Thoughts on AI, Art Style, and Rant
Right out the gate, if you need to know anything about me I despise AI. I even have it on the footer of my website (see below) that all of my products are 100% designed by me. I use an iPad, Procreate, and Clip Studio Pro for my stickers. Both programs I enjoy using because they have not shoved AI tools into their art and have made their stance on AI and I have worked in them for a very long time. I do not use Adobe because I got tired of being basically forced to pay so they can continue to make all these AI tools and absolutely not fix ANY of their currently broken tools (specially on inDesign… Adobe still has yet to fix their leading issues).
I have seen some YouTube videos explaining the different things AI artists will do so they seem like they are authentically making art themselves when really they are just green screening out the layer in their drawing program so it looks like they are just drawing themselves. The amount of work to do that you could have just spent doing it drawing. Here I am though, a smaller artist, who despises social media and has made decent sales on Etsy by just letting the algorithm do its thing. I know people will be suspicious of me because of my lack of social media posts in the fact that I really don’t have much of a style. I’ve fought over having a style my whole life as an artist. I started young but really started drawing and taking art a little more seriously when I was in high school. Even then I could not fathom the idea of having a style.
I guess now that I have the sticker shop and it’s doing way better than I could have ever anticipated, looking at all my designs and then I see other sticker/stationary shops that have their own style or art direction that when you look at the sticker it can be very clear who it came from. Unicorn Eclipse for example: super cute, ethereal, pinks, purples, blues, dreamy with a knack for self-care theming. Paperaica Shop, also super cute, cozy, cottage core, whimsical, browns, oranges, and yellows. I see these shops and many more doing art that fulfills them mentally and financially and I start to think the strategy of building an art style would benefit my shop. It does inspire me to keep drawing and designing so I can make my own style that myself and others would love.
But then my brain can’t help but think of how limiting that could potentially be, at least, for right now? I am merely really into year 3 owning my sticker business and I feel like I am constantly evolving. Maybe this is the time to really discover myself, other styles and mediums before really committing. Or do I even really commit? Do I really have to stick to one style? Once I start making more stickers are people going to start questioning why my art is so different from each sticker? I really don’t want to have to prove that I am actually designing these items because quite frankly it feels like an insult if you compare my work to AI slop. The idea of live doodling or livestreaming sounds like a lot of fun to me and would do if there’s an audience interested in that.
I think I am just a little tired. As an artist and how this is going. But I will not let this make me give up. I’ve made sales with competing against AI slop now and I damn well don’t plan to stop.
