#u either do that or you dont

[inkskinned]

the rise of AI art isn't surprising to us. for our entire lives, the attitude towards our skills has always been - that's not a real thing. it has been consistently, repeatedly devalued.

people treat art - all forms of it - as if it could exist by accident, by rote. they don't understand how much art is in the world. someone designed your home. someone designed the sign inside of your local grocery store. when you quote a character or line from something in media, that's a line a real person wrote.

"i could do that." sure, but you didn't. there's this joke where a plumber comes over to a house and twists a single knob. charges the guy 10k. the guy, furious, asks how the hell the bill is so high. the plumber says - "turning the knob was a dollar. the knowledge is the rest of the money."

the trouble is that nobody believes artists have knowledge. that we actively study. that we work hard, beyond doing our scales and occasionally writing a poem. the trouble is that unless you are already framed in a museum or have a book on a shelf or some kind of product, you aren't really an artist. hell, because of where i post my work, i'll never be considered a poet.

the thing that makes you an artist is choice. the thing that makes all art is choice. AI art is the fetid belief that art is instead an equation. that it must answer a specific question. Even with machine learning, AI cannot make a choice the way we can - because the choices we make have always been personal, complicated. our skills cannot be confined to "prompt and execution." what we are "solving" isn't just a system of numbers - it is how we process our entire existence. it isn't just "2 and 2 is 4", it's staring hard at the numbers and making the four into an alligator. it's rearranging the letters to say ow and it is the ugly drawing we make in the margin.

at some point, you will be able to write something by feeding my work into a machine. it will be perfectly legible and even might sound like me. but a machine doesn't understand why i do these things. it can be taught preferences, habits, statistical probability. it doesn't know why certain vowels sound good to me. it doesn't know the private rules i keep. it doesn't know how to keep evolving.

"but i want something to exist that doesn't exist yet." great. i'm glad you feel creative. go ahead and pay a fucking artist for it.

this is all saying something we all already knew. the sad fucking truth: we have to die to remind you. only when we're gone do we suddenly finally fucking mean something to you. artists are not replicable. we each genuinely have a skill, talent, and process that makes us unique. and there's actual quiet power in everything we do.

[yaksinhats]

woes of dating baldur's gate's only other cult leader who also happens to be using you to complete his murder-suicide plan

[dobythealpaca]

hi gang *team fortresses your two*

[skyburger]

genuinely devastating that it's been four years since hlvrai came out and i still haven't seen ANY art of dr. coomer and dexter jettster together 😢 come on bro hes dr. coomers FAVORITE star wars character. they can hang out in the diner (from star wars: the clone wars)!!!! i think he would love that shit. we have the freedom to draw whatever we want and yet.........!!! 💔 world is a fuck

[aropride]

"no guys i swear the cishet intruders are real this time, they're really invading our community, theyre taking our resources for real this time, trust me, they love getting called slurs and being discriminated against, this is a real thing thats really happening and affects me in real life, my exclusionism is good this time i SWEAR"

[gomzdrawfr]

digital art be like

[puppyeared]

Why have sex when u can watch blackhead removal videos

[cerealmonster15]

[vibrating a little too fast] Do You Understand My Vision Yet

[nashvillethotchicken]

Some Iwtv fans will seriously fight tooth and nail to argue that Armand is more evil or Lestat is more evil as if both them bitches aren't going to the hell under hell and then to the hell right under that one!

[inkskinned]

this is sort of pathetic, but when you were younger, you were sort of puzzled by the cartoon representations of fathers: how a kid would be outside with a mitt, waiting to play catch.

it's not that your father never played catch with you, but you also didn't like when he did. something about a hard ball coming quickly towards your face doesn't seem exciting. not that you'd ever say you don't trust him. you trust him, right?

it's not like he never tried to teach you anything. or never tried to parent. on rare days, a strange person would walk in your father's skin. bright, happy, magnificent. this version of your father was so cheerful and charismatic that you would do anything to keep him. and this is the version of your father that would laugh and gently coax you try again. this is the version of your father that would break down the small elements of a problem and point them out so you have an easier time with them.

as a kid, those days happened more often. but somewhere around 11, you started being too much of a person, and he was often cross about it. when he'd try to sit you down to learn something, you spent the whole time with your shoulders around your ears, nervous, uncertain. terrified because you didn't immediately understand how to navigate something. worried you will run out of his goodwill and then you will have the Other Father back, and you will have ruined a good day for your entire family. something about you being visibly afraid - it just made him angry. he would accuse you of not wanting to learn and storm away.

