Make Art Without AI - Courtesy of Someone with No Real Artistic Talent.
One of the worst excuse I see for letting AI takeover the art world is "Well I just can't do that. AI is the only way I can make art."
FIRST of all, art is like 2% natural talent. Everyone's first drawings look like a child's drawing because that's what beginner art LOOKS LIKE. Making bad art is how you learn to make good art!
One of the great things of this day and age is that there is a metric fuck ton of stuff online that you can use to make good looking art even when you bad at most parts of making art. I know this because I can't seem to manage some of the most basic parts of making good art. Yet I still make art, and I do so without using AI that steals from people who actually have talent.
How does a talentless hack make art? I'm glad you asked.
If you want to make art, then pay attention. The following method is a cheaters way to make good art without stealing or wrecking the planet.
Step 1 - Go to Pinterest. You can also use google. Go in there and look up references for the part of art your bad at. For me the biggest struggle is making things look proportional.
Hey look at that, Hundreds of examples of bodies doing things. Look around until you find one you like. If asked, be honest about using refrences! References are posted for this exact reason, so that you can borrow that talent of those more talented then you.
Step 2 - Rinse and repeat for any detail you really suck at doing yourself.
I suck at noses and making eyes look the same on both sides. For this demonstration ill grab more things so y'all can see the kinds of stuff you can find on Pinterest alone.
Step 3 - Get into photoshop or some similar equivalent. I use Photo pea, it's free. If you want to use something you got to pay for then go ahead, I'm just cheap.
Step 4 - Upload all your bits and pieces and arrange them into something that you think looks good. Anything your confident with, this is the time to doddle in guides. Don't try too hard, this is just to establish the general look of your drawing.
If there is a mirroring ability, use it!
If there are any parts you really don't want to deal with, cover them. I can't draw a foot to save my life and learning to draw a hand is hard enough so everyone I draw wears closed toe shoes.
Step 5 - Decide, do you want to do this on paper or keep going in the app? If you want to have your drawing on paper, print your reference. then you will place the reference under a blank piece of paper so you can use it as a guide.
If you stay in the app compress all your parts into one layer and then add a new blank layer.
Step 6 - Sketch over ALL of the details you want from the reference. Tracing is a fundamental part of learning to draw and is a 1000x more ethical than AI Slop. To many people knock tracing as a bad way to learn but a lot of art skills are muscle memory. JUST DONT TAKE SOMEONE ELSES DRAWING AND PASS IT AS YOUR OWN! THAT IS WHAT WE ARE HERE TO AVOID! In this method we are piecing together a bunch of different things. The creativity is still yours; you're just using someone's else's talent to make it look better.
The key to this step is not to try too hard on the big details. Yeah, I know that sounds counterproductive but just trust me, will you?
Step 7 - Clean up your line work. THIS is where you start being careful. All those sketched lines should have created the thicker lines you actually want, so now you just get rid of the unneeded lines.
Step 8 - Color it's in. This (In my opinion) is the most fun part. You ever hear of a thing called a coloring book? This is the exact same concept. Pick a color and stay in the lines.
I recommend starting out with a simplistic look. photo realness is cool but takes more skill than the targets of this lesson. For skin tones I go back on Pinterest and look up skin pallets. You can do that or just play with different colors till you find what you want.
Congratulations! You have made art instead of creating more AI slop. The more you do it the better you will get.
I have unlocked an achievement of adulthood that I thought was only a thing in the movies. I walked into my local coffee shop before work and the girl behind the counter handed me an iced chai with soy milk. I didn't have to order; she saw me walking up to the door and knew what I was going to ask for.
Specifically for those who were raised in Christianity before finding their path in paganism; Do you guys some times struggle with remaining consistent? When I went to church a large part of what kept me on top of praying regularly was the fear of being punished. The threat of eternal damnation kept religion in the front of my mind, but now I've moved into a faith were that just, isn't a thing.
