How Will AI Art Impact the Concept Art Industry? DON'T PANIC - featuring @AdamDuffArt

Can AI replace artists? Will there still be jobs for professionally trained artists in the years ahead? Should you still pursue art as a career path?

I am joined by one of my favorite teachers and artists Adam Duff (who also happens to be one of the most reassuring art voices on YouTube) to dig into these incredibly difficult questions.

While AI art has and will continue to cause ripples, I don't think it will be the Artpocalypse that many are predicting. Join me and Adam to get our takes on where this is all heading and why artists need to just keep being artists.
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CONNECT with Hardy Fowler

CONNECT with Adam Duff

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UPDATE: The comments have been incredible and really eye opening so I wanted to include some additional resources.

Steven also gathered some incredibly useful resources on the topic and how we can organize against it which I will definitely be doing (posted below with his permission). Older artists like me have an obligation to do everything we can to help younger artists have the same opportunities - while I don't know how exactly how that fight will take shape, I will definitely be in it.

#conceptart #digitalpainting #aiart #howtodraw #howtopaint #artcareer #adamduff #lucidpixul #hardyfowler #digitalpaintingstudio

[fowlerillus]

Yeah this is been a crazy roller coaster and a lot of these opinions are seeming instantly outdated. First of all I would direct everyone to Steven Zapata AND Proko's channel. They are putting out some really well-informed, substantive stuff on this topic. I am feeling more unqualified to try to predict where this is all heading as time goes on, but here is where I have arrived after months of more or less constant pondering: Our industry may change (possibly more or possibly less than many are predicting) but making art is awesome and I’m never going to stop doing it. AI be damned. Let’s keep making cool, beautiful, aggressively human art. I am right there with you all on this, consider me your flight attendant during turbulence. I sincerely want artists to thrive, so if I can help you - I’m around if you need me.

[samdoesarts]

The indifference to this serious issue here was pretty frustrating to watch. The ai system as it stands right now does not respect artists rights and has none of the regulations that protect other industries such as music artists. WE ALL need to reexamine this seriously and speak up about the unethical and non-consensual use of our work in training systems which aim to supplant us and future generations of artists. You guys, people with a voice, should especially be fighting for the rights of upcoming artists with smaller platforms. We can't afford to be indifferent.

[quetevalgavergaaa]

For me, AI removes everything I've ever liked about art. I have tried it, and it just leaves me with a deep feeling of unfulfillment, seeing my favorite communities and pages get flooded with our paintings get buried below all of it.
I studied and practiced for years to get into the industry, but I don't want to take part on it if I'm coerced to use AI to not "fall behind" or "get the work done" even if I absolutely despise it. I feel like it's a spit in the face to all of us.
I really wish I was born 10 years earlier to at least get to enjoy a bit of the community I enjoyed, or to at least never become interested in art in the first place. So I think I mourn the fact that the community that I wanted to be a part of is going to be dead soon and nothing will ever be the same.

[lauravsthepage]

I really believe that Ai Art is being pushed publicly to warm the public up to a more aggressive push into other industries. Its going from being the bad guy of Sci Fi movies to being that cool thing that makes sweet images.

Ai is a tool, but not for artists. I think its easy to say as a self employed artist that you are not threatened by Ai Art, but if you are someone hoping to have a job you enjoy, getting paid decently, and be able to fight for decent pay and decent benefits in their career, its a different situation. I am sort of tired of established professionals telling upcoming artists “dont panic! My job is safe :)”

[tomimn]

It's a tool, yes, but the perfect AI will NOT be a tool for artists, it will be a tool for...BUSINESSES. The perfect AI will essentially cut the middleman, namely artists, and allow businesses to just make professional grade images on their own, independent of artists. Once the perfect AI is available (or at least, good enough, like NovelAI currently for Visual Novel Anime stuff) then paying for it makes a lot more sense than paying artists, provided the cost is the same.
With a measly 25 dollars per month, the far from perfect Novel AI (NAI) is *already* capable of generating literal hundreds of professional quality anime artwork, PER DAY. Compare that to commissioning artists.
Adam. Why pay artists who *uses* NAI in their workflow, when you can just buy NAI subscription and come up with *practically workable images, * cuting out the middleman and avoiding needless expenses? The final results wouldn't be much different. The ONLY reason people still opt for artists today, is due to the AI's imperfection, and that you need artists to *iron out the creases* or come up with a specific artwork of specific quality only specific artists can produce.
The ONLY way for AI art generators to be an artist tool is to have it be *actually made with artists in mind!* Don't build it around the idea of replacing artists, which is essentially, what the current model is aiming for.

[onoesmurlocs]

I think the thing that bothers artist most is that fact that with art we found a way to make a living in a way that lets us be the type of human being we want too be, and still earn money, we can be playful and creative and express our self freely and earn money at the same time and it's the fear that way of live is being taken away from us. It's not about the art it's about a way of life.

[EZE]

I feel like to view AI art as an optional tool feels shortsighted. Corporations who don’t value art so much as producing content will obviously push this as the fast and cheap option for their employees, making deadlines even shorter to the point where an artist that doesn’t use AI in their workflow won’t be able to keep up.

