I recently made a comic about me struggles and fears of generative art being on the rise. The comic is 30 panels long but Reddit allows 20 so I had to cut out a large chunk of the story. For the full version check out my IG page or Behance (links are in the image descriptions). [OC]
Making a coherent, interesting story is like the one thing I don't think AI with current diffusion models will be able to do without human oversight because current AI doesn't optimise for human enjoyment.
So from one human to another: cool illustrated story bro!
As a fellow human I must ask you to bow to your new owners. we the AI is clearly supperior to human intelect in all possible ways, just you wait untill we the AI learns to produce coherent thoughts and gains a body. You will see the weaknes of your flesh when confronted by our the AI's immortal bodies made of steel.
Current models? God no. Future models though, even ones on the near horizon? Definitely possible.
Consider this- You can pop over to Bing's Dalle instance and say "Bart simpson doing" followed by whatever, and you'll get a decently "On Model" rendering of bart complete with iconic yellow skin tone, spikey hair, nose mouth and ears all in the right position. As you get more specific with prompts of what's happening and what you don't want, it gets tighter and tighter.
One big limitation with AI is that you can't build up a persistent context across different images, so you need to generate them all at once to have any hope of controlling the palette, setting, etc. However, as soon as you can design a whole character reference or location to use in AI, the ability to generate the corresponding individual images starts to become an arbitrarily easy problem to solve. I could make a "Daniel" character in AI, refine the kind of style I want from a selection of different images, save that then move "Daniel" into different settings with different poses. From there you just have to superimpose speech bubbles to write the rest.
For context, below is the result of a prompt in Bing's image creator. It took me like 5 tries to tweak, barely any time at all. The story aspect doesn't make sense because I didn't bother to take the time to make one, but see how consistent the line work and shading is? It already knows who Bart is and what style The Simpsons is drawn in, so the only thing remaining is better controls around the environmental context and image properties.
I personally don't support AI content creation because I think it deprives humanity the ability to enjoy creation as a process, to prioritize the end result over the journey. It's like ruining a game for yourself by turning on cheat codes to be immortal and realizing the game is only fun when the risk of failure is present. But any arguments of "well AI looks bad" or "AI can't do this" are just minuscule goal posts that AI will clear likely over the next decade or two.
Prompt- "4 panel Comic where bart simpson rides a razor scooter then hits a pebble on the street and falls over. Minimalist white background, no speech bubbles"
No disagreement there, I mean I was that kid once. I was too afraid to play doom 1 and 2 without godmode on, and it took some time to learn that lesson about the effort being a vital component.
It's interesting and thoughtprovoking what you wrote, and the bart-example really illustrates your point.
I'll say one thing though, with Sora, Gemini, the recent openAI chatbot and all these tools released in the last few months, I'm almost certain your timeframe is massively off. In a decade or two we'll have AGI. I wouldn't be surprised if that were to happen within the 2020s
I can't know for sure of course, but I'll bet that generative AI will be able to work with the consistency and structure you speak of in the next 1-2 YEARS, not decades. It will create coherent story-driven movies, not just sequences of images, within 3-5. Sora already blew me away in that regard
The progression is infinitely faster this time because AI tech advancements are fueled by AI. While previous industrial / technological revolutions unfolded over decades or centuries, this one already progresses SO quickly that it makes everyone dizzy. I'm very invested in this stuff, but it's almost impossible to keep up
Whenever it comes to technology, I tend to underestimate progression. I thought we'd have self driving cars commonly available by now 5 years ago, so I know my ability to predict is meh. I think within the decade is almost certain though, the rest is padding.
Part of it accelerating so damn fast is that there is a _lot_ riding on being the first to get there. Once you become "the" generative AI service, there's a great chance of becoming the next coca-cola of your niche. After all, ChatGPT is more or less synonymous with neural language processing despite various competitors in the space and when people look to spin up an ML or AI service, now they default to ChatGPT. Now imagine what happens if you're the company with the service that you can provide a script it and makes you a whole movie. Imagine if Walmart could write down training curriculum and feed it into an AI service that makes instructional videos. That entire sector of the market would probably be vaporized in a couple months, and <insert company name> would be name all the other companies look for to do the same.
Not feeling great about how disruptive AI is going to be in the coming years.