Obviously there are still lines that aren't to be crossed but I'm not afraid of my Gods the way I was afraid of the Christian God. Without that fear, constant reverence isn't as present in my mind. I'm not scared of what Vesta will do to me if I don't light a candle; I'm don't have nightmares about The Underworld the way I did (and sometimes still do) about Hell. Some days I hardly even glance at my alter. I have been thinking about it and I realized I'm not sure how to devot my self to a faith that doesn't hold the threat of punishment over my head.
Have you guys had issues like this?
How do you learn to worship out of love rather than fear?
I can't deny that one of the things I love about my Gods is that they won't make me suffer for all eternity unless I actually go out of my way to really piss them off. That knowledge is a comfort but I feel like I'm starting to enjoy the lack of fear so much that I'm not as focused on my faith as I want to be.
btw it's so fucking stupid you can be anxious physically in your body even after you've decided mentally you don't care. I'm supposed to be in charge here
I was 12 when the first of my siblings was born, so I have very vivid memories of the way my mother was excluded from a lot of spaces because people find children annoying.
If you think "children should not be allowed in this space," you HAVE TO reckon with the fact that you are now excluding parents (and very often women specifically) who don't have access to childcare. You are isolating people who are poor, or rural, or single parents, or any number of other factors that might prevent someone from having on-demand childcare. You are cutting them off from being able to exist in public. You are denying parents and children the ability to fully participate in society.
My mom spent several years only leaving the house to buy groceries or take me to school, and even then, people would still come up to her to complain TO HER FACE about how she shouldn't bring a crying toddler to Walmart. Entitled strangers would literally try and demand that my mom leave and come back without the kids.
"Why can't your husband watch them?" Because he was at work, usually working extreme amounts of overtime so we didn't get evicted, because landlords don't like it when you stop paying rent.
"Why can't you send them to daycare?" Because that costs money.
"Why can't your teenager stay home with them and babysit?" Because I also deserved to be able to leave the house for something other than school, and taking me to the grocery store was how my mom taught me to manage a household budget, shop sales, and meal plan.
"Don't bring your kid in public if you can't CONTROL them and make them stop crying!" Kids cry when they're upset, and being dragged around a store is upsetting! Don't be an asshole! Children are human beings who are still learning how the world works, and they don't have a lot of agency. You'd cry, too.
"Spank them until they learn to stop crying!" That's just straight-up child abuse, Jesus Christ.
What the fuck was our family supposed to do? Never go to the grocery store? Starve because strangers couldn't handle a toddler existing in public?
This encapsulates an argument that I try so hard to get across but I often can't seem to articulate right.
I myself am a big believer that there needs to be more adult only spaces, especially ones that don't revolve around alcohol. When I bring this up I unfortunately get people talking about how they hate kids like they think that is my point. It's not.
The idea of child free groceries stores, or other similar spaces is appalling. OP perfectly outlines why the idea of making the public less kid friendly is detrimental to parents, particularly for mothers who more often than not are the default caretakers. You would end up isolating a group of people that have already been so easily harmed and overlooked. Even if you don't like kids (I myself have never been enthused to hang out with little kids) you can't push them out of the public eye without creating a situation where the primary caretaker is trapped in isolation. In the best of situations this means they have no support or outlets but that's the BEST situation. You know who really benefits from creating a situation where a person is hyper isolated with no way out? Abusers. It is already a well-documented abuse tactic for someone to be forced into the role of parent to keep them under control, there is 0 reason to make that any easier.
When I say I want adult only spaces a huge beginning step is fixing the way childcare is handled as well as a massive overhaul of how we consider the needs of kids when building public spaces. For me to be able to have a space to talk openly to/hang out with other adults there has to be places built for kids so that parents can also use the adult spaces. Don't try to ban kids from Walmart, find ways to make Walmart easier to handle for kids who are just trying to learn how to be a person. Then, make it so the cafe on the corner has a childcare area that is easily affordable. Accessibility improvement for everyone in general spaces as well as the creation of spaces just for adults would have massive benefits for everyone. If there was a place where you could trust that your child would be well cared for so you can go and talk with other adults, that place would offer support that we all need sometimes and honestly, I think it could also prevent harm to kids.
