Fuck AI

A message to people flirting with the idea of cosplaying as an artist through AI: I am an artist, I have also been art directing off and on for over 30 years. I guess I am best known for art directing Magic: The Gathering for its first release and many expansion sets afterwards. I work primarily in gaming.

A am friends with many art directors who still work regularly.

We talk.

I can assure you that the general thinking on the matter is that if you present a portfolio with AI images in it you will not be hired. You will in essence be black-listed and lose any opportunity to work in the industry. As I said...we talk.

We do not want to waste our time with someone who thinks that they can skip cultivating a personal artistic style. We do not want to deal with the headache of accepting work that cannot be copyrighted. We do not want to offer jobs to people who think stealing from our peers is an OK way to do business. And it only takes one image to sink your future. Only one.

If you are hired and turn in AI work you can kiss any thought of a future in illustration goodbye. I know a lot of AI bros are out there telling people it's the future, what they are not saying is that using AI to replace a skill you should already have insures you will have no future.

People who respect art and artists look on AI as a joke and an insult. When you include it in your portfolio you are mocking people who spent years learning a skill and collecting influences and a unique way of translating the way they see the world into 2d images. Nobody wants your crappy machine made theft collage.

If that is all you have to offer then you are offering less than nothing. You are litter on other people's career paths. You are a distraction and a great waste of time. You are clutter.

Think really hard before you decide to pass AI off as your "artwork". Many, many eyes are watching. You will be judged and in a market where there are already so many great real artists why would anyone want to waste their time on your cheap shoddy goods? The answer is that they won't and they will let their friends in the industry know to avoid you. Those are the facts.