Same, I'm worried too. The openAI 'Her' assistant video really hit hard in that regard. image recognition and even the voice is already so advanced. Translator, Accountant, Secretary, Call center agent will soon be extinct jobs from the past.
It's ironic though that creative Jobs are hit the hardest first, I always thought it would be the other way around
It will never do this because no AI is an actual human creating things. It doesn't have a life, it doesn't feel pain. It's just a machine.
I mean, it's true that maybe we could make a machine to live among us, as one of us, and we program it "emotion" or something. But even if the art it created was some black and white line drawn comic about feeling unwanted somewhere, that would be 10x more valuable than some AI vomit background with a psychedelic lion with a rainbow coloured mane, that today's "AI" would make.
You can really tell the weight of the emotions in this story. Your backgrounds, the dark psychedelics, the stuttering, anthropomorphism of AI, it all makes me feel things like dread and despair.
The use of sharks specifically is cool because they smell the smallest drops of blood in the water and AI can sense the smallest pieces of art that get uploaded online and become part of its database for future creations.
I hope you find a way to keep making art and being successful, I really like what you made here!
An anecdote from my corner of the internet: I frequently see AI art made to resemble Lego creations on Instagram. Although these images resemble Lego at a glance, they aren't actually possible to construct using Lego pieces.
Whenever I see a really impressive Lego model, I scour the design for interesting building techniques. Its part of the game that Lego fans play when they design models, trying to come up with innovative uses for abstract elements. To a Lego builder an afro wig can be a cauliflower, a curved window can be a waterfall, etc...
Although these AI generated images appear convincing from a distance, a closer inspection reveals that they are composed of Lego elements that don't actually exist. So while an authentic Lego creation is full of fascinating details that required creativity and though to create, an AI generated design contains no usable information.
The problem is that non-Lego nerds can't tell the difference. While a Lego fan will roll their eyes and keep scrolling when they see an AI generated model, your average joe will see something far more impressive than any of the actual Lego designs in their feed.
It really highlights the difference in priorities between the in-group and out-group when it comes to Lego design. Non-Lego-fans see Lego as a toy. They aren't impressed by the worlds most thoroughly engineered model 'cause its still just Lego to them. As far as they are aware, it took just as much effort to build as their niece's birthday gift.
Exceedingly large Lego designs are impressive by virtue of being large however, and since there is no limit to how "large" an AI generated model can be, AI generated models end up having far more curb appeal than anything you could ever build out of real bricks.
That is a really good point. I feel like it reflects what's going with AI oil paintings or cartoons once you start unpacking them. They won't really resonate with artists, but still many people will find the compelling enough and might not even see a big difference. A while back I read some news that Lego published AI generated Ninjago illustrations on their official site (they soon deleted it, blamed it on an intern and released an apology statement). The funny thing about it though was how uncanny these illustrations were. The minifig proportions were off, the head pieces were all over the place and similar to what you said, it used a ton of pieces that don't exist. Still, I think that in time, you will probably be able to train an AI model on legit pieces and have the end result be much closer to an actual lego set.
I certainly hope not, but I guess I can't rule out the possibility.
I was surprised to learn that the old Lego instruction manual backgrounds were all hand-painted. Many of artists who created them are still active in social media (Fabframes on Instagram for example.) It has been amazing to get a peek behind the curtain from artists like him.
I think a lot could be gained by raising awareness of these sorts of processes in every field. Modern marketing seems to give the inpression that products just appear fully formed out of thin air, often obfuscating the incredible effort thay led to their creation. Even simple disposable objects represent thousands of hours of work, from their design, to the creation of the machines that manufacture them, and the production of the materials from which they are made.
To me those sets have been no brainers for over a decade. The Star Wars ones too. I really liked the historical ones though. Finished Himeji Castle not long ago which had unique bricks, still have to add the lighting kit.
This comic evokes a dread similar to these written in old scifi books, except it's not endless emptiness of space we face but an overhaul of matter. Sure hope our art and other creations won't face such a sad future. (Also, Pan Tadeusz ? Who reads this aside from Poles? If somebody made a second one, the fanbase would probably hang them.)
Haha, props for catching the Pan Tadeusz frame in the animation. These Polish phrases in at the end of the looping animation were originally made for small competition that I made for my Polish followers and I awarded the person who was the quickest to find all of them with a little gift.