That's the part that really seems to confuse people when I say it. I really do believe that parents having outlets away from their kids will act as a pressure release that could make the difference in someone close to getting so overwhelmed they do something they shouldn't. Most people have this idea in their head that harm to kids comes from bad people who enjoy hurting kids. I'm not saying that doesn't happen. It does, and that's not a problem that can be fixed with adult spaces. However, there are many times where stress can drive people to do things they never thought they were capable of.
One of the most common pieces of advice for new parents is "if you're too stressed, set them down and walk away." There is a reason for that. Stress clouds the judgment and there have been entire studies that look at the effect of infant crying and how much it can screw with your head. Do I think having an adult only cafe will eliminate child abuse? No. But, I do think that the single mother with the colicky baby will be a lot less likely to be driven to the point of lashing out if she could trust her baby to be looked after a few times a month so she can go to that cafe, drink a cup of coffee, and enjoy the company of people who aren't reliant on her for everything.
I don't make this argument selflessly. I don't have kids, but I too would like that kind of cafe or similar kinds of places to exist. A place where I can relax and enjoy the company of my peers without having to be ever mindful of little ears listening into the conversation or some poor toddler not understanding that the fireplace is look-y no touch-y. Hell, maybe some people would find it easier to be around the sensory overload that is a child if there were places where they could get away from them. Kids need to be in public so that they can learn to be functioning members of society. Denying a kid access to the world hinders their ability to grow and out right denies the fact that they too are people just as deserving of a rich social life as any adult. If you don't like the screaming toddler at Walmart, put on some headphones.
That being said, it is just as important to have places where adults can talk to each other and have mature discussions away from kids that are too young to be hearing them. Some people argue "that's what a bar is for" but the enmeshment of alcohol with adult spaces is a whole other problem that I truly think has serious detrimental effects on society. (And I say that as someone who drinks, in case anyone thinks I'm trying to argue that alcohol is inherently bad. I'm not.)
While watching The Hobbit I began to think about what it must have been like for Bilbo after he returned home. The books and movies don't talk about the trauma. How much of bilbos life must have been different after the quest. The other hobbits talk about how reclusive he becomes in his later years, but I want to know more from bilbos side.
How terrifying it must have been for Bilbo the first night he slept in his own bed; finally safe again, only to awake screaming. Blood and fire and dead blue eyes haunting him. I wonder how many years it took Bilbo before he no longer carried Sting everywhere he went. How much longer still before he stopped needing to check to make sure that horrifying blue glow didn't come back. It may not have been present in the books or the movie, but Sting gained a permanent place next to Bilbo's bed.
It didn't take long for Bilbo to pull away from everyone else but it's only because how could he possibly expect them to understand. How could the innocent hobbits who have never known war and death be able to understand the haunted look in his eyes? How odd he must have seemed. The only Hobbit who wouldn't eat any stew at the gatherings and parties. The only Hobbit who shrunk away from hugs because being grabbed was no longer comforting.
Do you think the first time someone tried to pull him into a hug he was overtaken with fear, Thorin's name slipping from his lips?
Do you think Bilbo noticed the way people would stare at him? The Hobbit's may have noticed him pull away, but I don't think they noticed the rest. They may have heard about trolls and dragons, but they didn't know about the sickly little creature he found in that cave. They didn't know about the nights he would wake up frightened, eyes searching for the shadows for Gollum. His neighbors didn't notice how he froze up the first time he heard a little hobbitling ask for some "eggsies". He still spun the occasional riddle but there were some he never repeated again.
Then there is the protectiveness that often comes from the trauma of watching others die.
