A repository to celebrate the work of talented Brazilian designers and showcase it to the world.
Tag: illustration
All 2,242 of James Sowerby’s illustrations from his compendium of knowledge about mineralogy in Great Britain and beyond published between 1802 and 1817 and arranged by color.
The problems of relying on AI art
AI leads towards visual convergence when trained on generic material not unique to different cultures or styles, always going to come up with the go-to visual and nothing unique unless instructed by a human. Will continue to allow the current visual paradigm to dominate. Sometimes the archetypical rendering is fine, the unique elements are somewhere else, but relying only on that will not create new visions of the future for sci-fi renderings.
The computer is limited by the input it receives, and cannot make estimations outside of 1) what it is given 2) what the scientist-academic nudges it to do 3) the scope of the project…
It cannot adequately have the dataset to make everything, because it’s limited to who can give it that data and how that data is acquired. So much of what artists are inspired by come from non-digital, non-archived sources: stories from our ancestors, inherited cultural modes, language (which affects our metaphors and perceptions of time and philosophies), animals wandering around, sensory experiences, memes, etc…
Basically, what I am saying is that just like humans, the AI is limited by its inability to access information it doesn’t have.
— Reimena Yee, The Rise of the Bots; The Ascension of the Human
I recently had a last minute gig come in. Client was running behind because things hadn’t worked out with their previous artist.
The previous artist was DALL-E.— Kenny Keil (@kennykeil) August 17, 2022
Will good enough win when it comes to art? If it’s between free and paid, the free version may be good enough for a lot of commercial uses…
Is convergence enough to stop “good enough”?
Shop Talk: The specific problem that AI art programs have been created to address is the problem of artists being paid to make art and not tech companies… https://t.co/tF1vtO7Ckk
— Matthew Dow Smith (@matthewdowsmith) August 28, 2022
AI may not be the end of art. It *will* be the end of many, many livelihoods. Entire portions of industry & work gone. Devastating. Culturechanging. But for those of us that overcome — an audience's belief that 'good enough' is sufficient will be the killer we can't survive. 7/
— John Picacio (@JohnPicacio) August 26, 2022
but because the audience settles for accepting the mass convenience of 'good enough', drowning the memory of quality. Audiences cherish convenience over quality. It's what drives our ethos, at least here in the US. No reason to believe people are suddenly going to change. 13/
— John Picacio (@JohnPicacio) August 26, 2022
I think it already is replacing artists and will continue to do so because the majority of those who pay for the art are okay with accepting the results of the A.I.-generated images if they are ‘good enough’ for whatever purpose they suit.
— Kyle T Webster (@kyletwebster) August 28, 2022
it makes me sad that these look good or human-made to anyone. there are so many obvious AI tells to me. the main ones being incoherent vanishing point perspective and uncanny human faces. i suppose they'll only iron that out more in subsequent models though.
— Eprom 🌹 (@eprombeats) August 16, 2022
In other creative fields, art is already converging to homogeneous looks and sounds:
To minimize risk, movie studios are sticking with tried and true IP, and simply adding onto or remaking existing works.
Will illustration and the visual arts follow the same trend? For some commercial art needs, the purpose is to fit a tight-fit visual niche — think romance book covers, or organic food packaging, where the goal is to communicate quickly what category of product it is.
But, some art — like magazine covers — does need to stand out. Distinctiveness is part of the goal. This is where creative work can persist despite “good enough” in other areas.
Will AI-created artwork achieve its goals?
Example: cover illustration
The art on these covers is pretty enough but the type is bad:
A creative author is using Midjourney to create covers for their books. Typography added separately. pic.twitter.com/8rAcIyaFrV
— Alex MacCaw (@maccaw) August 24, 2022
If you just need a placeholder cover these seem fine, but I’m curious whether these are enticing enough to sell books. Probably something you could use for a lead magnet, something you’re not selling but just want to have a cover in the Kindle library.
Example: comics
A comic book. pic.twitter.com/x7g9DfCfiD
— Alex MacCaw (@maccaw) August 22, 2022
Some fine vibe-setting panels for a comic, but not super useful for storytelling, the panels are too similar, and how good will it be at action? I can’t imagine it will naturally generate unique poses and dynamic angles to keep scenes visually interesting. Just a few pages of this feels slow-paced.
If this is the only kind of art it can produce, it will only be useful for indie literary type comics. I think what’s going on is that grand vistas look impressive and are hard to draw, but the AI’s problems are also more apparent at closer scales, where it adds weird distortions or things don’t align we’ll. Our brains can ignore or fix the problems in a vista, but they’re impossible to ignore when they’re the focal point.
If I had to gaze into a crystal ball? I think we will DEFINITELY see a rise in AI comics, probably webcomics, by small creators. I think most of them will be terrible.
I think, in short, AI art will lead to Sprite Comics 2.0.
— Kingfisher & Wombat (@UrsulaV) August 28, 2022
I would guess, like Ursula Vernon, AI will be a tool to reduce workload for artists needing to draw complex environment panels, and an asset library for rendering environments. In current state Vernon found it needed a lot of post processing.
This art style looks beautiful now, kinda Monstress – esque / movie concept art, but I suspect that the more people use it, the more generic it will feel and people will value art that’s clearly created by a human / has its own visual style.
I'm personally not too fussed about it re: comics. I can see AI being a springboard for more intentional, more human ideas. I would find it exhausting to read a long-form narrative full of prompt-generated panels. That's not a comic. I'm most concerned for editorial illustrators.