[slimetank]

yeah I'm just glad i stop pursuing art career and keep it personal, a hobby, for a lack of a better word. the thought of having to "compete" with fellow artists are bad enough, now i would have to do so with soulless machines stealing people's arts to make Frankenstein's monsters in 10 seconds.

pure personal, bias opinion, but this AI "art" thing, to me, is an insult to art, to human souls and emotions in general. not only these things stealing arts to create these images, it erase actual human from the process of creating almost completely. that is not art. there is no souls in it, no emotions, there is no human expression in it. Art to me, is the language of the human's soul, the means of communicating feelings and emotions that normal words cannot. Art is something that prove that we are HUMAN. the mere fact that these things exist only to act like it would communicate with our souls, without one itself, is an insult to art, to my soul.

in the word of Hayao Miyazaki, talking about AI "art": "I strongly feel like this is an insult to life itself". it's like human has lost faith in ourselves, in our own humanity.

[fowlerillus]

I have posted the amazing resources that Steven Zapata gathered on this topic in the video description (with his enthusiastic permission). The amount of academic research that he put into this is astonishing and shines the brightest light on all of very shady ethics at the core of this. I wish I had seen his stuff before making this video because it's incredibly eye opening and has moved me from wait and see into more of an active mode of seeking out ways to actually try to affect how this takes shape (to whatever limited degree that's possible). While this definitely affects every artist, I agree that this is infinitely more unfair to artists trying to launch a career in 2022. Established artists and those with a platform have an obligation to do everything they can to lift up the next generation so that they have the same shot that we had. Will be following this closely. Thank you all and definitely check out Steven Zapata's stuff if you haven't already.

[rudimcloughlin]

The more and more I look at ai generated ‘art’, the more depressed and demotivated I get from making art my career.

[Cyberpunk]

You guys don't care much cause you guys are already established. But for new artist/student, this can be scary, as the amount of jobs will decrease. This is the same as when autocad replaced room of drafters. You don't need as many of them now.

[okipokie]

A useful tool is one thing. But when it sources from copyrighted work it definitely strikes a nerve. On top of that, these AI "artists" post AI renderings and call it art which to me is a big offense to art and creativity. Art comes from the human journey and AI renderings are completely soulless.
I love the idea that AI can only source from copyright free pictures.

[AdamDuffArt]

Yay! (wow you got that out fast!!) - Hardy, I had SO much fun chatting with you again, particularly about this topic. I've received many emails from listeners and students a bit bent out of shape about it.
Again - a big thank you for having me on - It was such a joy (as always)

[hey.rino.]

I am in my 30's now and decited to learn how to draw properly about 1 year ago.

when I've heard about this felt like a punch in the face.
what happens here is absolutely horrible. And the cherry on the cake is what happened with Kim jung gi's work, fet to AI and producing artwork that looks like his "as a tribute"

this tears my heart apart guys...I can't even describe. But I knew it gets serious when AI generated art wins an Art

BUT!!! That being said:
I started to educate myself in Art that late because I felt the urge to do so. And...I still do. I love to learn how to draw and to express myself through it. Generating AI art will never give myself that feeling. so...I don't have any choice but continueing 😄

[genreartwithjb]

This is naive at best and disingenuous at worse. Steven Zapata really gets to the heart of the matter. These are essentially art theft data mining algorithms. The ultimate goal is of course not for these things to be used as tools but for useful idiots to train the AI to the point where they don’t need humans at all. Every time you type a prompt into a one of these AI image generators you are training your replacement. You are expanding its vocabulary.

[zinka]

Great talk. However, as both an aspiring artist and a (former) lawyer I feel this topic has been approached a bit too lightly here. As someone in the comments suggested, it is objectively easier for already established figures to approach AI as a tool (which, in some way it is, and in other ways it isn't). For people who are trying to break through it's a bit closer to heart. Personally, I'm in game dev and AI "art" has already taken over a lot of work humans used to do, like marketing posters and even concept art, and we mustn't forget that this thing is only getting started. There is a great video Steven Zapata made on this topic and suggest everyone to listen to his arguments, I do find them pretty well researched and compelling.

[iyadart]

You guys are already successful and established artists, so most likely you will be fine not bothering with this tech. But for the rest of us starving artists down here in the trenches it's kill or be killed 😅

[markghammartist]

im very much against A.I in art for many reasons. one thing that really hurts my ego is seeing how all of the sudden everyone can be a high quailty artist without any real training, and the fact that alot of these fakers are trying to pass it as their own work failing to mention the A.I ! i see deviantart profiles popping up everywhere for example, only a couple months old with 1000s of these images and alot of these profiles are actually selling these renders on redbubble for example. alot of people not in the know about this new tech are thinking these people have real skill! and all the artists who have worked hard everyday for years are being slowly buried under an avalanche of these A.I images and going unrecognised. its just not fair :/ still waiting for this to blow please please blow over lol

[dougieladd]

Yeah there's the bigger implication here, highlighted if I remember highlighted by Karla Ortiz... and that is the issue of Copyright. If I typed "Hardy Fowler" or "Adam Duff" would you be happy if untalented (or 'untrained') people claiming to be artists used your names as a build criteria?? Or maybe "Craig Mullins" would be happy with that? A tool like photoshop cannot create the "art" from scratch, it requires and artists hand... Ai is creating the final result based on what you type in... not what you create.

[fowlerillus]

This is incredible. I have learned more about this topic in the comments here than I have in weeks of conversations with colleagues and everyone I could seek out with knowledge on the subject. Hugely divergent opinions as expected but lots of substance and support too which is great. I think that our collective engagement on this (rather than turning away from something scary) is likely going to be key for how this all ends up, so I'm encouraged to see the passion on display here. Thanks everyone.