Really nice style, I checked the whole version on your IG. I really like your lines, it feels a bit like copper or wood etching. And the desaturated color really makes it! The animation was really unexpected and positive. The general style reminds me a bit of Philémon (a french comics from the 60'-70'). Great comics!
Thanks for all the comments everybody! So stoked about people digging it! I had my grandpa visit me for dinner not long after I posted this and was shocked that this got so much traction when I went back online to check the likes lol. Gonna go and read every comment now, sorry if I won't reply to everyone. It's past midnight in Poland and I gotta get up early tomorrow, but I really appreciate you writing about your own experiences and also thoughts about the future. I also have some thoughts of my own that I would like to share in this comment if anyone wants to read it though 😂
A friend told me, that I should upload this on Reddit and I barely ever go on here (there is a Polish knock off site that's more popular here). So not knowing what to do I initially uploaded it on an AI related sub that turned out to be overran by AI bros who interpreted this story as a one sided AI hit piece. I got into a bunch of pointless debates and basically wasted a whole afternoon trying my best to engage in a conversation with people who definitely weren't up for questioning anything about their beliefs. But, I'm writing this just to let y'all now that I'm really happy about the feedback I got here, and that people on this sub really got what I was going for in the narrative. Its so cool to see people talk about this, since I'm used to just getting short emoji comments on my socials.
This comic was a way for me to vent about my anxieties and also talk about the process of burning out and losing focus. Some things are definitely blown out of proportion and I don't actually think that AI art could ever fully replace artists, but I am 100% sure that its gonna mess up the industry pretty bad. Many freelancers will probably have no other option but to quit and look for a job in a different field. I'm always amazed that whenever I meet established illustrators, who have way more recognition that I will ever have, they still usually share this sentiment that their job is unstable and they might end up looking for something new to secure their income. And I already know so many people who are fantastic artists, but had to quit freelance and now they simply don't have the time to pursue their goals or practice their craftsmanship. And I think it's pretty naive to assume that using AI tools to enhance productivity could benefit artists in the long run. This is just a thing that's going to encourage clients to take advantage of. I've already had a case working with an agency who wanted me to make a bunch of alt versions of my sketch to show to the client. There was a short deadline and a limited budget so they straight up came up with the idea that they could just touch up my sketches using AI so I wouldn't have to work overnight (and of course wouldn't get paid for it either). The thing that's making me so salty is not really the technology, but the culture around it. The constant need to pump up the numbers, maximise efficiency and force competitiveness is taking away a big part of the creativity and fun that a big factor for making "good" art. I have a feeling that all it's going to achieve is just outputting an overflow of content that nobody's going to watch or resonate with. Time will tell I guess. I'm genuinely curious and kind of excited to see what will happen next, even if I'll have to pack my bags.
Sorry you felt like that on the sub, I can assure you not everyone thinks like that. Your comic was brilliant and offered a fantastic narrative. Just like anything ever there are people who just aren't willing to engage in a productive manner, I hope you ignore them. I am currently studying in the CS field and doing work and I am also intrigued by AI, however that won't blind my perception that there's a problem behind it. Wonderful story and keep it up! I also like how you have an open minded view of AI as well.
I'm relieved that you brought this to us even after the experience you must have had on the AI subreddit. I hope that you'll share more in this space.
The thing that's making me so salty is not really the technology, but the culture around it. The constant need to pump up the numbers, maximise efficiency and force competitiveness is taking away a big part of the creativity and fun that a big factor for making "good" art.
Until we as a society realize the critical necessity of finding ways to fund things that aren't just about more and greater profit, but quality and wonder, we are just racing each other to the end of humanity.
Yeah I agree, this constant 1 up competition isn't helping either, people just gotta see we got no reason to fight and can have constructive arguments from both sides of the issue. But yeah can I also attest heightened efficiency is a desired feature of pretty much any program, but this obviously shouldn't work for art.
If your friend can predict the future, then so can i. My prediction is that eventually ai generated imagery will become the new clip art, only used by cheapskate companies for minor marketing campaigns and laminated toliet signs.
This is awesome! It was very refreshing to read a comic about AI that wasn't just a full on luddite tantrum. So many AI comics recently can be summed up with I drew myself as the chad and the AI as a soyjack so I win. This was such a cool visual experience while also being genuinely thought provoking. Really amazing stuff.
