LOVE, DEATH & DEITIES
AI Editorial Campaign | Solo Creative Direction
Nano Banana Pro · Kling 3.0 · Claude
Overview
Love, Death & Deities started with a single image from Netflix's Love, Death & Robots. Jibaro — the episode about a gold covered siren rising from dark water in a dense forest has some of the most arresting visual storytelling ever put to screen. It stuck with me. This project is my attempt to ask what that same energy would look like rooted in South Indian culture, dressed in Dravidian gold and Kanchipuram embroidery, and placed in a real rainforest environment treated as an editorial campaign.
Building the Character
She did not arrive fully formed. The first generations were flat and unconvincing. Over many iterations she slowly became herself. The black embroidered suit gaining density, the jewellery becoming more maximal, the shoulder armor arriving and immediately transforming her silhouette from decorative to commanding. The dark red painted palms were a late addition that changed everything about how the gold read against the rest of the outfit.
The face took the longest. Getting the expression right; that specific quality of someone who is not looking at you but allowing you to look at them.
The Tools and Process
Claude handled all prompt writing and iteration throughout the project, helping translate visual instincts into precise generative language and troubleshoot when results were not landing. Nano Banana Pro generated all the images. Kling 3.0 handled the video.
The biggest technical lesson was simple. When results were failing, adding more description almost never helped. Stripping the prompt back to its clearest most physical language and rebuilding from there almost always did.
This whole project happened in one sitting. No brief, no client, no team. Just a reference that would not leave my head and a curiosity about how far I could take it. What surprised me most was how much the cultural specificity mattered — the more precisely I described real South Indian jewellery, real embroidery techniques, real ritual details, the more alive she became. The richness was already there in the tradition. I just had to know what to ask for.
Title: Love, Death & Deities Inspired by: Jibaro, Love, Death & Robots Tools: Claude · Nano Banana Pro · Kling 3.0 Type: Personal Creative Exploration
