Random Spiel, I Stopped Showing My Art Process

I picked up the habit of the documenting my work for every art post in the past as a means to prove it's mine. This was during the time back in the legacy chain where there were plenty of "artists" just plagiarizing their content and making fake accounts for verification. Responsible curators would go the extra mile to verify the content they see and it saves curators precious time when you got receipts to back up your claim.

This was the fastest way to get some credibility for hobby artists here. Now comes the age of AI where it becomes tricky to spot generated images from AI versus artists. Most generated images can still be recognized based on the common mistakes AI makes when rendering objects like the hands but newer models improve. It's even more difficult to tell when the image is more stylized or contain abstract components.

I highlighted in red circles the areas where generated images tend to fail. I believe the program used here was Nijijourney with the anime style in mind. The image fails because of the perspective of the clocktower, the lighting behind the character which becomes an extension of the moon, the moon's light failing to obscure the light of the stars near it in the background, the hair attached to the lamp post, the small light on the nose that shouldn't be as intense or there in the first place unless there was a hidden lighting in front of the character but that would even ruin the piece, and there are other parts where the lighting doesn't conform with the form of the character.

On the first glance, some gross errors can be discernable but if there are better generated images that don't have extensive backgrounds. A good foundation with lighting can help with the curation but this isn't expected from a non-art enthusiast who see images they like and press like. I'm saying, aside from the patrons of art, it's usually other artists that are fans of other artists due to like minded interest. I equate doing art with problem solving if I was rendering a piece with a lot of technical details involved.

But distinguishing abstract art versus a generated image is probably near impossible because random splatters and forms on a digital canvas can mean these are forms painted by childhood trauma and years of struggle. Or it's just actually scribbles meant to front a money laundering business.

I study generated images because these are a good exercise to see improvements. The average Joe wouldn't be able to tell the technical details that make it a generated image but they'll likely have a hunch that it's AI generated. It's the subtle details and having an idea to spot these artifacts that makes a good artist, in my opinion anyway. This is the part where we as artist can use generated images to improve our craft, by learning what not to do and seeing stuff the normal person misses.

Whether you love or hate generated images, you do you. This tech is here to stay and it's pretty evident that every generation will have people that undervalue the real technical effort artists have to learn in order to achieve the skills they need and still no guarantee that they won't be starving.

It's silly now it has come to a point where anyone who hasn't picked up a brush or hasn't put in the work to learn art can just go around accusing other artists of producing generated images while the burden of proof lies in the artist accused.

I don't want to play the same games as people who can't tell the difference due to lack of technical knowledge in the field they curate. It's easy to just ask about the process before starting a witch hunt. This comes from being exposed on toxic X formerly Twitter art communities. On Hive, everyone is a curator so the bar in terms of quality curation is set lower to I see nice post, I click upvote and that's fine.

I think showing the process shots enhances the showmanship of the post but it's just added work on my end which the intent from the beginning was to show I can. If a curator even doubts that I can draw, they can check my background as I've been doing this since 2018, before the AI revolution.

I'll reserve this thought for another art post "The real distinguishing feature between a generated image versus art made by humans is conscious intent."

Thanks for your time.