#create things!

[0sbrain]

alternatives for ai to design ocs

hero forge

picrew

the fucking sims 4

your local furry artist

bitmoji

shitty photoshoped collage

DeviantArt bases

zepeto

making edits of your favorite character

searching "dress up game" on the app store

learning how to draw

[dailyrandomwriter]

Day 737

In my last post, I ended by saying that AI shouldn’t do creative writing for me, or anyone else. And I want to explain this because tech bros will often accuse creators against AI as being gatekeepers, that by denying the use of AI, you’re denying other people’s ability to take part in the arts, such as writing.

However, in the words of Alan Wilson Watts, “If you’re writing, you’re a writer.”

The reason why the accusation of gatekeeping is being thrown about has more to do with an unfortunate way we view the arts. That is, if your work is not published, displayed or sold, why are you even creating? This is a view that even those supporting us accidentally express while trying to compliment our own work. I’ve been told many times by friends and family, for various things I’ve created that I should sell it, or asked, if I was creating something, if I was going to sell it. To be told by a loved one that we should sell it, or that they would buy it, is the highest form of a compliment.

But it has also created a culture where we forget that the hobbyist is just as much of a writer, crafter, inventor, or artisan as the person who gets paid to do that. 

By telling people that without AI, there are demographics of people out there who can never create, is insulting those very people. In an ironic way, doing that is gatekeeping far more than a writer or an artist saying you shouldn’t use AI to create a story or a picture.

Because, as a writer, what I want for people is to experience the joy of creating something the way you want it to be done, and then sharing it. I’m aware that saying that makes it very clear I don’t get generative AI, and I don’t.

Writing has always been a way for me to express my love of a piece of medium, to express my thoughts and feelings, and show my care towards others (because writing personal stories to give as gifts is a thing some of us do). Most importantly though, I enjoy the act of creation. Whether that is writing a story meant for a friend that hits all their preferred likes just so, or expanding on a story I’ve consumed so I can live in that world just a bit longer. 

Those experiences I have with writing I can never experience with generative AI. The instant generation of a text wouldn’t give me that satisfaction Nor would it know what it is I prefer exactly. It can’t read my brain, and sure I could put in prompts, but I would have to put in something so detailed I might as well write it myself. It also removes the experience of having that moment of inspiration when everything clicks, or the inside jokes created between friends who know your story as well as you do.

And I want other people to experience that. I want there to be more writers, writing for the sake of writing because it’s enjoyable. It doesn’t have to be big, fancy or publishable, it just has to exist.

[malenjoyer]

WE'RE SO BACK

[michals]

How I see it.

[Dylan’s not evil, but the things he makes usually are.]

[christiansinglebabes]

Kabru getting a taste of his own medicine

[mr-orion]

Repeat after me: I draw so good. Not everything needs to be a banger. I'm not a content machine I'm a person who makes art and art takes time. Inspiration comes in waves and when it recedes that's when I should let myself rest

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

Always love how much folklore especially creature folklore emphasizes that there is a way for you to win. These are the steps to ensure the dead don't rise: take them out through a hole in the wall and give them iron shoes. Vampires cannot abide sunlight. If you hear a dog howl on a churchyard path turn around and get home as fast as you can. Iron and salt and the colour red. None of this doomed idea, the world is incomprehensible but if you're a bit clever you'll survive it just fine, there's always ways out.

[jaradraws]

DISCLAIMER: the blood is a feature, not a bug 🩸☎️

[ionomycin]

your last light

[burquillos]

Day 11: 2A Sports Fest. Kacchan is supposed to sit it out but why is he on the field??

Inspired by this Dandadan screencap:

[hinamie]

new official illust of them with puppies healed something in me

[benjingle]

I don't feel like cropping out the capcut at the end so here guys 😋

[jameszmaguire]

I think it would be better for everyone if I were to be left alone in the future. Don't you?

[inkskinned]

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

[catsharky]

Presenting: King Sidon, his wife Queen Yona and his boyfriend Link.

Yona is very supportive of everything except Sidon forgetting his ceremony cues.

(I had an atrocious week and TotK has been coming in clutch for keeping me sane.)