this is something i keep thinking about when people talk about gen AI images. for all the bluster about using gen AI for "artwork" it will never actually replace artists. one of the things i kept seeing on twitter (admittedly not a good sample pool) is newer artists feeling like they'll never be as good as AI, or feeling discouraged specifically because the AI is "better" than they are and it absolutely fucking baffles me.
you're going to have a bad time if you learn how to make art because you want it to look good. you're going to have a really really bad time. i've seen it so often where people want a certain style, a certain look, or a certain amount of attention (for being an artist?) and they AGONIZE over how they're not succeeding.
to them I say this: you will never make art like your faves. you will never make art like the AI. don't try to be like them because you can't. your hand is your own, your mind is your own, your eyes, likes, dislikes, history, personality, soul is your own. you cannot make art like them because you are not them, you are you. this is true for every artist- it is true for the people you admire, it is true for your peers. if you measure your success by someone else's work, you are dooming yourself to failure and pain.
your hand, your mind, you will make great things and they will be your own. if you cannot believe this of your current self, believe it of your future self. other artists have their own journeys, invest instead in yours.
