blog

Out of context: Reply #76112

  • Started
  • Last post
  • 76,753 Responses
  • Horp6

    Bouncing off Jagara's thoughts about ai and commercial illustration in a previous post below...

    I think it's already over. It's already killed that industry. It's tangential but feels relevant to say that I've fairly recently got to know somebody with *absolutely zero* experiemce in art, illustration, creative industries (literally not from any relatable world to image making) but she now uses ai to prompt up artwork that she sells as drop shipped items via Etsy and many ither places.

    She's gone from knowing nothing at all but being curious, to creating ranges of prints, clothing brands, homeware brands, soft furnishing brands, and setting up online retail, retaining a team of helpers around the world to do her marketing, her social media, and to create websites with all the shopper stuff to order and pay.

    She's been doing it for just two years as a side hustle but is now looking to quit her job to focus on it full time.

    Everything is copyright free, and she doesn't need to know how to create any of the images. She just picks a theme, describes the vibe, and then chooses what she wants to add to her retail points.

    I can look at it all and be sniffy, saying she isn't the actual artist, but that's pointless at this point now. After her day of work, with almost zero effort, she can generate 30 artworks and have them shown on product and available to order in a matter of a few hours.

    To create just 1 artwork would take me 1 day, and it might not be any good, and people might not like it, and they might say "can that part be red and could that say something else?" and I'd have to it all again to comply.

    This new situation re-separates art from commerce once more; a distinction blurred when Pear's Soap first commissioned an artist to paint them a portrait for use as an advertisement.

    Now there is commercial image, made with appropriate economy for the task in hand, and there is art... valuable for being human made and one of a kind and purchased because it appeals to the buyer.

    I can't help thinking that's okay, and is what has always happened.

    Sure, I feel sad for all the commercial illustrators no longer able to rely on that as a career; but I saw the writing on the wall back in 2008 and got out. Sometimes it's necessary to accept that a career line has closed down and to seek out a new one.

    My friend who I mentioned at the start of this post received a production sample of a range of kitchen glassware she's decided to do when I was at her house. It arrived Saturday lunchtime.

    She had prompted up the designs a week earlier, sourced a factory to produce them, and then they sent her a vintage looking glass sippy cup with etched and coloured graphics on it. For free. Less than two weeks after she submitted her range design. It's exactly as per her visual. The product design, and the graphical branding/illustration.

    It's immaculate. She's not spent a single penny getting to that point, and as of now 24 hours later that range is on Etsy and other places, and she's taking orders. The factory produce what she needs and send it out directly with her branding and packaging.

    She does nothing.

    How is anybody going to compete with that? With your quality? With your uniqueness? With your skill? With your training?

    Horp 6Permalink
    UpvoteDownvote
    Flag
    • It's all about ideation now. That's it. We can still own that domain, should we choose to. But we don't, because it's Wrong.Nairn
    • Inspiring story
      ********
    • I agree it's not inspiring for the creative community, but it's happening. It's am economic and commercial reality. Very little has true value in this paradigm.Horp
    • My friend literally conjures up entire ranges, and factories around the world can produce them on demand. It's not just the creative community...Horp
    • facing oblivion, it's mass production, marketing, retail, trade, distribution, mamagement... the labour market, the working class, the middle class...Horp
    • all of it facing redundancy and oblivion. But if you want to start selling kites or light fittings or watches or pet accessories or vases, you can, instantly.Horp
    • So AI slop goes irl mainstream
      ********
    • < this story is most probably an exception, no proof this will be the norm going forward, so can we chill?
      ********
    • This girl's real talent seems to be hustle and drive. Hope success comes to anyone putting in effort.BonSeff
    • I think there are actually a lot of people like this if you look on sites like Etsy. The quality of the stuff is not that great but they are just reallyyuekit
    • dedicated to marketing like BonSeff said. But there are so many different things people need design and illustration for and I'm not convinced everyone is goingyuekit
    • to be using the same AI image generators.yuekit
    • Thing is, even this is not safe. Soon you'll be able to ask an AI agent to all this for you. At that point why would anyone pay for a sippy cup on Etsy, ...skinny_puppy
    • When they can get something even more personalized generated and produced by a team of agents. The only one winning in that world is the factory.skinny_puppy
    • There will be likely be a backlash at some point and some people will come to value hand made things that cannot be produced in a factory.skinny_puppy
    • its about about stylisation.. how can u bring the a.i to a point that it doesnt look like all the other a.i stuffneverscared
    • i agree the factory will be even more superior... and that will create and anti-market for most...neverscared
    • It seems to me that so is a step change in efficiency for an illustrator. The same illustrator that did one piece will now be expected to do 10 or 20 or 100.monNom
    • He’ll be able to do it with the so tool. Guiding the style and the content and thinking. The end user will get a richer experience, and in more places.monNom
    • Case in point, I stumbled into a documentary about a canal in Canada. - very niche. It featured what looked like ai map art. Animation. Historical illustrationsmonNom
    • The production quality was far in excess of what would make sense for that content a few years ago. AI makes it possible for a small crew to make big things.monNom
    • Curious to see her shop. But I disagree with you in that she does put in tons of work in managing marketing and production plus don’t forget the biggest_niko
    • Thing which is her taste, she’s obviously able to create things in a style that is appealing and sells which is the biggest hurtle and her real talent._niko
    • Exactly.
      "with almost zero effort"
      "She does nothing"
      Her effort and work are elsewhere as are her rewards.      palimpsest
    • She merits her success by the parameters you are judging success on.palimpsest
    • One way to look at this is if you just dove in and used AI to the maximal extent possible, what could you achieve?yuekit
    • In the words of Ivan Drago: "If we die, we die".palimpsest
    Show [[ numHiddenNotes ]] more notesAdd Note
    SaveCancel

View thread