I just want to make it as an artist, nothing wild or fancy. I don’t have huge dreams, no ambition to win awards or be a big voice in the industry. However it feels like at every turn people are trying to inch out artists more and more from making a living, whether that is low pay, AI, etc. It sucks
One small ray of hope that keeps me truckin: There is an active counter movement. Much like the art nouveau, and arts&crafts movements during the industrial revolution, there are a lot of folks who value the human element of what we do and disdain AI. It may not be mass market, but it could save us.
I know Yanick Paquette has begun to put links into the first comment of his FB posts instead of into the posts themselves because he believes that helps.
Feeling this so hard lately.
We’re pressured to share our work online for free, then we have to follow an algorithm for our work to actually reach ppl, then the algorithm suppresses any attempts to make sales, then our work just gets stolen anyway. It’s Sisyphean.
Yeah it really feels like the modenr golden age of art is over :/
We had a good run online for a decade or so, I loved seeing young and independant artists building up their brands and truly *making* it inthe sense that they can support their living with original art n merch.
Then AI came.
Not just talking about AGIs but also algorithms fucking up the TLs and obscuring smaller artists or people who can't afford to be active and post multiple times in multiple places a day.
Capitalist greed always screwing us over, man. This is why we can't have nice things.
It'll come a time (which I'm sure had already came around), where those said young and independent artists are now utilizing ai to build their brand.
Once they realize they can't keep up, it'll only be inevitable till they join the ai masses.
It'll be a new golden age of modern ai. Which is scary.
Apparently it's already happening, I have heard of Art Leads looking to hire people and having to weed out portfolios that was just AI garbage.
My worry is that once these Art Leads retire, de facto acting as gatekeepers, their standards retire with them :/
SAME!! 😭 It’s def NOT easy to make a decent living off ur art by today’s standards- BUT I’ve learned this: u don’t have to make a living off ur art to “make it” as an artist. As long as ur still making art & ur able to find joy in it DESPITE all the forces working against us, u have “made it”
Capitalism created this horrible value system:
make $ = professional = legit artist
But being an artist isn’t about the monetary value, its made by u, for u, for whatever reason is urs.
Ur art is art simply becuz u made it, so as long as ur making art, ur making it AS the artist u are 😌
Yes but also: becoming an honestly proficient artist takes time. More than we think. Time we often end up selling to corporate overlords instead of investing and re-investing in ourselves. Some of us would like this to be more than a weekend hobby. Alas, easier said than done.
100%! It’s a dedication that gets overlooked & taken for granted. I’m not saying don’t try to make a living at it, I’m saying don’t let that define what it means to “make it” as an artist. Cuz ur putting in the time & effort to hone ur craft whether ur making money or not, so ur still an artist
In 2021 I was starting to earn enough to support myself, then AI and algorithms fucked everything up. Last year was hard, I lost two of my pets due to sickness and I was only able to take them to the vet cuz my bf was kind enough to lend me cash. I'm only barely surviving at this point 💀
