As I laid in my bed with a bunch of annoying cables from the annoying Holter on me, I watched a video about how an artist on Twitter was bullied to oblivion, literally closing his account, because another user made a post about one of his drawings, claiming it was AI generated. Later, people came out defending him, the accuser apologized, but the damage was done. Truth be told, it is hard to say for sure if AI was used or not, even with people claiming he was drawing them. He might have just used it during some part of the creation, rough sketches or whatever. Thing is, with the artist gone we probably will never know. This annoyed me even more.
I’m really tired of this ridiculous AI content “witch hunt”. It’s gotten so out of hand it’s even affecting people not using it. And even if someone is using it that doesn’t give anyone the right to bully them into oblivion. Yes, I am “Pro AI”. I believe it’s just a tool and, as with almost any tool, it’s how you use it (who knows, maybe in the future we will have to send people strapped with nukes to blow up an incoming life-ending meteorite or something 👀)
How to use it
Yes, it’s shitty someone claiming they drew something that was fully made with AI. Someone being honest about it? I’m fine with it. Extra points if they are not using a very recognizable artist style cranked to 100%. I think it’s also important having the goal in mind. Why are you using it, or why it was used. If your goal is to be an artist, then yeah, I’d suggest a medium where you can actually express yourself more freely, since that’s kinda the goal of making art for “the sake of art”. Mind you, I’m not saying you can’t be an artist using AI. The really good stuff made with it was made by people doing way more than writing some prompts. In my opinion, saying they are not artists is the same as saying someone is not a 3D artist unless they made everything in their renders.
But you are sacrificing creative freedom.
Another goal, the one I’ll focus on as an adult game developer (or rather, aspiring adult game dev, since I haven’t finished one yet), is for the images to serve a function. Like help you tell a story. Or, say, make a game. A porn game. You don’t need as much creative freedom with these images. They just need to fulfill their role in the story. Anyone saying that they can’t rub one out to AI art because it’s bad looking is full of shit. At that point it’s just the hate for the concept of AI art rather than the quality of the image itself. But the truth is, it’s a tool that can enable people to create content (like games) when normally they couldn’t. Like me.
My Case as Example
As the one who drew these I’ll go ahead and say, yes, these are… not good. It’s fine if you are learning to draw, don’t let people take away your passion saying your current art is not good. But as the art for a game meant to be sold? Not good. As the game developer I care enough about the game I want to make to know these are not up to the job.
Now this is much better. I made this by using my own drawing as base for the AI image generator while knowing much less than I do now. It shows AI art can be more than just prompting and enables someone like me to have nice art for a game. If you say my original drawings were better, again, you are full of shit.
Yes, I never wanted to learn drawing because I wanted to be an awesome artist, I just wanted art for my games. So you say, “Then get an artist to do it!”. Right. It is really hard to find a good artist that will work with you and be passionate enough about your game idea to do all the work before seeing a penny and hope the game sells well. Good artists get a lot by doing commissions, time used on your game is time not making money. So, let’s say you have money to pay them upfront… let’s see how that went for me about 14 years ago…
I paid 2.000$ for a few more of these. Initially I felt extremely lucky that FutaWing even bothered to reply me (most didn’t) and even agreed to work on my game. He was an artist I really liked and felt was perfect for the game I wanted to make. Took the job for 6.000$ and a % of the profits, I’d lie if I said I remember how much. He asked for 1.000$ to do the sketches. That’s what I got. Then 1.000$ more to start cleaning them up, etc. He disappeared. I want to believe he didn’t scam me, he was gone everywhere as far as I know. He was doing good commission money so I don’t think my 2k was worth enough to disappear. But, who knows, maybe he was planning to stop and took my 2k before leaving.
No matter the reason, the point is I spent a lot of money hiring an artist and got screwed. And I’m not the only one. Even if it’s not due to a scam, lots of games die because halfway through the artist leaves due to disagreements or whatever. So, am I just doomed to never make my game? Well, in my case I found Daz Studio. Which took me a long time to get good enough for me to feel like I can use it for my games. And, don’t get me wrong, I love 3d art and the stuff I make with it, but there is just something about 2d I really like. I think it’s because a lot of my kinks are the “hyper” kind and it’s really hard to make it look good in 3d. In my humble opinion, due to the exaggerated nature they just look better in 2d.
And, hey, AI art lets me make the most of that 2.000$ scam.
To Wrap it Up
There are other points I’d love to talk about the issue against AI, but this post is already too long. So, I’ll just say, being completely against AI art is just really gating people but if you really can’t let go of that hate against it, just don’t consume it. Stop the witch hunt.
Just in case, no, I’m not switching from Daz to AI, but I am learning and using it. Until I see what I can truly do with it I can’t say for sure if I’ll use it for a game or not but at least for now, not being able to work freely in Daz, it is a tempting alternative. Getting consistent results is really what will make it or break it. At the very least I will open a page here to post AI content.