This month, I was invited to FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) in New York to give a guest lecture to young artists on maintaining humanity in their creative process.
In a world with abundant digital tools —now including AI art generators of varying quality and provenance— it’s important for young artists1 to understand the importance of maintaining their unique voice, style and humanity. The following is a loose transcript of my presentation cleaned up for Substack. I hope you take some value from it.
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2023 Summit on AI/ML Generators and their impact on creative industries.
Preface: I should make clear up top: I was an early alarm-ringer on the illegal and unethical use of artists’ work to train some of the first AI/ML generators. In 2022, when I was President of the National Cartoonists Society, I worked with a large number of organizations to coordinate a media advocacy summit to draw attention to the speed and power of the new tools everyone was so excited to use without knowing how they were made. Never before have these organizations all come together for anything— the word ‘existential’ was thrown around a lot.
We weren’t totally wrong: Today, my advertising illustration concept sketch work has all but dried up, and my many clients built over a decade of hustling in New York with ad agencies, magazines, publishing houses, and art directors have all turned to using AI tools to cut corners, save money and speed up their workflows. It hasn’t been a good few years for freelance artists who rely on these bread-and-butter jobs that pay the rent. These are all the things I predicted would happen in 2022; it wasn’t a difficult prediction to make.
My messy NYC studio...
This December, I will have been a freelance artist for 20 years. I handed in my resignation letter to my boss at a printing company on December 10th, 2004. I’ve made my living and paid my rent from my income derived from creating art for this entire time. I consider myself very lucky to have done so. That does not mean it didn’t come without enormous sacrifice and a huge amount of effort to keep the wolves from the door. It is, however, something I love very much. In that time, I have never kept my art business as a side hustle while working a full or part-time job (though there is no shame in that). I say this so you know I’m speaking below as someone who is a full-time working professional and not a hobbyist.
At the AI/ML Media Summit, I was speaking on the Visual Artists Panel: The panel was chaired by Washington Post journalist Michael Cavna and featured James Silverberg, ASCRL (Am. Soc. Collective Rights Management), myself, Dave McKeon, Award-WInning Illustrator, Author “Prompt: Conversations With AI” and Independent Designer Mark Rutledge. You can watch that replay here.
In my talk below, I say, “If you're a working artist not keeping track of what AI tools are doing, you're like someone in the 90s who says they're refusing to use computers. It’s just not a great long-term career move. Our opportunities are drying up— we need to at least keep a finger on the pulse to see where things are headed so we can be prepared with our skillset when people need us. And make no mistake: society will need human artists.”
I stand by that statement while still feeling a deeply unsettling sense that the companies that are building these tools do not have the artists’ best interests at heart and have, at best, a passing respect for the value of their intellectual property. I have always been an optimist when it comes to new technology for creating art, but it has been a challenging time to be an optimist. Companies like Adobe, which creates their AI technology (Firefly) with a slightly more ethical method2, produce tools that can aid artists in their work without cutting the guts out of their process. It is, of course, a delicate balance as to how you use those tools without bastardizing the very point of creating something in the first place.
I’ve written about this before (see above), and I suspect this won’t be my last piece on the topic. My mind is constantly being changed, and my opinions are evolving as I move through this insane world. I may completely backflip on some ideas a year from now, but I’m documenting this evolution in real time because I think it’s an important discussion to have in the open. I still believe that listening to each other and having respectful conversations are a way forward here.
So, with that lengthy preamble out of the way, I now give you the bones of my talk from this month. As always, sound off in the comments— I want to hear your thoughts. I’ve removed the paywall for this one for 2 weeks. I hope this is helpful.
AI Tools in Creative Work: Maintaining Humanity in the Process
By Jason Chatfield November, 2024
As a cartoonist and illustrator who's been in the game for only two decades, I've watched our industry transform countless times. But nothing quite compares to the seismic shift we're experiencing with AI. In this post, I want to explore how we can use AI tools effectively while preserving what makes our work uniquely human.
The AI Landscape: Then and Now
Two years ago, in November 2022, I found myself sitting in my studio, watching art being created on DALL-E 2, feeling a mix of awe and anxiety. The technology was impressive even then, but look at where we are now: Meta AI, Claude, Adobe Firefly, Sora, and countless other tools have emerged, each more sophisticated than the last. Firefly is now baked into the latest versions of everything from Photoshop to Illustrator, Premiere Pro and the Creative Cloud suite. If the latest Adobe Max conference was any indication of their intentions, Adobe is not hitting the brakes any time soon.
