A new kind of illustrator...is this evil?

Jeremiahbrown

Perhaps a tangent off of some previous posts but AI is the big beast that is currently threatening our careers, blowing up Artstation and its users, and fueling hundreds of YouTube videos and podcast episodes. My personal take on the issue is that, while there are copyright issues that need to be sorted out along with a myriad of other minor issues, AI is here to stay and grow ...FAST.

It can't do hands well yet, it struggles with narrative consistency, and it sometimes leaves a fake signature behind but you can't deny the images it creates are incredible. It's worth fearing.
Here is my(I'm sure I am not the first) idea to become a new kind of future illustrator:

Use Mid-joureny or Dall-E and spend several hours coming up with the best 10 images you can.
Use your human skills to heavily modify (meaning many hours) the 10 images to your perceived perfection.
Submit to agents and publishers as a portfolio.
Sit back and let the jobs come pouring in.
Rinse and repeat if for some reason the first 10 images didn't get you there.

Ha, I say this somewhat in jest. A few months ago for one of the Critique Arena prompts I used both of the previously listed programs to come up with many prompt based image results. Some were just beautiful and crazy creative and I believe they would've made the top 16 if I edited them. I almost did just that but it felt evil and I instead went with my own idea and didn't make the top 16.

I'm sure these "artists" exist or will exist very soon and I can't imaging them failing if they put enough effort into the work. It's essentially getting a master draftsman's unfinished works and morphing them into something great.

Is this evil? Would you respect me less if I took this route? Are any of you tempted to try it out? If we can't beat it can we join it? What would Jesus do?

Thanks for any thoughts!

Jeremy Ross

Hi @Jeremiahbrown,

You’re right, AI Art is here to stay.

Here are my thoughts:

AI Art, in and of itself, isn’t evil. However, an artist or user of the AI may lose their reputation if creations are misrepresentations of their own creation. Sadly, the artist is lying to not only the world, but to themselves, too.
AI Art can be a great tool to get the mind inspired, similar to Books, Pinterest, Instagram, other Portfolios, etc.
AI Art makes an artist a magician of chance. The alleged artist is unable to modify based on feedback without putting the image back in the system “hoping” for the right perspective or scene. In essence, a one-hit wonder.
The human brain is beautiful. It is doubtful AI can supersede the innate creativity of the human mind.
Finally, AI Art will not hold the same prestige as a work of human art because of the lack of hard work in creation thereof. For example, if I gave a kid a pair of Jordans - would they appreciate it with sincerity compared to him mowing yards for 3 months to save and buy the shoes himself? This is, of course, subjective; however, the value of hard work remains a staple in most cultures.

Great discussion.

KatrinaF

@Jeremiahbrown

I'm super hesitant to touch this with a 10 ft poll - but here is my initial knee jerk reaction to your post. Yikes! Then... hummm... then, Yikes! This is all so new that it freaks me out. I have not personally used any AI, not to even play with. But it's here and we as a society need to 'deal with it'. .

Using AI for inspiration? Hummm

I scour the internet for amazing art, photography and music to get inspiration.

Using AI for reference? Hummm

I have hundreds of photos and illustrations saved to a reference folder for poses, facial expressions, backgrounds, clothes etc...

Using AI to create concepts and ideas? Humm...

I have mood boards, concept writing and Outlines of stories and characters on Google docs and Pinterest that I use to create and fine tune my ideas.

I use the same 'internet' as AI but it's taken me 20 - 30 yrs to develop this skill (granted I'm still learning, too) And AI can do it all in a second. It seems 'unfair' but is that a reason not use AI? Hummm

First if an artists work is used in creating the AI work that artist should be compensated.
If it's used for inspiration, reference, ideas and such that gets into a slipper / gray area imo.

Again this in my initial reaction and it's a discussion that needs to be had by all artists.

Jeremiahbrown

Thanks for the great response!
I agree with you on point one that today the art and the artist would be looked down on for their images and be thought of as lying to the world, but in 2 years...? I'm not so sure.

I keep coming back to the idea that the best way to accept a new tool and avoid the fear and anger that comes from it is to use it and make it a part of your toolset. I can imagine in the next few years we'll see many artists who rise to fame and heavily use the AI image generators but put so much of their personal skill and vision into it, by word choice and photoshop/procreate, that each piece is recognizable and hailed as theirs. It's similar to the leap from traditional art to digital art where full-on tracing and photo bashing has become so normal and accepted even though it seems like cheating.

I think we'll see another pattern of outrage, widespread implementation, followed by begrudging acceptance and utilization. I really hope I'm wrong but at the rate that AI is improving I can only see it becoming a more prevalent tool.

Jeremiahbrown

@KatrinaF Haha! You put it so well. That was nearly my exact thought process about this subject. There is a ton of gray area that needs to be sorted out.

ArtMelC

I don't think it is inherently evil but it surely is driving illustration jobs into the "just another job" category - in the sense that I foresee a lot of artists who are employing this new method finding less and less fulfillment in their work and needing a separate hustle to fulfill their creative needs.

Graphic design used to be a coveted job back in the day for people who like to draw and create. I have a senior leader in our small creative community who is an art director in advertising and branding agency and has been in the industry for 30++ years who witnessed creatives in the industry seeking to transition into illustration careers as the job gets more and more computerized. I'm afraid that when AI becomes more prominent, we will see this trend of illustrators keeping their AI-driven illustration "day job" while seeking fulfillment on personal projects.

ajillustrates

@Jeremiahbrown Also said somewhat in jest, but since Jesus was a carpenter, I have a strong feeling he'd be a hands-on, traditional media sort of guy.

kirsten-mcg

@Jeremiahbrown everything AI has been on my mind a lot lately. At the moment, I feel like us playing with this technology is a little like giving cave men dynamite to play with. These are completely uncharted waters. We don't really know what the far reaching consequences might be. But that's not stopping people.

But as it stands right now, I think that there is a lot of cleanup to be done before I at least can use AI generated art as inspiration with a clear conscience. There is just too much work in that database right now that shouldn't be there. AI generators have been trained on millions of copyrighted images. It's capable of imitating artist's styles, and therefore, in a way, stealing their identity.

However, if in the future we see companies develop art generators that are similar to the music generators that exist, based solely on copyright free music, that's when I would feel comfortable working in the way similar to what you have described above. It could be an awesome tool to help us get poses right, and envision spaces from different angles. And, if it were to exist using on only copyright free images, that would at least help our job security as creators, because everything it created would likely have a distinct, dated look.

I think Jesus cared a lot more about people than he did about progress. I believe that he would want us to move forward in a way that doesn't harm others. Right now, I don't believe that AI art meets those qualifications.

willicreate

@Jeremiahbrown If you believe AI can give you a competitive edge, then pursue it. Train one of the systems with your portfolio and have it generate works exclusively in your current style. As you say, there’s still a lot of manual work to be done (removing a sixth finger, etc.) So long as you’re transparent of your process to the client and have a full disclosure online then there shouldn’t be an issue.

No need to seek approval for your transition. Best of luck to your career.

What would Jesus do if introduced to a world with Ikea stores, Kool-Aid packets and a cure for leprosy? He’d star on a Harry & Megan style Netflix doc.

Jeremiahbrown

@ajillustrates Haha, very good point.

@kirsten-mcg So true, there is so much work in the database in there, but I'm not feeling too optimistic that it will ever be weeded out.

@ArtMelC ..."we will see this trend of illustrators keeping their AI-driven illustration "day job" while seeking fulfillment on personal projects." Great quote that I think will be very true looking back 3 years from now.

@willicreate This is pretty much where I've landed on the subject and it's cool to hear you express it like that.