Google has yet another AI tool to add to the pile. Whisk is a Google Labs image generator that lets you use an existing image as your prompt. But its output only captures your starter image’s “essence” rather than recreating it with new details. So, it’s better for brainstorming and rapid-fire visualizations than edits of the source image.

The company describes Whisk as “a new type of creative tool.” The input screen starts with a bare-bones interface with inputs for style and subject. This simple introductory interface only lets you choose from three predefined styles: sticker, enamel pin and plushie. I suspect Google found those three allowed for the kind of rough-outline outputs the experimental tool is most ideal for in its current form.

As you can see in the image above, it produced a solid image of a Wilford Brimley plushie. (Google’s terms forbid pictures of celebrities, but Wilford slipped through the gates, Quaker Oats in tow, without alerting the guards.)

Whisk also includes a more advanced editor (found by clicking “Start from scratch” from the main screen). In this mode, you can use text or a source image in three categories: subject, scene and style. There’s also an input bar to add more text for finishing touches. However, in its current form, the advanced controls didn’t produce results that looked anything like my queries.

For example, check out my attempt to generate the late Mr. Brimley in a lightbox scene in the style of a walrus plushie image I found online:

Google / Screenshot by Will Shanklin for Engadget