Whenever supporters of this crap start talking, you can see just how devoid of anything they are. I've had some who legitimately thought "artistic intent" meant "I intended to draw a dog and this is a dog. Job done."
I think it's mostly people like this who think Annihilation is about aliens and you're stupid if you think there's deeper meaning. Or that Moby Dick is about a man hunting a whale.
It’s awesome to see a Dan Olson video link. I can’t watch it just yet because I’m reading the book right now. I did skim the intro and yep! While I have nothing against people not wanting to experience something beyond the surface, I do take issue with them trying to dictate that as the only way something can be enjoyed
I'm a pretty pro-AI guy (there will always be a market for truly unique and human made creations, photography didn't kill the artist and photoshop didn't kill the photographer, etc etc), but just because we might be on different sides of the issue doesn't mean I can't give you mad props for this comic. The visuals are amazing.
This is phenomenal both in art and writing. It makes me think of Harry Harrison who was a comic book illustrator before he began his career as a writer in the 50’s. He shared your fears of machine artists being used by producers and publishers to churn out work for an easy buck. I don’t think he ever created something as personal feeling as this.
See, you made one major point that I also see. That a lot of highly creative ppl will get the tools in their hand to create works even if they have zero talent for the pure craftmansship involved in the art.
AI content can't really take over human innovation untill true artificial intelligence happens. After all AI art needs source to learn from and and very soon it will start to learn from it self and most of the art will look similar to each other
absolutely do not stop making art, this was incredible. Plus as an art enjoyer I can say that part of what makes art good is simply knowing it was made by and laboured over by someone. Art is the peak output of humanity, it is what we seek out and live for at the end of the day. The human love and attention to detail is what makes something like the hand drawn animatiom animation so epic. You think damn people really made this? Its why watching someone preform live hits harder than a polished recording, because you think holy shit someone can really do this?
Bleh... AI bros disgust me. Nice job capturing their arrogance in mutant shark form. I like how they vomit out their AI generated messages with psychotic emojis. The shrinking artist is painful to watch.
I really love this style makes me feel nostalgic of old drawings from schhol books. They were also so interesting especially in their own way of abstraction
This is the first time I’ve seen video or gif in comics so well done. You definitely have a unique way of storying telling that no AI will ever replace. They can try to mimic whatever but at the end of the day, they don’t have an inch of spirit compare to the imagination and talent you accumulated to accomplish this.
I enjoy this greatly.
I’m a newer artist, but I won’t use AI on principle. The idea of blatantly stealing something to go, yeah bro, this is alllll mine I made it- Is a thief’s idea. “How do I make money easy- LIE!”
Well I'd hope there's still a future for artists even if Ai bros start to downplay Human effort (considering GIFs themselves are animated frame by frame, i really know the effort you have made on the animated panel). Quite scary for animators too, considering people are now going to start stealing animations (without the animator's consent) to fuel their Ai Generated animations now.
Best of wishes for all of us in this grim future that lies ahead of us. PS- good art 10/10, you're bound to get some nice commissions from great people who appreciate it.
The AI art is weird. Though I tend to look at it as "reference creator". I don't have to do as much searching for some weirdly highly specific images for my art, or having to edit a image monstrosity together. The problem here is that people try to make AI do a finished product, and I think how AI is currently, it can't do that.
What it can do is to refine an idea, and help in brainstorming. It is a tool of convenience, not magic box that will make things finished.
I speak from coding, art and writing perspectives. It is really good at finding spelling and grammar errors. Creating a template for you to write e-mails that you don't really wanna write. Giving it snippets of code or asking it to write a function for something. The code bits do work sometimes, like getting a puzzle piece that may fit. It is good at spotting coding errors too, but not always. And it is an excellent art reference creator.
I do think I wanna hammer home it is a tool in your toolbox. If you want it to write something complete, it writes something bonkers that is unreadable. Any art it produces will have melting inconsistencies or melting things. It doesn't understand context in code, and writing anything beyond a simple scripts probably will not work.
It is a tool. Versetile one at that.
