You cannot express yourself with AI

Some may argue that generative AI makes artistic expression accessible to everyone. The problem with that argument is that artistic expression can consist of absolutely anything, so long as you’re the one doing it. As long as you have some shred of creativity, the world is your oyster. When I was a child, I’d draw comic books constantly. They looked like absolute shit, but there was genuine effort behind them so nobody cared about the presentation. As time went on, I got better at drawing. Rather than completely overhaul the comics art style, I refined it. I made those crude designs cleaner, and gave these line art creations subtle detail in their facial expressions.

Norm

This is Norm, a character I created a few years ago while screwing around with my wife’s phone. One of those fancy, new fangled ones with the stylus. The moment I got the chance to try it I drew a penis. That act of impulsive vulgarity became the basis or Norms face. His facial features resembling a dick and balls informed the rest of his character: a loser that tries really hard but never succeeds. Norm quickly became an in-joke and kind of stuck around in our lives. Most recently, he was added to our Tamodatchi Life: Living the Dream island.

Whenever I draw Norm I try to put a bit of anger into his eyes. It's subtle, but it's there. Even so, he's good natured and ultimately harmless. There are even rules for how a "Norm comic" should be composed. I wont go into all of them, but the main one is that each frame must contain a little kid laughing at him. If I were to develop it further, I'd probably do something subversive with that. Of course, this is a shitty doodle character. I don't need to put effort into it and the concept isn't that great to begin with. Still, there is a clear, defined vision here.

ChatGPT has no creative process, and doesn't understand yours

You can’t make Norm with AI. The "creative process" (what little there was) that led to his existence doesn’t exist within a text prompt. Furthermore ChatGPT can’t produce a version of Norm that works. Norm sits in this extremely fine grey area where he’s funny, but not depressing. You root for him, and hope that he’ll manage, even if he never does. The design has been repeatedly tweaked in an effort to make him somewhat more realistic than everyone else around him. The contrast is meant to fill the viewer with a weird dread. How can I convey that to a chatbot? I can say it all I want, but it won't follow through because it can't.

Still, I tried to use ChatGPT to create Norm with the following prompt:

This should be enough to get the character design and setting down, which it kind of does, but not really. This doesn't fit my mental image of who Norm is.

See Norm in theaters July 1993

That ChatGPT got Norm's appearance somewhat correct is more a reflection of how undefined his design is as opposed to a testimate of quality on the LLMs part. Norm isn't fat, he has a large head and a dad bod. He's also quite well kept. When I draw him, the disheveled look is a reflection of his self image more than it is objective reality. Of note, I never prompted it to make him look disheveled. He just does. I tried to tweak it to better reflect the intended art style and this is as close as it got.

This is just bad

This doesn't reflect my vision any more or less than the first one-- and that wasn't even a drawing. Clearly, nobody with an artistic vision should use generative AI to create images. It's interpretation of your vision will not reflect it well. The vision in my case being a doodle character with a generic backstory. Nothing about Norm is difficult to reproduce. In fact, anyone could write a Norm story and it'd probably work. Yet, ChatGPT can't even represent him visually.

Look, you're not an artist if you're using ChatGPT to create images. Art comes from intentionality. Even the lowliest dick drawing has some level of expression behind it. Something the intended audience is meant to feel. Even if it's poorly done, it can still be effective. These images that ChatGPT generated are something less than "poorly done". They're slop, unworthy of merit, regard, or the slightest moment of your time. ChatGPT being a failure at basic tasks is the status quo, and I'm not surprised by any of this. What I'm surprised by is how many people settle for it. Take some pride in your work. You can't be an artist if you have no intention of creating something to begin with. No chatbot can change that.

When I see AI generated art, I intepret it as a sign that the human behind it has no respect for their audience. But worse, I see that they have no respect for themself. You can't settle for anything approaching this quality unless you don't give a shit. It's okay not to give a shit. However, if you don't give a shit, own it. A lot of my problem with AI is that it's primary audience seems to be lazy people with zero self respect figuratively masturbating in public. Nobody else gives a shit about the crap you've generated. It looks terrible. You're not an artist, you're not even a fraud. You're nothing. Your pollution isn't welcome anywhere.