Skullx: Infinite revolutionizes the generative collection paradigm. Using pre-drawn assets mapped to traits and combined via rudimentary scripts to generate a collection has been the status quo for as long as Crypto Punks have been around. The prevalence of AI completely changes this and provides us with new opportunities to utilize it as a tool. In the case of our new collection - Skullx: Infinite - our in-house AI expert (Havohej) and other team members worked alongside our artist (Soh) to bring life to something incredibly ambitious that the space has never seen before.
What makes this collection truly unique is how the AI model was developed and used. The model was trained exclusively on Skullx assets, which was only possible because we are lucky to have many hundreds of handmade pieces that Soh had meticulously crafted over the years.
We made it a point to start with a model that had no knowledge of pixel art and use generic prompting (as can be seen from the initial sample). Through intense training and iteration, we refined it and created a custom workflow to generate high-quality results that feel unmistakably Skullx.
Other than a nod to cultural references, there were no external IPs or artists, or beautifying keywords (that might inadvertently borrow styles from unattributed artists) in our prompts.
The style is uniquely and unmistakably Skullx.
(Sample outputs during the training progress. Prompt is unchanged, showing the learning)
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Why was AI Used?
Creating a collection of this size(6666) that is composed entirely of 1/1s is something that goes beyond the limitations of a single artist. Instead of getting burnt out doing the entirety of the work himself - our Soh focused on the ethos, art direction (such as the shapes of the skulls), color palettes and the overall compositions, touch-ups and additions when necessary (some specific things the AI could not draw), and animation. Many clans were often reworked or sometimes discarded as requested by Soh.
(example Skullx Infinite design document)
The process was not about taking shortcuts—it was about elevating the medium and helping our artist (Soh) accomplish something impossible otherwise: creating a generative collection of 1/1s that's unmistakably true to the original series (where most traditional generative collections fall short. Creating and setting a new benchmark for generative art projects.
This AI model truly lives and breathes Skullx, and has unlimited potential…. (Stay tuned)
The amount of effort that went into the creation of this collection utilized the full force of our community and team’s skills. After consulting with Soh to define the vision and an intense team-wide brainstorming period, our AI expert went through thousands of prompts and over 100,000 generated images (it became addictive) to create 66 different themes (Clans), each with their own sub-variations and surprises.
Our tech lead (Daff) created a website which allowed a trusted selection of our community to vote on generations to ensure only the best results were picked out of the massive pool of generations.
Soh then did a final pass to manually approve each of the final 100 of each clan.
While many would think the use of AI would make things fast and easy, in truth the amount of effort and combined hours put by the team into this collection dwarfs any generative collection we have worked on.
Over 2 Bitcoin was spent to inscribe this artwork which we believe will be a testament to our commitment to the art. We are incredibly proud of this collection and stand firmly behind the work that went into it and are committed to providing the highest quality digital collectibles possible using creative new tech.
We love art, crypto culture, Bitcoin, and most of all - Ordinals. Skullx: Infinite is our love letter to all of these things as we believe we’ve pushed the boundaries of what it takes to make digital art using the best tools available.
Skullx is Infinite
So are you.