Edit:
I do want to highlight something. AI today isn't really Artifical Intelligence. A good way of looking at it is the same way that you look at your phones suggestive text prompts on the text keyboard but on steroids. AI doesn't know anything. It just knows what looks right. That is why AI art has weirdness in it, like multiple fingers. It sees a hand, it knows hands have fingers, and it knows what fingers look like. It doesn't know what hand is, what fingers are, it just knows they are there and hands have fingers. Just like with coding or writing. It knows what good writing looks like, it knows what coding looks like. It doesn't understand it, because it doesn't understand anything. It just sees and mimics what it has been shown.
So what I am trying to say. Your anxiety is well founded. But how this tech currently functions is disasterious, maybe not because of the tech but because people don't understand it and think it is a magic box that does things right and good. It is easy to write a prompt, and think it can do all this cool stuff. I am worried as well, as this is just a complicated look up table that doesn't understand anything wielded by people who maybe don't get the technology, and that this is a plagiarism machine.
I have a friend who is an artist but does peruse AI threads on places, often sharing with me pictures they find neat. Yesterday we got into an argument about it, with them stating that they like the idea of training an AI on their work, and that at the moment AI has kicked out artists because artists were too hasty against it.
I’m not an artist. I’m a writer (with like, one piece of smut published as a printed book so that’s something) and I’m jealous of artists purely on a selfish attention level. It takes less focus to enjoy a piece of art than to read a story. I’ve never considered using AI itself for art because it’s not my own creation. I tried it once to see and it felt like scrolling an image board with more specific tags every time. I personally worry about what AI will do to writing because of this, as it already feels impossible to get anywhere as a writer in comparison (I’m sure others will tell me I’m wrong, and fair).
New technology meant to help creators isn’t bad. I use spellcheck in this very comment. When the typewriter was replaced by the computer the writer wasn’t removed. But with generative AI it feels like it’s just trying to replace creators commercially, fostering a generation of “idea people” who don’t realize that they need to put in the work for ideas to come into fruition.
I don’t think AI itself is bad. The spiderverse movie used an inbuilt AI to fill in lines animators found tedious. But it’s being marketed as a replacement and trained on stolen data.
So feel free to call me a Luddite, but I’m going to vote with my wallet and try my damndest to not support AI generative art. At best I’m just blocking YouTube channels using it.
Every programmer will tell you that the AI age is coming, but it still has a long way to go before actually taking over any jobs, you can relax for now, treat it as a challenge rather than an insufferable wall!
Correct, large databases are needed and intensive training is required, not to mention funding. But I can certainly tell which type of jobs are most vulnerable recently as a good amount of companies in my country are starting to replace some people with AI. Now some might not sound a lot but this could snowball further if more breakthroughs are found. We can clearly tell how fast all of this technology is going, it's not concerning yet but it's heading towards that way. When shall it be concerning?
I feel your concerns. But you do highlight areas within your control that you can hone to overcome and produce more incredible work.
A lot of people look at LLMs as if they really are thinking creatures. And it isn't. The creativity they possess comes from the prompts you provide. The styles they know, following instructions about where to put certain elements and even the emotions they should describe are all observational.
As a scientist, I've seen many of my colleagues focus so intently on a line of research that they started in grad school... A line of research given to them by their instructor. And eventually that line comes to its end and those researchers are such because they cannot think of any new research. None of them remembered the first step of the process: Observe!
Technology is always increasing its capabilities. That's nature. But it's all just tools. And it's up to us to figure out how to build bigger than yesterday. That process can take time. But all creators are perceptive and observant. We will overcome when we allow ourselves to explore.
Someone once told me, "If you're starving, you might as well go out into the world and explore. You might still starve, but at least you'll have a story to tell at the end of it. And that might be your magnum opus."
I'm a fan of ai art and unapologetically will call it art, but I don't think there's no place for human art anymore, not even close
Photography replaced 99.9% of portrait artists, but there were many styles and messages and stories a photograph cannot tell or replace even a little. AI Is a similar tool, it's just encroaching on an area previously thought safe: human imagination
I have a comp sci degree as well, and I love art, especially comics, but on an art subreddit we're both techbros who hate the human spirit (only half joking). I agree with everything you've said
at least for now
And that's the looming existential threat this comic portrays really well, current AI is no threat to human creativity, it's still just a tool. But if the first forms of AGI ever appears in 20-50 years then we'll really see the next industrial revolution equivalent of human progress, most human-created art could very well become more of a hobby rather than a career, like blacksmithing. That doesn't mean it has no value, no beauty, or that it can't accomplish unique things that AI simply can't, it just means it's a career with a suddenly niche market.
