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No.. NO! I Will Not Weaken! (AI FAQ?)
12 months ago
Hello to all you fellow FA Artists, Writers, Crafters, Fursuiters, Poets, Dreamers and other highly creative people.
I am a bit sorry to report that I might be slipping over to "The DARK Side" because I have been exploring Deviant Art because I was considering switching over to that site after the last major attack and outage here on FA. Now don't get me wrong because I feel like I "Swallowed the anchor good" here on FA, and honestly, quite a lot of my friends and fellow artists are here. I also appreciate the way that members can exchange conversations through the comments and member notes.
I LIKE it here.
Anyway, on DA they already have my algorithm established, and they flood my "Recent Uploads" page with LOTS of AI generated art, and I must admit that I really like what I see. Of course, I realize some of these images have hidden "Trap doors" behind them, giving scammers, hackers and other "Ner do-wells" a gateway to my online accounts and activities. I really wish the Cyber World hadn't got so complicated and made it so easy for seemingly moral-less individuals to thrive and prosper by robbing the unsuspecting, blind.
So, I must confess that I would really like to create images of my personal characters with almost accurate lighting, semi-realistic settings, fur textures, coloring and proportions. I'd love to see how AI could handle the likes of "Muse" my golden eyed, shape shifting Vixen, and perhaps Millie Mink tending the boilers in the S.S. Athena with accurate looking piping and machinery.
I'd like to try this new "Tool," but I would like to know things like if there is a "Free" site where I can at least explore the rendering system without an exorbitant cost or charges that pile up. Also, I feel my creaky ol' "Art Machine can handle the program, but I have been considering getting a new PC with a lot of storage. That's one of the reasons I kept this Asus gaming system, because, after all, Modern Video Games are very Graphics Driven.
DA has a couple of "Pretty, Shiny, CANDY-LIKE buttons that say, "Here! Try AI!" I have concerns that I might get really good at this new rendering system and end up discarding those old-fashioned drafting and coloring tools I have been depended on for well over fifty years.
I learn something new, every day. I have to.
"Peace."
I am a bit sorry to report that I might be slipping over to "The DARK Side" because I have been exploring Deviant Art because I was considering switching over to that site after the last major attack and outage here on FA. Now don't get me wrong because I feel like I "Swallowed the anchor good" here on FA, and honestly, quite a lot of my friends and fellow artists are here. I also appreciate the way that members can exchange conversations through the comments and member notes.
I LIKE it here.
Anyway, on DA they already have my algorithm established, and they flood my "Recent Uploads" page with LOTS of AI generated art, and I must admit that I really like what I see. Of course, I realize some of these images have hidden "Trap doors" behind them, giving scammers, hackers and other "Ner do-wells" a gateway to my online accounts and activities. I really wish the Cyber World hadn't got so complicated and made it so easy for seemingly moral-less individuals to thrive and prosper by robbing the unsuspecting, blind.
So, I must confess that I would really like to create images of my personal characters with almost accurate lighting, semi-realistic settings, fur textures, coloring and proportions. I'd love to see how AI could handle the likes of "Muse" my golden eyed, shape shifting Vixen, and perhaps Millie Mink tending the boilers in the S.S. Athena with accurate looking piping and machinery.
I'd like to try this new "Tool," but I would like to know things like if there is a "Free" site where I can at least explore the rendering system without an exorbitant cost or charges that pile up. Also, I feel my creaky ol' "Art Machine can handle the program, but I have been considering getting a new PC with a lot of storage. That's one of the reasons I kept this Asus gaming system, because, after all, Modern Video Games are very Graphics Driven.
DA has a couple of "Pretty, Shiny, CANDY-LIKE buttons that say, "Here! Try AI!" I have concerns that I might get really good at this new rendering system and end up discarding those old-fashioned drafting and coloring tools I have been depended on for well over fifty years.
I learn something new, every day. I have to.
"Peace."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azxx9sG4Gjw
A large part of this is the "AI" isn't doing anything to remove the drudgery tasks of the art, doing something that might save the wrists of artists having health challenges. Instead it's about chopping up people's art (and only of certain styles because those artists have lot of costly labor in that art), and then producing "Good art™" that's all basically the same style.
And thank you that's a huge honor! I've always been a big fan of your art!
They have a lot of different ones but here are the main two that I play with:
Stories:
https://perchance.org/ai-story-generator
Art:
https://perchance.org/ai-text-to-image-generator
I feel guilty playing with them but I make it my business to sketch afterwards.
Personally, I don't see it as theft, though I understand why some people do. I see it as more comparable to any artist, who is, of course, influenced by other artists. It's just the digital equivalent.
There are definitely comparisons to sampling. Digital technology makes these things inevitable. Sampling was preceded by things like collage, detournement, and appropriation, and even photography or the printing press. Think of the whole new forms of music and sound that sampling made possible. Quoting other music and sound has led to boundless creativity. AI art will do the same thing.
Like:
male, Siberian husky, ref fur, red eyes, white shirt, blue jeans, business haircut, by steamfox, (optional to mix styles) by redhusky
It makes me regret that I took down the bulk of my work over time. It's like the end of a game like Civ and now you can play with all the tech and stuff.
It was a great way to practice digital art and learn Krita. A few pieces were even accompanied by stories, poetry, or related songs. A lot of it was posted or made specifically for the time and for here, so there wouldn't be much point in posting it somewhere else.
Also, nothing beats drawing by hand or on the computer.