How odd it must have been for Merry and Pippin's parents to watch Bilbo fiercely defend them against those who disapproved of their pranks and yet in the next breath berate them for the danger they put themselves in. The first time the boys got hurt bilbo could barely stand to see them; the image of two young dwarves who he had loved like family all his mind could see.
God how much worse that must have been when Frodo came along.
Dark black curls and bright blue eyes. Just close enough to haunt him. When that little hobbitling came into his life, how much of his decision to take him in was because he looked like Thorin? How many nights did Bilbo peak his head into Frodo's room to reassure himself that Frodo was alive and breathing, rather than laying on a stone slab? He protected him the way he could not protect his dwarf. Yet he also never bought him a single piece of clothing that was blue.
He filled that hobbit hole with greens and yellows and browns. Never blue. That color was perhaps the deepest tie to the pain he carried. Blue fabric, blue eyes, blue light; all capable of spiraling him into a pit of hellish memories. There were days he could not even bear to go outside because even the blue of the sky was too much.
Because at the end of the day Gandalf was right.
Bilbo was not the same, and he never would be again.
I recently had a conversation with a family member about elective surgeries; the idea of voluntarily going under a knife to change your body, some times right down to how it fundamentally exists in the world. I for one believe that each and every single adult of sound mind should be able and encouraged to make any and all alterations to there body that they want with out exception. And I mean that. ALL ALTERATIONS. If a cis-guy who 100% identifies as a guy wants breast implants then it should be just as accepted and normal as a cis-woman getting implants. If there's an artist who realizes that they could create art better/easier if they could position there hand just so then they should be able to elect to have a finger or two removed or reshaped. Tattoos, Implants, Amputation, Bone Shaving; I truly and honestly think that the ability to craft ones body the way they want it should be no-holds-barred.
Even among people who are into tattoos and body mods, this is often seen as an extreme take. Why would you be okay with some one cutting off a perfectly healthy body part? How could you say that some one who wants to change there body like that is of sound mind?
Two reasones
If there is one thing in this world that must remain absolute, it is bodily autonomy. If you do not have ownership of that which only effects yourself then you have nothing. I am not talking about individuals who are suffering from a delusion and who would deeply regret these choices once they get help; nor am I talking about some one who it not capable of understanding the pros and CONS to this decision. This is about the vast majority of people. People for whom no one but themselves can say how their life is meant to be. I do not live your life, so who am i to tell you that you don't know how you feel and what you want.
(and this is a odder opinion of mine) That change and creativity in every thing, even the way our bodies look and work, is so fundamentally human. Not a single change I'm talking about has come to us "naturally". Even something as simple as changing our hair color is something that arguably humans are not "supposed" to be able to do. There are a number of species that can change things about themselves almost at will. From octopi that can change there skin color/pattern at will to the goby (Lythrypnus pulchellus) that flexes from one sex to another. Yet as a species we decided that even mother nature could not tell us what we can and cant do. In every culture and every time, we have found ways to change how we look in ways that we shouldn't be able to. We don't just sit down and accept that "this is how life is meant to be". We find ways to bend realty to our desire and I think that's pretty fucking awesome.
Over and over again, in all of recorded history we have looked to things that, from all previous experience, we should of learned were imposable. Yet just about every time we say "to hell with possibility we want to do this so we are going to find a way". We don't have wings but we figured out how to fly; we don't have gills but we found ways to spend days at a time deep under water. You can argue all you want that inventing the airplane or putting a man on the moon aren't comparable but it all comes from the same place. The deep and unending human need to push ourselves to extremes. To find a way to experience every little thing in this world regardless of whether or not we are "supposed" to be able to. That is something to celebrate and embrace. We as a species have never been good at being told No; I'm not denying that there have been some pretty awful things to come out of that but even more so, it means we have carved out a place in the world and are working to make it look just how we want. Why shouldn't we give the same freedom and exploration to our own bodies?
I now understand why hobbits eat 7 meals a day and appreciate rest and relaxation. I have decided that hobbits are the hardest working people in middle earth.