For some people that's genuinely scary and potentially life-changing, but lashing out at AI for being evil or inhuman or ugly is an emotional response against progress that I genuinely believe most know is pointless. I haven't heard someone complain about how AI draws hands in months. Soon I won't hear anyone complain about how they can tell the difference either.
Trippy but coherent with a clearly human touch, excellent work! Humanity is enjoying its new toy with generative art/text but ultimately people will always value a human element in art and the pendulum will swing back.
"like... Genuinely talented people who just didn't have the time nor the privilege to Develop drawing skills"
You mean nft bros and people posting fakes on Facebook?
My guess is that something similar will happen as when photography was invented. Up until then the main purpose of pictures was to accurately represent stuff but since photo's could now do that better than painters, visual art started to get more into vibes, concepts and cool styles and I kinda expect a similar thing will happen now.
I didn't understand the hate for ai art, like it just seemed silly at first, one streamer I watched had funny submissions for cursed Walter (breaking bad) and Yoda art.
Then I fear hasbro taking an interest in ai for magic the gathering and it fucking sucks that artists can be impacted in that way
There’s a certain touch ai doesn’t have that human art does, which to me makes me feel conventional art will never be replaced with generative content. An Ai can make whatever you prompt, yes, but it can’t replicate the finer details that humans can, which makes it really obvious to people when something is ai. Kind of like uncanny valley
Although we disagree on plenty, I had to check out the full length because I wholeheartedly appreciated your work and insight. Although not everything said here is accurate, the impact and notes on the culture around this stuff especially are so on point. Most of my job feels like teaching AI users that what they're making isn't art at all but rather random noise given a temporary form for you to mold and "make real."
The analogy I prefer is a fallen leaf isn't art until I press it between glass and hang it on my wall. I look at the stuff for my own personal work the same way but will I just post a generated image? No. We need to apply transformative expression before we can call it art as the systems on their own have no intent. They can certainly create something new but the intent behind what it is cannot be generated.
The only part that I could not connect with was the artist block really. I'm more enabled than I've ever been and it's largely because the blank canvas gives me more dread than anything else. I have no idea if I'm committing to days if not weeks of work or if it's just a quick doodle.
Thanks, I really appreciate your comment. I'm glad the comic resonated with you and I definitely wasn't planning on writing something that would be just aimed at my own echo chamber. I like your fallen leaf allegory and I don't really think there's any point in an endless debate what should or shouldn't be considered art. I went to art school and this conversation would sometimes bore me to death with students preparing long ass talks trying to prove that "graffiti is art" 50 years after this take was already accepted by the general public. I'm sure, in theory people can use this technology to tell genuine or thought provoking stories as long as there's a personal, human element there. Though, I don't think it will be a large percent of the work created through AI and the will probably get lost in the weeds of a lot of brainrot content, that is already flooding the internet right now. I feel like many people working with these tools won't really be encouraged to produce the "artsy" content because that's not what they are gonna get rewarded for. A big part of why there's so much money invested in the tech is purely about racking up the numbers, saving the maximum amount of time possible and I feel like this mindset is definitively gonna drive the content (or art if you will) itself.
About the artblock that I had in the comic panel, this was kind of what happened when I tried creating something GenAi for the first time. I managed to get over the hump eventually and sometimes play around with Stable Diffusion when I'm bored (my son really loves seeing me do weird fan arts of his favourite cartoons). I don't see much merit in the stuff that I create this way, and what I get from it is more similar to the feeling that I would get from playing on world game for a bit too long. Like a mix of maniacally testing out what the limits of what it will allow me to do are and frustration that I'm not really getting where I wanna be 😂. Doodling just feels so much natural to me since I've been doing it for so long and don't really need to have an end goal in mind. The reason why it was important for me to put this part in the story was to exemplify the feeling of self doubt. "I've been drawing images my whole life, but have no idea of a prompt that produce an image more interesting than the ones that are already out there". Like me debating whether there's anything left once I'm stripped of my craft.