The progress has been exponential. We've gone from crude AI-generated images of "Will Smith eating spaghetti" in 2022 to photorealistic renders that can almost fool the trained eye. But here's the thing: I don't believe AI will replace human artists completely.
The Uncanny Valley and Human Perception
There's something fascinating about how our brains process AI-generated content. It's related to what scientists call the "Uncanny Valley" – that unsettling feeling we get when something appears almost, but not quite, human. This isn't just about visual art; it's a fundamental aspect of how we process artificial creations.
Still from the Polar Express— easily one of the creepiest cases of uncanny valley in film.
Artistic Mo-Cap VS. An Artist Named Moe.
Think about early CGI films like "The Polar Express" versus hand-drawn animation like "Sleeping Beauty." There's a reason one feels more emotionally authentic than the other, despite (or perhaps because of) its technical imperfections. The artists who created the animated Disney films studied the human form and its movement and interpreted it through their unique lens to create something new and beautiful. A unique creation through the artist's process. (Yes, even rotoscoping was an artistic process. Let’s not get into the weeds.) Despite being an animated feature, the Polar Express lacked the humanity and beauty of Sleeping Beauty. The feedback was resoundingly negative.3
Despite Robert Zemeckis’ lifelong obsession with creating perfect Mo-Cap technology that does everything from creating new actors to de-aging real ones, there is still a gap in the brain that knows when it isn’t quite right. Yes, there are ways around it (like creating a whole new creature, as James Cameron did with the Na’vi in Avatar, or Peter Jackson with Gollum in LOTR), but for the most part, the part of the human brain that knows when something ‘isn’t quite right’ still fires when it sees something alien. It is a defensive function buried deep in our nucleus accumbens to detect danger or illness.
The regions of the brain that light up when viewing a human, an android and a robot. Source: NewAtlas
I trust my dog’s judgement above that of anyone in this world. It is for that reason that I am very wary of the new drone and robot technologies that have been developed by companies like Boston Dynamics and Tesla (Optimus). Let’s just say, my dog’s reaction to meeting his first robot dog did not go… well.
’s “One Useful Thing” Substack to see the full extent of the differences in development in the technologies. His post “Change Blindness” is a good read for anyone interested in how fast these technologies are developing.
Let’s see how far we have come in 21 months. This is the image you got when you prompted “otter on a plane using wifi” into the best image generator (Midjourney) on the day I started this Substack:
This is what you get today, 21 months later (image generated by Flux, an open weights model, and animated with Runway Gen 3):
I’ve often tried to echo the perspective of “Alexander Graham Bell on looking for the opportunity: ‘When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.’ I do believe there are new opportunities to be found in new technologies.
Don’t worry; I haven’t guzzled the Kool-Aid. I, for one, haven’t ‘welcomed our new robot overlords’ with open arms. I’m not about to suggest you dive head-first into the world of NFTs and Metaverse Avatars. I’m acknowledging the realities of the development of these technologies whilst still pushing back on the inequities and unethical behaviours therein. I’m also looking for opportunities that arise from the new worlds they reveal.
I’ve recently attended artist collaboration sessions where they analyze new technologies with experts in the fields of tech and the arts and find the opportunities that are revealed in their creations. I happen to like people with this attitude, and as it often happens, they’re not totally deluded. It takes people like this to keep art alive in whatever world we find ourselves in.
An artists collaboration workshop for AllShips in August this year...
Be careful not to cede too much of your conscious mind to technology
Sam Harris recently had a great chat with Christine Rosen about what we lose when we cede too much of our humanity to technology. I agree with many of their points about what we’ve lost about how humans experience living through the digital prisms we’ve built.
Teaching kids to type instead of writing cursive means they no longer know how to read some documents that are written in cursive. Important artefacts like historic letters and founding documents. They also lose the ability to slow down their thoughts when writing by hand, which is such an essential part of the writing process. So much of our history is written by hand. To have generations taught only to type is a horrible mistake, in my opinion. (I know teaching time is finite, and they need to learn this skill; but it should not be to the exclusion of learning the other.)
