Tokyo-based startup Sakana AI has introduced two new image generation models — Evo-Ukiyoe and Evo-Nishikie.
Image from Sakana AI official
These models can be found on the Hugging Face platform, with the main purpose of generating Ukiyo-e style art through text or image prompts. As is known, Ukiyo-e is a traditional Japanese art form popular from the 17th to the 19th century, depicting themes such as historical scenes, natural landscapes, and sumo wrestlers. Sakana AI aims to use AI to bring this ancient art form back into the modern view.
The Evo-Ukiyoe model is primarily a text-to-image generation tool that can produce images similar to Ukiyo-e. For example, when you input descriptions about cherry blossoms, kimonos, or birds, it generates works that align with these elements. Even modern elements like hamburgers or laptops can be transformed into Ukiyo-e style images, although sometimes the results may deviate from the theme.
The foundation of this model is Sakana's own Evo-SDXL-JP, which has been finely tuned and uses a dataset containing over 24,000 Ukiyo-e artworks. These works were obtained through collaboration with the Art Research Center at Ritsumeikan University in Japan, ensuring the diversity and high quality of the data.
The other model, Evo-Nishikie, is an image-to-image processing tool that can add colors to monochrome Ukiyo-e works or re-style existing multi-colored works. Users only need to provide the source image along with color requirements, and the model will complete the rest of the work.
Sakana AI states that their goal is to promote the understanding of traditional "Japanese beauty" through these two models and hopes to find new applications in education and cultural dissemination. Although these models currently only support Japanese prompts, they are continuously evolving, with more possibilities in the future.
Currently, Sakana AI has provided these two models and related code on Hugging Face for research and development purposes. However, it is important to note that they are still in the experimental stage and are not suitable for commercial use.
Product entry: https://huggingface.co/SakanaAI/Evo-Ukiyoe-v1
Official blog: https://sakana.ai/evo-ukiyoe/
Key Points:
🌸 Sakana AI's Evo-Ukiyoe and Evo-Nishikie models focus on generating Ukiyo-e style images.
🎨 The Evo-Ukiyoe model supports text-to-image generation, while Evo-Nishikie can color monochrome works.
📚 These models currently only support Japanese prompts, aiming to promote the dissemination and education of traditional Japanese culture.