I do see AI stuff being good as a tool here and there but it has turned into all of this manufactured art that have overran the platform and has effectively pushed out most of the artists on there by basically scamming and robbing them. There are literally whole galleries of nothing but this machine art and it drives me crazy!
As far as "AI", IMO, most of the art is crap, but some is pretty cool. It's a lot of fun to play with, but it can take a lot of work to get good results, and even then it probably would usually need some editing. It's not just a matter of pushing a button.
"DreamUp," DeviantArt's in-house AI, is complete rubbish. It's just a toy; seldom produces useful results. I got a free trial of it and I was not impressed. I'm also ideologically opposed to AI visuals. They are soulless and unnatural. Give me human-made art with all its imperfections!
I have far more to say on the subject of AI, from both perspectives, but I will save that for chat or email.
If somebody draws hands with seven fingers, you figure that's a choice they made and it must mean something. When AI does it, it is meaningless and stupid.
This is also why in my opinion so much of the "AI" generations look the same, it's all softlined CG. You can't get stuff like
I love making visual art or music and making use of the quirks and imperfections. Of course you can employ AI in that as well, though.
The machine learning could make boring tasks quicker (in essence, that's what the filters would've done in yore) but it doesn't know how to do that for emotional impact. And then the generative "AI" just knows the elements of art that's considered "pretty" and that's not enough.
Of course I prefer human made art, but "AI" has it's uses. I don't see it ever replacing what humans can do.
Oh yes Dreamed up blows chunks.
When you see Generative AI make the same kinds of mistakes, there is no charm to it because there's no soul behind it. "Oh the algorithm is a little clunky I guess" but that machine has no hopes or aspirations. It doesn't know the difference between "good" and "bad" and is not trying to be either. It doesn't even understand the images it's making. When you or I draw a person, we're drawing a person. The AI is just putting pixels next to each other according to patterns it has derived from all the "training" images it has processed. There's NOTHING there to relate to.
I do try to avoid AI art, because of my moral dilemma with it -- I feel like, to be ethical, artists needed to be asked permission first to use their art; and then credited in the finished product. But damn some of the art is pretty good, and I have become a fan of someone who uses it to illustrate their stories -- it's some salve to my conscience that the writing is at least original content.
Anyway, that's my thoughts on AI; I'm not going to try to offer any advice or judgement on the issue one way or another.
As for DA, my point above was that you can have accounts on both sites, and technically be active on both sites. xD However, in addition to being a wretched hive of AI villainy, DA is also much, much more puritanical than FA. And I wouldn't be surprised if they cracked down further on it in the future. So that's definitely something to be aware of for someone who draws and like mature art.
Well, I will say for the "AI" (that is more branding than ability), I think if you are realistic about what you'll get it's fine. It really isn't going to generate the rich scenes you do. It will be very glossy and it will have some standard poses. And the resultant output will often generate a dreamlike simulacra of whatever setting you choose.
I do not know if it will do well with heavily lined styles but who knows? I know that "AI" is generally intended to produce softlined/CG art for free so as to obviate paying a professional artist to do that manually.
You definitely will need to do some correction afterward as the innate problem with computers and algorithms is that they lack empathy and context.
Presumably, you can use Microsoft Bing and such for free, and perhaps some of the bigger companies might. But beware that once enough data are scraped the tools will be monetized HARD. There is a lot of money behind the scenes to operate the algorithms; they require a lot of computing power and electricity!
Good luck!
People can hate and rage as much as they want, but AI is not going to go away any time soon. So I figure if these tools are out there, then why not use them. I can often produce results that can be used as references for my own art, which is the ideal use case for A.I. Unfortunately, most people see A.I. as a means to an end (and to avoid paying artists). I don't feel particularly threatened by it. Without A.I. people would still just photoshop art cribbed from Google searches.
Finally, DA is definitely my "backup" gallery in case FA goes down -- temporary or permanently. Though, like you, I have too much invested in FA to bail on it in favor of any other alternative.
Check notes.
When I very first started to draw, I drew cartoons and comic strips. I could do almost anything... Andy Capp... Peanuts... Pogo... Beatle Bailey... anything. I submitted several of those "Draw [insert character here]" contests that you use to find in the back of old Comic Books. I always had the original to look at while drawing and that's kinda how I use AI. I fiddle around until I get a base idea of what I'm wanting then save to file so I can print and draw from that "idea sheet/image".
What I am NOT a fan of is people creating images with AI and claiming it as "Art they created". I just don't see that. If ideas and thoughts are art then the world is WAY full of artists... they just don't use AI to claim their fame. Imagine Picasso using AI to create his stuff with. The Mona Lisa as a 'image art'... not a single brush stroke... no human talent... just someone's 'thoughts' brought to life by a machine and then claimed as 'Look what I did!' To me the PROCESS of creation... all the sketching and failures and fixes and do-overs until you have hard work on canvas (or paper or whatever art style to do)... is what makes Art "ART".
Machine or human... I cannot fathom someone, or something, else doing all the work and then I take credit for the "art" simply because I thought it up. Maybe I'm wrong... but I don't feel that way and I prefer the "human" effort and touch.
Inspiration from randomization? Lots of tools for that.
Testing and refining descriptions against what you imagine? Better.
Creating "artwork" without having to pay for an artist? Good luck, you'll need it.
(Personally, I'd like to find something I can use to help me visualize and design characters, both full figure and facial. Even a good RPG character designer might do, if I could save the results.)
Everyone else that I follow are artist or sfm/gmod modelers