Lazy finger doodle at 1am, ignore that lol Before reading all of this, watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKG_ng_xqLc I'm trying to keep a positive attitude about 2026, I really am. The problem is the one and only reason I'm worried my art career won't work out. Because, as shortcake on YouTube puts it, "are humans anti-human now?" I'm bringing this up since all adults can talk about is the "amazing advancement of AI". I'm extremely glad that there are still lots of sensible people out there that can collectively agree, artist or not alike, that AI "art" is slop. Like, y'know how people are hating and shunning the AI generated animation ads and how much praise that one wolf animation is getting? I am overjoyed at how people reacted to the wolf animation (and there's the part of me that, naturally, is happy to see a piece of "furry culture" if you will, cuz anthro animals, that people have loved)! It was appreciated for the hard work and the soul put into it, compared to huge businesses that had PLENTY of time and money under their belt to just support some people that have put PASSION and WORK into their life for art that go the "fast and efficient" dirtbag move called Artificial Intelligence. Notice there IS a different between CREATING and GENERATING. And it's apparently the rapidly advancing future of our society. I don't care about ChatGPT, c.ai, AI tools for looking up a random little Google question, whatever, that's not what I really have a problem with. It's when it found its way into the realm of art. It's not art. It's generating. It goes off random code and the internet. Anything it makes has no soul or hard work behind it. Nothing. The only honorable, MAN-MADE thing about it is the code, the programming. Which, as a Scratcher, I can consider coding to kind of count as an art, I guess. Hey, at least a person did it! I've been drawing and hoping to have an art career, to put my passion where I can also make a living off it, and I've been quite dedicated to it. And now I'm being told that I was just born at the wrong time, because people are getting lazy and cheap and artists are suffering because of it. I remember when my nana said that one day, I could work for Disney or something. HAH! Disney has disrespected all the amazing animators of the past with what it's done. Nobody even takes me seriously when I talk about it. I'm definitely the ultimate black sheep of my family in MANY WAYS. The only artist I know from my family has passed a while ago and was more of a painter and knitter most of all, but she was very talented. I have a few of her paintings hung up in my room. I wish she were still here. She'd be as disappointed as I am about it all. My dad does understand, but he's not really the type of person I talk to about how I feel much. Actually, my nana did understand, I think. Anyways, my mom didn't seem to understand the problem well. She kinda didn't seem to believe it was a threat. It IS a concern and it can be a serious threat if we don't keep fighting against it. We cannot let ourselves be dismissed about this. We're past the point of six-fingered hands and obvious errors. We're at the point where art judges in contests have AI "art" slip right under their noses. And it is a threat. I'm gonna talk about my favorite movie of all time for a moment. It is ILLEGALLY underrated. It's called The Mitchells vs the Machines. It is a cinema masterpiece. The unique animation style, the blend of doodliness that reflects Katie's self, the story, the characters, the development, everything. I've rewatched that movie more than any of you, I guarantee it. And what I love is that the main character, Katie Mitchell, is an artist and (most of all) a film maker who's dedicated her life with the hope of getting to film school. And when the robots begin to take over, I have a feeling it symbolizes a little more than just your average apocalypse. Give it a watch and see what you think, cuz I'd love to hear your thoughts. The main thing to carry away from the movie is family, but you can take away other meanings too, if you ask me. So, how can you support artists? Buy from smaller and more well-known artists alike. You can go to conventions, those market gatherings where people have stands with earrings or paintings, places like Three Little Black Birds, online. Watch art content. Buy that visually appealing graphic novel your friend highly recommended. To my fellow artists, never stop creating. We can do what a machine will never achieve. Maybe you can't draw anything other than humans or animals. Maybe you don't know anatomy. Maybe you don't know lighting or shading. Maybe you can only do traditional or only do digital. Maybe your style is "basic". But no matter what you can and cannot do when drawing (or painting, or sculpting, or knitting, or ANYTHING), you will always be better than AI. Never forget it.
