Ai Debacle

Writing & Illustrating in the Gray Areas

The short essay that follows is not a world building construct. It is rambling about why I changed my concept art mind. It is not tagged or included with articles or credits. It will be interesting to find wether there will be time to change my mind again.

— Ruby O'Degee

Note: Concept art or other digital illustrations intentionally omittted.

Artificial Intelligence concept art images. I don’t use an Ai writing tool for my drafts (too generic, rarely what I’m thinking), I am using the ProWritingAid editor to scan my style and grammar. Once a sensitive issue, even a negative matter for me to think about, it is now a routine concept tool I used to illustrate my scenarios. There are several reasons I changed my mind that will change again when and if Ai becomes more than aggregator or lightening fast photo basher. It is not yet (will probably never be) art. Art includes a human longevity factor. Machines that churn common hues, scenes, values, subjects might give up with grind, but never a peep or a complaint they lost their job or their life.
It is inevitable that writers will use Ai concept images for storyboards and illustrations, because it is a less expensive and convenient method than researching digital art that is imagined by an illustrator. Much like the earliest printing press stamps, it is not so different to use repurposed images for repetitive work. This is not to suggest that concept artists didn’t spend hours learning how to draw the whims of others. They did and should be recognized for that contribution, particularly their style contribution. Drawing is learned and practiced, but style comes from a magical mix of experiences. Style is art.
The idea of of calling Ai or excessively digital models or textures style is silly. I believe digital art and traditional fine art are incomparable. The same knowledge of planes, lines, colors, light, and angles is essential for both fine artists and software creators. The scanned work that is painted or lined with software lies somewhere between digital and fine art. It doesn't make a mess on the desk, so it's not considered fine art by my standards.
Having worked with 3D art for 20 years, I realize software updates make the work less tedious and exponentially faster to complete. When working as 3D artists, I often thought about how tedious it was to align patterns on a virtual table and visualize how they'll look on a model. Blender does most of the tedious work for me now. So I have fewer mathematical and manipulation tasks to complete. It’s easier and I’m disappointed with my lack of appreciation for my unique skill. The software calculates the tedious angles and I’m not thanking it. Instead I complain about it won’t do. Five more artists can make what I made in minutes. It took me hours to accomplish the same task. input. Machines do what we expect them to do. Dresses in the 18th century cost more than a house to make by very talented seamstresses who made little money. Neither did the material weaver. The exorbitant prices were bound to the distribution of the cloth. Today our clothes makers earn even less for off-the-rack versions of well-made clothes that don’t appeal to us for the long term.
While I acknowledge the progress in digital image photo editing with AI, I still prefer the satisfaction of painting my own artwork or acquiring a distinctive collage from a friend. The Ai images work well for illustrating. Midjourney (and others) sheds light on my writing, so I don't have to spend 5 years creating a 3D world or a portfolio of hand paintings. It's possible that I'd like to do it sometime, but at the moment, my aging hands are solely dedicated to writing on the blank page.
Concerned about Ai? I am. The inhuman aspects of Ai don’t much to do with the machine, but with the coders and the end user. Numerous war machines and frightening torture devices won't intimidate machines.
The one aspect of Ai I do not fret about is the writing tools. My exploration has included grammar tools, descriptors, and even story writers, but I've found that most of them are aggregators similar to image photo bashing tools. I once made a medallion for a group who sent me their clip art to use. I couldn’t use it. The resolution was weak, so I asked the group for better clips. I told them I had no idea where to get them. They explained they ripped them from the next and led me to them. I sighed and started the process of making the clips from scratch. It took an extra month. I no longer have those extra months, and it wouldn’t matter if I did. What I am looking for now is style. What I need now is applicable machine words, CSS and time to write my experience driven stories (Ai is unware of yet).
The concept photo bashed illustrations that I’d like to accomplish on my own will need to wait.