— Trung Lê Capecchi-Nguyễn (@Trungles) August 28, 2022
Implications for the industry
As I said before, I don't subscribe to mantras that say 'art is dead' or 'all pro illustrators are screwed', BUT yes, all of our livelihoods as working artists are in grave danger. The viable market for working visual creators is about to have a massive contraction. 2/
— John Picacio (@JohnPicacio) August 26, 2022
This tech could push down editorial illustration prices so only newbies who live on starvation wages will be able to compete with AI, plus high end artists who can retain boutique clients that value uniqueness and want to signal that they are a luxury publication / brand, so the middle career folks will disappear. Or, will only high end creators with distinctive appeal be able to keep working and all junior creatives fade out?
If you’re a creator, you either have a style or you don’t. If you don’t, you’re simply a gig worker. And if you have a style, there’s a computer program that’s going to not only encourage people to copy your style, but expand it.
For some, this is going to lead to enormous opportunities in speed, creativity and possibility. For others, it’s a significant threat.
— Seth Godin, Unprepared as Always
Not yet, but…
I’d say AI is not good enough *yet* for most use cases, but it will get better over time. In the long run there will be less work for creatives actually producing their own renderings (linework, painting, photoshoots) and more the art direction angle of knowing what prompts to give the AI to get what you want, plus correction of obvious rendering errors.
I love drawing. Not prompt-writing. I love the touch of the human hand, craft, skill, personal style, beautiful imperfections. Not A.I. “art.”
Yes, I work at Adobe. I can still achieve all of what I listed above with nothing but my hand, a stylus, and my brushes in Photoshop.— Kyle T Webster (@kyletwebster) August 28, 2022
At the low end of the scale, a broader range of fields will be impacted (logo design, basic graphic design) — will enough small scale jobs be accessible to early career folks that the industry won’t collapse in 20 years, because no one was able to get the experience?
Categories
Adobe Max: Keeping a Sketchbook
Learn how to keep a sketchbook to improve your drawing skills, further your art, and recharge inspiration. Discover tips and tricks to keep your work fresh.
Octavia Bromell (Tink) Instagram
Started sketching as art therapy
300gpm paper for wet media, 150gpm+ for mixed media sketchbooks, use bulldog clips to keep paper flat when painting on too lightweight paper
Mostly shares from her sketchbook online –> clients commission her for work in that style which she likes to make
Not sure what to draw? Try still life
The Snowy Valleys is a land beyond time, where life moves to a slower, more considered pace. The identity is built around this idea of seasonality and time. The typeface draws inspiration from historical regional signage combined with the stencilling found on local produce crates. Imagery elevates out-of-license heritage illustrations that favour attention to detail and craft that can only be produced with ample time.
I like the combination of modern typography with vintage illustrations and playful typographic layouts. It stands out in place branding which often seems to be photo-focused. Feels classic while still fitting the 2020 aesthetic vibe. Branding and design by For the People agency.
Join us in the IndieWeb chat and in our Zoom room. Share ideas, create & improve our personal websites, and build upon each other’s creations. Whether you’re a creator, writer, blogger, coder, designer, or just someone who wants to improve their presence on the web, all skill and experience levels…
An initial illustration of a mushroom mascot for the IndieWeb. I sketched up ideas initially at Create Day in July.
Another activity idea: canoeing
Kawaii Versions (with face)
Added 10/12/21:
Categories
Travelogue in Visual Essay
It takes a lot of percolating to become your own person.
This is a neat way to present a travelogue and to pull together something that may seem mundane and yet becomes the foundation of our days, that is different in particulars and yet the same everywhere she has traveled.
I want to remember to be more casual with how I think about comics and illustrated works – I like these blends that choose the best moments to illustrate, to add to the words. This feels intimate, almost like a journal entry, although it’s clearly addressed to an outside reader.
Categories
Read White Rapids
The rise and fall of a Canadian town. Blanchet seamlessly blends fact and fiction as he weaves together the official history of the town and snapshots of the quotidian life of its residents. Blanchet’s unique, streamlined, retro-inspired aesthetic draws on art deco and fifties modernist design to vividly conjure up idyllic scenes of lazy summer days and crisp winter nights in White Rapids, transporting the reader back to a more innocent time.
Less graphic novel, more historical vignette, almost an exhibition in book form. Honestly this is the type of project I would love to do though I’m not sure how successful it was.
Love the limited color palette and fun period evocative illustration. Clever page layouts and playful uses of type (though I would quibble with some of the type combos).
This is often how I feel about Drawn & Quarterly books — I’m drawn to their visuals, but the story doesn’t grab me.
What this leaves me with is the community this town lost when it was shuttered. Despite not being fully a story, I thought the ending of this book carried a sense of that loss. Blanchet dedicated several spreads to carry the weight.
I have a promotional postcard of this cover framed with two other postcards I got at 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, a memento of the event. (Hung it in a bathroom for a few years and picked up some water damage.) So in a sense, I’ve been meaning to read this for almost 15 years.
Videos by Stephen Silver from Adobe Max to watch for character design:
Effective Character Design: from Start to Finish
Effective Character Design: Shapes and Structures
Effective Character Design: Story, Gesture, Design, and Details
Death arrives in this darkly humorous and brilliantly illustrated tale created by Nicholas Gurewitch, author of The Perry Bible Fellowship.
I’m a big Edward Gorey fan and this felt like a fitting tribute. The scratchboard etchings, lush with blacks and the ethereal white on black lines sometimes having a ghostly quality, complemented the story well. The story was fun with an eerily fitting ending. Fantastic job emulating Grey’s illustration style while keeping it just a bit different.