on tv, it's not like there's a lot of versions of men-who-are-mostly-fathers. they can be good dads, but usually their stories are not told in the household. so it's normal that your father is there, but he's never around. you know he was in the house, somewhere, it's just not that you guys ever... "hung out". he just seemed to get kind of bored of you, annoyed you weren't made in his perfect image. frustrated with how much energy it took to raise a kid. over time, you kind of adopt a bittersweet band around your throat - he knows nothing about me. he says at least i never abandoned my family.

and it's technically - technically - true. he was there for you. sometimes he even made an effort and made it to the big moments; the graduations and the dance recitals. he grins and tells everyone that he taught you. it almost erases the days in between, where he complains because you need a ride to school. the weeks that go by where he doesn't actually ever speak to you. the times you say i am struggling and he says figure it out on your own. i can't help you.

and that's fine! that's all fine. you can call him if you are having a problem with your car. or if you need a ride to the hospital. he loves playing hero, he just doesn't like the actual work that comes with being a father. and you've kind of made your peace with that; because you had to, because you don't want to live your life like he does; the whole world at a managed distance, a little rotating and controlled orb he can witness and take credit for but never truly love.

as an adult, you are rewatching some dumb cartoon - and again, the child standing in the rain, with a mitt, waiting for their father to come play catch. as an adult, there's this strange creeping dread - this little thing? this little thing, and their dad can't even show up for that? oh god, holyshit, it's not about the mitt, is it. oh god, holyshit, your father spent most of your life leaving you hanging.

[lokh]

every day im reminded that though my parents may have wanted a dog they clearly did not want to take care of a dog

[luck-of-the-drawings]

ouhh ouhh the ol 'started as a scribble n then got RLY COOL' conundrum... i titled it 'flying microtonal FISH' bc i was listening to alot of THIS song (ANOXIA - KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD. LISTEN TO IT) and i based the colors off of the album cover. this was also meant to be the scene right before the noctis arc, when gillion gets CRAAZy struck by lightning and acts all deranged through the storm. LOOOVE that fish i think he should kill more

[omgcatboi]

I don't often post my non kink related art but I'm tryna get the attention of someone else in the community and am too shy and cringe to reach out so. Here, have this portrait I did of Hanzo Shimada. With my finger. On ibis paint. This took me four hours. Progress for proof below.

[wombrion]

Hihi I searched ur blog to see if anyone’s asked anything similar and didn’t find anything but!!! I love your Shapey style. Do you have artists that inspire you? And do you have any recommendations on how to draw more loosely and shapey? Ty 💕💕

yeas, mainly kficc, owainigo, sanctus-ingenium, kanotynes and momopatchi.. theyre all here on tumblr but some post on other social media too

as for putting more shapes on ur art id say to try and force urself to approach lines differently, a normal exercise would be to draw in a continuous line (not lifting the pen from the surface youre drawing on), it makes you more conscious on how much pressure you use PLUS youre not allowed to overthink stuff (extra points if you dont erase anything) PLUS it makes your art gain movement.. potentially (also drawing w/o erasing in general is very very useful too, and dont be afraid of making rough or messy strokes or ILL FIND YOU!!!)

anyways thats just one exercise i do from time to time, youd also like to pay more attention on line weight (theres a billion tutorials on it and i sucks at explaining..), and well.. observe stuff. which shapes are the main ones that make the Thing look the way it Does, simplify, exaggerate, have funsies🎉

[cyphyra]

see this chat? this is an example of egregiously overstepping boundaries when commenting on my fucking art

not only is this incredibly gross but if you even tried she (I) would kick the shit out of you, learn consent dumbass

[dukeofthomas]

I need people to realize how horrible 'stalking/constant surveillance/breaking into each other's homes is how the Batfamily show love' is. Like i really need someone to just acknowledge how horrific saying this bullshit is.

Like even fics where they're shown as happy and healthy and with good ties, you've always got this thing where none of them have privacy or any boundaries with each other. Which is directly antithetical to actually having good relationships. And this invasion via hacking and stalking and breaking into homes is portrayed as a positive, good thing; it's just how they show love and care to each other, after all. But for some reason I just personally don't find stalking, lack of privacy or boundaries, and emotional manipulation funny, endearing, or healthy, and just end up disgusted at the attempt to sweep it all under the rug.