We’re So Back

Mainly writing this because I kept forgetting to write updates on this site and it looked pretty bad to have the post in my footer dated to 2019.

Hi everyone! I really have not been gone, just been offline. I’ve been haunting conventions around the Midwest and completely failing to advertise this fact on social media. I’ve also been making gobs of cash at my full-time coding job. Whenever I do full-time work, my artistic output always tends to peter out, and this has been no exception. But I’ve forced myself to apply to more conventions this year so I have an incentive to get off the couch and onto the drawing tablet.

Probably the most interesting thing these past few years has been AI’s takeover of the art sphere. It’s been incredibly demoralizing to watch, and a large part of my apathy towards art these last few years has been from a persistent sense of “why bother if AI is just going to rip it off? Why spend 10 hours on a thing when AI can make the same thing in 10 seconds?”

Back when digital art tools first appeared, traditional artists were hit hard when suddenly any snot-nosed kid could pick up a tablet and do the same things as them for a fraction of the time and cost. Techniques that took them years to refine could be mimicked with the click of a button. Now we’re seeing something similar on a much more pervasive scale. I think that, like with the advent of digital art, AI is going to force artists to focus harder on the meaning of their work, and its function as a bridge from themselves to others. That’s what art has always been, and will continue to be even with AI. People who coasted along on vapid pretty colors and “I spent 6 hours on this!” with no substance behind their work are going to be hit very hard. Hmmm… that describes an artist I know very well…

Seems like it’s time for me to think harder about what my work is trying to say. Generic pretty colors and genki anime aesthetic just won’t cut it anymore. We’ll see where that goes. But for now, enjoy the three new keychains I have up for sale!