on a pile of books. Ask to be put on the cover and you end up under a duvet. Comics have always loved this kind of gag, because a single picture can show the gap between what someone meant and what they said, faster than any sentence.

What you do here

You play Pip, a client with big ideas. Pick one of the request cards and send it to Mo, an artist who never asks a follow-up question. The strip builds itself: in the first panel Pip makes the request, in the second Mo gets to work, and in the third you see the finished, perfectly literal result with Mo's deadpan comment. You can collect all eight drawn commissions and download any strip as an image.

Where the AI comes in

You can also type a request of your own. Because there is no ready-made drawing for it, Mo answers with a literal reply and a short description of the panel, and the strip shows that description on Mo's sketchpad. That text is written live by AI and labelled as AI. It is instructed to stay kind and family-friendly, to avoid real people and brands, and to turn down anything unkind. If the AI service is busy, Mo answers with a hand-written line instead and the page says so.

Original characters and art

Pip, Mo and every scene are drawn for this page in simple shapes. They are not based on any existing comic, character or photo editor, and nothing here uses other people's artwork. If you share a strip, you are sharing our original drawing with your request in it, so keep your typed request friendly.

Privacy

Nothing is stored. A typed request is sent to the AI only when you press the button, and it is not saved by this page. Strips you download stay on your device.

Got a request that Mo should draw properly? Use the Contact page on Stories With Pictures.