The goal of this post is to discuss whenever “AI art” is good, bad, or irrelevant to graphic novels.
I have been playing around with AI image creation tools since last year. Midjourney first, then Dalle, and most recently Stable Diffusion.
All images in this post I “created” using Moebius based text prompts today. The quotation marks are intended as the only thing I have created are text prompts. Whenever the AI created these images is highly debatable. If I feed an AI model ten thousand panels of Moebius art and the AI returns one panel based on them, then who is the creator?
Feel free to discuss the legality (copyright) of this technology, who should get the royalties or the credit. Or to discuss whenever it is ethical, but what is really interesting to me is to determine if this technology is good, bad or irrelevant for us, graphic novels readers.
I know that a true connoisseur is likely to differentiate within the below images and the true work from Moebius, but for how long? We are at the verge of reaching a point where this differentiation will be impossible. Moebius passed away in 2012, so this differentiation may be possible with external tools, but what about living artists? Furthermore, what if a living artist publishes a book using AI generated art based on his own work. Is that acceptable? Should the artist disclose the AI use to the public? All that will probably come with regulation, or not, who knows.
I prefer human-made art before computer-made art, especially when it comes to graphic novels. This despite knowing that some of the artists that I follow already use CGI to a greater or lesser extent, that is fine… But AI generated art is in another level, something that I do not want to welcome with open arms. Having said that, is the same as with any other technology, like it or not, it is here to stay.
So what is your opinion on this matter?
P.S: I believe I am not breaking any community rule, but if I am then please delete this post.
Where do you draw the line? (No pun intended) Do you require your art to be as purely analog as humanly possible, or do your favorite artists not have to harvest and mix their own pigments from natural pulvers in order to earn your respect? Can they use a digital scale in that process? What about sketching on a tablet? Where do you draw the line for your own personal definition of “art”, and why should anyone care at all? Genuine question.
Any opinion on the issues OP raises? For example:
For publishing purposes, who owns the resultant AI art, and how should it properly get credited?
As AI art tools continue to improve, will it eventually (read: within only a couple years) be possible to tell real Moebius art versus AI-generated Moebius art? (see examples above)
Do you agree with me that a good writer and prompt-maker could entirely replace an artist in producing a finished, quality graphic novel right now? Even if you say “no,” do you feel like there’s any force preventing that from happening down the road?