Sometime this week, in a snarky mood, I posted this to one of my social media accounts – “If I sometimes seem to have an ego about my art, it’s not because I think it’s the best stuff ever. It’s that I recognize than no one else’s work sucks in my unique fashion.”
Later that day I had an insight into why so many generative AI boosters seem to take it personally when other people object to the use of AI, when AI use is denigrated. Part of the process of learning is being terrible at the thing you are trying to learn. Most creative types are their own worst critics. They may not think their work actually sucks but they recognize that there is always someone better, always more to learn.
I think the folks who have leaned into using AI are afraid to be bad, to not have skill or talent. Like my friend who has written a lot stories (and paid to have a few illustrated) but hasn’t let any remain available, they aren’t willing to put out art that isn’t perfect.
The saddest thing about using AI to create art is that the user never learns to actually create art. In fact, research seems to show that AI users become less creative, less able to solve problems – dumber and dumber.
So I guess I’m glad I’ve been cursed with enough of an ego to be terrible at things and to enjoy myself while I work to be less terrible.
| Project | Count | Complete |
| Outland Saints (comic) | 40 pages | 12 pages |
| John Bell’s Oz Book (illustrations) | 27 illustrations | 20 illustrations |
| Mighty Nizz: Getting Dressed (comic) – 18 pages | 18 pages | 5 pages |
| Mighty Nizz: Tarot Deck (tarot deck) | 78 cards | 4 cards |
| Skookworks Webstore | 248 designs | new store in progress |
| Bastard Destiny (comic) | 48 pages | 13 pages |
| Sunk Cost Elegy (comic) | 120 pages (tentative) | |
| The Surrilana Depths (comic) | 200 pages (tentative) | |
| Daughter of Spiders (illustrated short story series) – number of stories, word count and number of illustrations to be determined. | ||
| Colonial Cthulhu (Keeper’s and Companions Manuals) | 2 covers | DONE! |
| Observations (comic) | 8 pages | DONE! Read it here. |
Last week I posted character designs for Bastard Destiny. This week I’m posting scans of the pencils of the original first eleven pages of the story.
I’ve added four pages to this sequence and have a rough plan on how the rest of the story will go. I’m having fun. If the result is awful, well, it will be done. And awful is subjective. I’ll leave it up to the world to decide how awful or not it actually is.
If you’re currently avoiding doing something that you’ve wanted to do but you’re afraid you’ll suck at it, I strongly encourage you to go forth and suck, suck, suck. Have fun while you hoover! The world needs more nonsense.
See you in seven!
