I see AI everywhere. If you’ve got an artistic eye, you can spot the images right away. The perfection and lack of emotion gives them out.
I guess there is a numbing factor to an artist seeing those images. They can block you in so many ways: how can I ever compete? How can I make something so beautiful? How long will it take me? What is the point anymore if pictures that take me weeks to make, can be now produced in seconds, from everyone and look even better? What is the point?
But there IS a point! You must NEVER stop creating and if you are a painter, you must never stop painting!
I am pro-technology, don’t read this the wrong way. If it weren’t for it, we wouldn’t be interacting right now with each other. But with the current state of things in the art world, it kind of feels like technology is opening our chests and ripping off our hearts.
However. Traditional ways of making art have something magical in them that cannot be replaced.
They have breath.
When you decide to make something with your own hands, you begin a journey. No progress, no growth can happen in seconds in real life. You slowly learn to walk, you slowly learn to talk, you slowly develop your personality, you slowly become special and unique. And that is the main difference between what you create and what AI creates: yours is special, unique, flawed (yes, that’s a very precious aspect) and can never be reproduced by anyone. The prototype is only one. The person who makes it is only one. And whoever they are, they have put their mind, their heart and their sweat in making it.
We rush like crazy through our days and claim we don’t have time. Time to make something special. And we have ready the excuse. ‘It will not be appreciated’. Dah! If we don’t get to make it, then yes, it will not be appreciated.
I used to embrace that kind of mindset, and was always stressed and unhappy. There were never enough hours to catch up on everything. But you know what…. I have now found the time. I realized after much suffering, that I can get to make the time. Watching hours of pointless and intelligence-blocking shows on Netflix does not offer me anything, other than time waste. So I cut back on that. Sitting and dwelling over my bad luck of being born into a time that does not appreciate art as much anymore, does not offer me anything either. I cut back on that too. I realized that I get to make my own choices. So I tried to find ways (and still do) to manage to be more focused, more energetic, more available. And more grounded. I don’t fret about what I cannot do. I focus on what I can do. I plan my week and try as much as possible to keep to my schedule (hey, we’re only humans and that’s ok, to not manage everything). And I imagine in my head and think about all the exciting things I can get to do during my week, and not all the millions of things I cannot do. That is so liberating and so freeing! Suddenly, I can! Instead of being the person who can’t, I am the person who can. Try to become that person too, if in any way you share my troubles and worries. You can do it and you will be feeling so much better afterwards. Like a whole new life has been gifted to you.
Don’t allow AI to be another obstacle into an already suffering field. Let it be a fuel, which will make you more determined to keep going, and keep traditional ways of art alive, to pass on to the next generations. It is not about what art can give to you in means of survival. It is about what you can give to the world through your art. Survive in any other way you can, if making a living as an artist is too hard, and just keep on creating. Keep on growing and improving in what you do. And keep on making a legacy, that you will pass on to the future.
You know what? Files can get easily lost. But our pieces of art, the ones we actually make and who have actual physical existence… those remain alive through time. You, and anybody else, can touch them with your hands, you can hold them.
And that makes all the difference in the world.
(My original ‘Corpse Bride’ painting pictured above is adopted. I’m incredibly grateful for your generosity and kindness, and for your support to my work 🙏).