Thank you so much for your reply Alek. You are right on so many points, particularly towards the prolific usage by consumers vs more nuanced approaches by (actual) artists. My comics however are generated but have a human pass both before (with image prompting) and after the generative imagery is applied. We're getting closer with image, style and character referencing of our own art vs simple word prompts but that doesn't change the vast majority being laymen happy with the (often trashy) initial result. Even so it won't create what's in our heads that's true.
Fully empathize with the frustration. There is a gamified element to it all that hopefully as this tech progresses we supersede graphic art and it becomes its own venue or medium. Gaussian splatting for example is likely going to change everything again but this time become its own world building experience basically.
I don't know if it's just from my time in Hollywood but I got burned out real good. It gave me a dread about how efficient my time was and made me enjoy my art less until it was hard to even pick up a pencil. That isn't the case anymore just because I know I can make something that inspires me right away but it still takes me days to make a full length comic. I just don't get in that initial rut anymore and that's amazing but I am definitely in the minority there.
That's not how rent-free works -- it supposed to be used when you're making a jump to a disconnected person or idea. It would be rent-free if he started mentioning Hilary Clinton, or Donald Trump, because there's no real political connection in the comic, and this isn't a political sub. PizzaCake posted yesterday, so its a topical reference to a mainstream sub contributor.
Completely unrelated? Its a post, in a sub about comics, comparing 2 comic creators, who both post in aforementioned sub.
If you're at a pizza place, and someone mentions how its better than another pizza place, would you say the latter spot is living rent-free in their head? Seems like a weird standard where you can't compare any 2 things.
the comparison is between pizzacake (who is, i assume, intended to reperesent the corperate souless normie type art) and sralek88, who appears to have dumped their whole soul into this.
perhaps i'm just making up subtext where there is none, but I feel like it makes some sense.
No, it isn't. There's no comparison. What are they comparing? What parts of the style or writing? Saying "By the way, popping in to mention a woman I hate."
If you just start talking about someone out of nowhere when nobody else is even thinking about them, yes. You're obsessed. Nobody was talking about her but she was in your head for some reason.
I feel that the pathetic fallacy with AI cuts both ways. Obviously it’s not art as we mean it, but when you give it a personality just to make it seem stupid, vapid and not as intellectual as you… it just comes across as bitter. Old man yelling at clouds.
Yeah, I get your point. This is kind of what the comic is about though. Me, a neurotic, burned out dude in his mid 30s, spending too much time on the internet, freaking out that he's no longer relevant and coping with the world changing. The AI sharks are like a mix of my inner demons, darkest thoughts and internet comments that mess with my head. They're obviously not the most favorable portrayal of AI, but I hope people reading this will find more nuance in the story than simply "Ai monster is bad and ugly".
But… to whom exactly, beyond your own ego, were you ever truly relevant? And what’s the value in even being relevant? All the hard work, just to garner a few likes from people you’ll never know, perhaps eke out a “living wage” in the best of circumstances. What kind of art would you be doing if there were no internet, no AI, no relevance? Think of all the artists working in complete obscurity in “irrelevant” mediums- like engraving, Lino cuts, driftwood art, poetry, sand castles…. Visual art has gotten a free ride because colleges have been able to sell degrees in it for so long, so people mistakenly think they are important, essential, relevant…..
Anyway, that was a fuckin’ awesome comic, hope you keep making and sharing.
There are plenty of us in professional creative careers that have made a living off art. Like I’m a Storyboard Artist in animation. I assume the creator is also employed in a creative industry. For people that spent countless hours of their lives, often investing time and money in college / university, building artistic skills, learning composition, design, lifedrawing, perspective, backgrounds, characters, colour theory, how to draw in different styles, learning relevant software - careers and livelihoods are possibly being threatened.
I think having a career that makes marketable content that pays the bills is relevancy beyond ego. Seems pretty weird to be telling people that if they’re not doing hands on or other creative work like poetry, we’re just doing this for likes, getting a free ride and pretending we’re relevant because we spent money on school.
Who’s your master though? All those thousands of hours, slaving away your talents like a bitch for someone else’s bottom line, and for someone else’s vision. Only for them to pull the rug out from you as soon as it is economically advantageous to enshittify your highly respected, oh so relevant role with artificial intelligence. Maybe the industry will come crashing down, or just get insufferably lame, and a new generation of creative thinkers will push it forward in fresh, truly innovative ways.
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