MY JOURNEY WITH GENERATIVE ILLUSTRATION

And there was an explosion of activity in AI Art generators following the few months after DALLE anouncement. I have tried personally a few of then, and some are very impressive. It is a interesting tool, and, as somebody that always liked to play with the best tools I started tinkering with it.  I saw no problem with that: I mean, after all I was already trying to transition from pen-and-paper to digital art. So, for me, it was just another thing in the toolbox... 

But, then I got to the art foruns online and was a bit shocked. There is a lot of hate for AI Art out there. But, why? 

Well... Why not?  Hate is a very abbundant resource and this is nothing new...

I mean, people is upset about new tools and ways of doing things all the time. It has always been so. Since I am not exactly young, I  can remember several instances of that hapenning from just a few years ago: I remember tghat a few decades ago people complained that digital art was not "real art". How can that be art if it is "imaterial", just "ones and zeros", etc.*"?*  

When I pointed this fact to some friends, many said that "this time it is different 'cause It does everything, there is no role for the artist". Well, what can I say about it? It reminds me of an older relative vehemently stating his opinions on why photography could never be a "real" art since you had no controll over the fine details of the final product. You literally "just" push a button! In his view (and his own words) a simple stick figure was clearly more "art" than the best photography ever taken . 

Most of the time, these opinions lack knowledge on the techniques and technologies that they are criticizing. As I hope I will show you, the case for AI Art is actually very similar to the case for photography: you need the concepts and references, you need to understand the technology to go through the many steps of refining, and, you need retouching. A lot of it. It is actually, in my view, an obvious evolution of digital art, like filters and digital effects where before it.

So, in the next pages I registered my journey while trying to learn and incorporate this new tool. I am just a beginner both in AIArt and in digital art, so, I hope my journey will be easy to relate. I also hope that my mistakes, will help you form your own opinion about AI Art. 

Lets begin...