Are you excited for the holidays? What part in particular are you the most excited for?~

I am! I'm always very excited to spend the holidays with family and friends, having those nice nights of conversation and fun, and also excited for some time off from work :)

if you had the chance to make a cartoon series based on only one of your characters, which one would it be~

Ooo... that's a tough question... Probably based on Rick, as I really like exploring the city of Keeton that he lives in and the characters that he interacts with. Plus you'd get some cool fight scenes ;)

What present would your character Cham like for Christmas?

Almost certainly a good book and/or a hug ;) He loves a good fantasy novel.

The "within reason" sounds quite restrictive, doesn't it ?

Well, I have a polemical / controversial question I am planning to ask individually to some artists (probably via a note). I will directly ask it to you in your journal, yet please feel free to reply directly here or by note (or even ignore it if you consider it beyond "reason").

What are your views / opinions about the recent development and uses of artworks generated by artificial intelligence (typically by machine learning) ? More generally, how do you apprehend the various reactions of artists (including the ones defining themselves as AI-artists) on the different aspects of this subject ?

I have warned you, it is quite a controversial question !

I always like to give myself a way to wiggle out of a situation ;)

I actually don't find your question to be that controversial at all! It's a big question facing the art community these days, and I think it's on many of our minds.
Personally, I think that AI art could potentially be quite a useful tool, being used to help make rough references or to give some artists scaffolding to work with for certain elements of their pieces. However, in practice, it appears to be largely used as a way to minimize the importance of creatives and looks like it could negatively impact digital artists trying to make a living. Additionally, seeing it being used to mimic the styles of certain prolific artists to the point where a casual observer may not be able to tell the difference feels a little gross.

As for the reactions of others, I've seen quite a few views on it, but most within the art community have been understandably negative. I think quite a few are simply scared. This could deeply change the playing field and make being an artist an even more competitive career than it already is. Many people don't value our work already, so of course it's scary to have yet another reason for somebody to complain that our artwork isn't worth paying for. However, I do feel like some people/places have gone a little too far and attack or ban people who have used AI art in a more responsible and experimental fashion.

As for folks who define themselves as 'AI-Artists' and wear such a badge proudly... I feel like they are cheating themselves a little of the journey that it is to train and build your skill as an artist. Beyond that, though, I see a consistent pattern in 'AI-Artists' that is eyebrow-raising... Typically, whenever I come across one of their galleries, it's filled with hundreds of pieces of AI art that have been generated over the course or a month or two, at best. Some galleries have been filled to numbers as high as 800+. I contrast, most online galleries of regular artists tend towards a few hundred over the course of a decade, or even less than a hundred for some galleries that are more curated. If there were ever a living analogy of 'Quantity vs. Quality', I think that would be it. If I were a potential commissioner or buyer, the short term shotgun approach of posting a thousand art pieces would make me feel LESS secure in working with that artist.

Thank you very much for answering this question in such a synthetic (and elegant) way. I truly admire your temperance on "hot" topics like this one.

Even if I had originally planned not to mention this "AI-artworks" issue in a public post (journal or drawing), I know that I cannot keep my "promise" and that I feel like posting something (not very clever) on the subject. I have actually many (bad) ideas in mind. ^^

To go back to your comment, there is -at least- one point that could lead to an interesting discussion: the "Quantity vs. Quality" point. I may be wrong, and I somehow hope so, yet I personally believe that automatisation of art production might bring some kind of global mediocrity in the standards expected by most of people. Quality will then remain only a privilege for some happy few. I also believe that this will be applied to many other fields, including researches and engineerings on AI. As a drawback, I will lose my job… yet, good news for some technophobes, in a world where technology has been stabilized nothing new would be created in the field of AI, considered as fulfilling all the basic needs of society, and the hypothetical "technological singularity" would have no chance to happen. More seriously, even if our society evolve as an standardized world where most people enjoy reading the same comics generated by AI, there will always be some exceptions: upper-class people that will pay for "true" art (i.e. produced by humans, the old way) to show that they can afford it and some other people (middle-class) will do the same, occasionally, just because it would bring them some satisfaction.

I cannot help myself making the (questionable) comparison with food: for some people, having a meal is considered as a biological need that should be efficiently managed with a quick snack, and for some other, a pleasurable cultural activity, enjoying the work of the cooks who have prepared the dishes the best way they could. Even if mediocrity becomes a standard, there will always be a few people who won't be satisfied with it…
… "Boredom once arose from uniformity" (Houdar de la Motte)


- PS - Sorry for my (much too) long reply.

Do you have a favorite piece you've worked on over the years? If so, which one would it be?

My favorite piece is often changing as I improve and hit certain goals. However, I can easily say that learning to do comics this past year has made me feel better about my art than I have in a long time. I feel particularly proud of my comic, Shattered Innocence: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/47910529/

If we want to go a little beyond just what I'm recently proud of, though, I would probably say that I really loved working on 'Catching Dinner in the Bayou': https://www.furaffinity.net/view/43075890/ . I worked extremely hard on it and pushed myself to do things with lighting and backgrounds that I often shied away from.

And, if you want my favorite tickly piece, it's this one of Jael and Raven ;) https://www.furaffinity.net/view/40897896/ . I don't get to draw romantic tickles very often.

You often draw drawing of tickling and foot teasing. Have you ever had experiences like those (either as tickler/teaser or tickles/teased) in real life?

Sorry if this question is too personal or kinky.

Heh, it is a little personal, but it makes sense that one would ask it. I have indeed had ticklish experiences in real life, on both ends of the feather :) I don't really engage in much foot teasing in real life, though.

Hi Chammy!

Who would be the most ticklish out of your entire cast of characters? ;)

Hi back, Barry! :D

Funnily enough, and perhaps unsurprisingly, I made a list once charting out ticklish spots and how ticklish various characters of mine are, giving them overall scores after grading each spot. The one who ended up being the most ticklish was my big bear, Charlie! https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36156194/

I'm sure that has nothing to do with the fact that he's also one of my favorite characters of mine to see tickled...

Oh nice!

I would love to see this list. ;)

It's unfortunately an unfinished list, but I wouldn't mind sending it your way if you wanted to ask in a note or something, yeah :)