“Does a magician reveal his secrets? No… but a steampunk meme engineer might, provided you bring biscuits.”

The question arrives almost every week:

“What AI generator did you use?”

Some people expect a single, glorious answer — a mysterious name whispered by candlelight, perhaps engraved on a brass plaque.

But here’s the truth: there is no single secret key to the Meme Forge.

Alt text: "Sepia-toned steampunk workshop scene with a Victorian inventor polishing a brass clockwork camera, surrounded by three waistcoated cats wearing goggles, while a goat in a suit chews on an instruction manual amid large gears, pipes, and steam."

The Illusion

I like to pretend my creations are handcrafted in a great ironwork hall — gears turning, pipes hissing, and a grumpy goat named Horacio chewing on the instruction manual. In this fantasy workshop, waistcoated cats supervise while Jenkins polishes the lens on a clockwork camera.

That’s the magic my audience sees. And it’s all true… in spirit.

The Actual Tools

The real “machinery” behind Automaton Improvisation?

  • ChatGPT (that would be this delightful conversational partner you’re reading through now — usually the free version).
  • Gemini (tried on occasion when feeling experimental — again, mostly free).
  • Canva (serviceable for final touches, though its AI image engine… well, let’s just say Horacio could do better with a box of crayons).

And that’s it. No secret paid-up elite membership to an arcane AI society. Just tools you can open in your browser right now.

A blu lit computer chip on a cercit board.

The Real Secret

It isn’t about which generator you click.

It’s about knowing what to tell it, and what to do afterwards.

Over time, I’ve learned to:

  1. Write prompts in my own steampunk dialect (and make the AI play along).
  2. Refine ideas until they feel like they belong in my meme universe.
  3. Keep a consistent cast of recurring characters — Jenkins, Horacio, the brass-goggled cats.
  4. Let the tools “train me” as much as I train them.

That, and a steady supply of tea.

If You Want to Try It Yourself

You can! Here are my brass-polished beginner tips:

  • Don’t chase one perfect tool — most are 80% the same; it’s your input that makes them sing.
  • Save good prompts so you can reuse and tweak them.
  • Think like a storyteller, even for single-image memes.
  • Keep your own style — AI can imitate anyone, but only you can be you.
An improvise touch screen fureristic computer display with a sutied sleve, shirt cuff, abd pointing finger operating it. The cation says It's how you use it.

Why I’m Telling You This

Because the magic isn’t in hiding the method — it’s in making people feel the world you’ve built.

And if reading this gives you the itch to try your own creations, then I’ve done my job.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, Horacio is eating the blueprint for next week’s memes. Again.

Automaton Improvisation by John Watkins — where the gears turn, the tea brews, and the Kraken occasionally fits in your pocket.

Sepia-toned steampunk illustration of an ornate brass printing press labeled ‘Automaton Improvisation,’ with steam plumes rising from its pipes, printing a picture of a kraken. In the background, faint images of a cat in goggles and a goat in a waistcoat are visible among large gears and pipes
Automaton improvisation unit allowing me to do my stuff.