I’ve read a lot of perspectives over the last year regarding artificial intelligence ranging from “end times prophecy” to “can’t wait for the new world utopia” kind of garbage. Some people swear by it, probably the same people who are generating images and vibe coding stupid apps into the world. Other people hate everything about it.
I have mixed feelings.
How many stories did you read or see on TV growing up that had some AI go rogue and murder humanity? It was more than one I bet. They’re persistent little bastards, even going so far as to travel through time to kill a kid. How do you trust that?
I didn’t think too much of it until recently when I stopped to think about AI-generated images. I did this sketch in maybe 5 minutes:
I spent the last couple days doodling different little characters like this but I’m not counting that time here. I said to myself, “I’m going to draw a picture of a little guy pushing a button.”
That was the prompt I gave myself and this sketch didn’t take too long.
So I spent the next 20-30 minutes refining it to this:
I’ll freely admit that I’m not the world’s best artist but I used to have this belief that if I tried and my effort showed, I’d find an audience – my work would have a home.
The joy and love that I have for creating art would shine through and people would see the beauty in that, even if the art itself wasn’t particularly good.
What I’ve experienced is, well, not that.
I’m not one to give up. I spent another 30-60 minutes refining the doodle more – ink outlines and a splash of color. Granted, some of that time was just figuring out the style I wanted and learning how to use Krita – my current drawing program.
So if you were keeping track, you’ll see that I am at least 90 minutes into this drawing to get it to this point – where I stopped so I could write this blog.
Over the last few years, I’ve been to numerous markets paying for booth space and the potential to sell my hard made wares. I submitted to contests and galleries, I had a few minor victories. I had people stop at my booth and tell me how talented I was. One person exclaiming, “Why isn’t this in a gallery?!” Or some shit like that. “Oooo, that’s so vibrant and colorful! I love it!”
I gave away more art to friends last year than I sold at those markets. I have a growing collection in my closet… who knows what will happen to those. I’ve even dropped some pieces at Goodwill and if they sell it for a dollar – hey, at least it sold somewhere.
All the while, I know, I can go to an AI-image generator and in the click of a button have images like this:
Images that are more complete than mine and done in the matter of seconds. Some of them are better than mine with a single, simple prompt and no revisions. Some are stupid.
None of them have the human touch.
But it doesn’t really matter, does it?
The first image (brought to you by google’s nano banana or whatever) is pretty spot on. I could slap that on a mug, a t-shirt, or sell it as a sticker. It would sell and most people would never have thought to ask if it was AI-generated. Sure, it’s a different style than what I drew, but it’s definitely a more marketable style. It’s generic, middle-of-the-road, exactly what you might expect to see on your marketing team’s next infographic.
I’m not going to tell you this is a terrible thing. It is what it is.
I mean, do you remember what the world was like before tools like Canva and Adobe Express? You know, when you needed skills in graphic design to create those kick-ass marketing flyers?
Yeah, I don’t really remember either.
In one of the markets I went to, early on, I met a photographer. A cool guy, we exchanged information and talked during the downtime. He commented that my art was priced cheaper than his photo prints and that it was crazy.
He still made more sales than me. Lots more.
My art was vibrant, unique, reasonably priced. It wasn’t something you could find anywhere else. (I even think it was a holiday market, but it’s been a long time…) There was a lot of positive feedback but very little exchange of money… I obviously still think about it to this day because most of the markets I’ve been to have been like that.
I think, my art has the human touch.
You know who cares about that though? Other artists. The same people who value the unique and weird. The people who, generally speaking, aren’t shopping the art market – they’re sitting next to you trying to sell too.
Knowing that, it makes it hard to want to continue creating anything. It’s probably why I’ve made so many art pours lately – they’re just fun and not as time consuming as something like portrait drawing. It’s not personal or intimate, it’s just an expression of color.
There are those who think that AI-art will ultimately make human-generated art more valuable because we’ll seek out that human touch, I don’t believe it. I think a more realistic outcome is that most of us give up trying. Eventually, the bar will just get lowered.
Oh, well, a human had to push the button to generate that image… right?
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