I started this substack, Process Junkie, to explore the human creation of all kinds of art using all kinds of tools. I highly value the tangible, hand-made creations of human artists.
There is no doubt that AI has squished a lot of opportunities for artists, and it will continue to do so in the coming months and years.
Its inexorable ubiquity is something we are going to have to decide how to react to: will we put our head in the sand and refuse to acknowledge its existence? Gather together and fight back against its increasingly powerful creators? Or, can we accept the reality of its existence and try to find a middle ground?
I personally think the last two out of the three are realistic attitudes to hold. I don’t think artists should just lie down without standing up to bad behaviour. I will still push back against unethically trained models that wantonly destroy the legacy of an artists’ output (ie. Google results showing AI-generated copies in the style of their art instead of their actual body of work), whilst keeping up to date with tools that may assist with the creative process of working artists.
You can still make mistakes using these tools. Happy accidents won’t go the way of the dodo. I think there are pros and cons to all creative tools. In that respect, AI is no different.
I wrote this one time. It might have been a mistake.
It is unpopular to some for me to say this…
…but I feel that if you're a working artist not keeping track of what AI tools are doing, you're like someone in the 90s who says they're refusing to use computers. It’s just not a great long-term career move. Our opportunities are drying up— we need to at least keep a finger on the pulse to see where things are headed so we can be prepared with our skillset when people need us. And make no mistake: they will need human artists.
You can still draw things by hand (and I do, a lot), but digital tools will have to come into your workflow at SOME point if you want to remain gainfully employed, even if it’s just a tablet or a scanner. You can be Quentin Blake and spend your days in your studio splashing ink all over a page, but eventually, a studio assistant is going to have to scan it in, take a picture of it for the production process, or post it online somewhere.
Some established artists will be lucky enough to never ‘need’ a single tool that uses AI for the remainder of their career. To them, I say, “It must be nice.” Unfortunately, the reality for young working artists today is that we can’t just ignore these tools. It isn’t mandatory to embrace them, but I believe it is mandatory to be aware of their capabilities.
Using AI as a Thought Partner
Instead of viewing AI as a replacement for human creativity, I've found it most valuable as a thought partner. NYU Stern Professor Scott Galloway said of AI’s inevitable creep into our economy,
The hardest part of working with AI isn’t learning to prompt. It’s managing your own ego and admitting you could use some help and that the world will pass you by if you don’t learn how to use a computer, PowerPoint, AI. So get over your immediate defense mechanism — “AI can never do what I do” — and use it to do what you do, just better. There is an invading army in business: technology. Its weapons are modern-day tanks, drones, and supersonic aircraft. Do you really want to ride into battle on horseback?
I actually use the writing tools more than the art-generation tools. I don’t often need the art generators for much, but the concept itself can often go from a seedling of an idea into an enormous oak tree when the right questions are posed.
I still regularly work with my writing partner. I don’t think there is ever a replacement for that kind of working partnership, and I wouldn’t encourage you to stop collaborating with other creative humans— in fact, if you haven’t done so already, dive in. It’s very rewarding.
To that end, here are six key principles I've developed for working with AI:
1. Ask for Questions, Not Answers: Use AI to generate possibilities and starting points, not finished products. Ask it to challenge your idea so you can build upon it using your own mind. Make sure it knows you. (I use Claude for this, not Open Ai’s Chat-GPT 4o. I believe Claude is a better tool for ideating.) Don’t become over-reliant on this method— only use it when you hit a creative block. You should have the ability to test the rigour of your ideas in your own mind, but the reality is, some days, we aren’t at 100%, and the deadline doesn’t move with our moods.
2. Provide Rich Context: The more specific information you give, the more useful the output becomes. You have an incredible mind with unique points of reference. You have deliberately collected a specific selection of information in your mind over your lifetime; use it. What do you bring to the world that nobody else would think to ask?
3. Use Decision Frameworks: Run your ideas through different perspectives and scenarios. Use mental models and see what your own thoughts bring when your idea is posed through a different prism. Related: See if your idea might have a life in another space? (ie. a painting, a screenplay, a stand-up joke, a New Yorker cartoon, a humorous illustration, a comic strip, a graphic novel?) As a freelance artist, you often have to make your own opportunities; this is an essential skill to develop. Use these tools to your advantage.
4. Create Custom Personas: Set up AI to play specific roles in your creative process (I trained my own custom GPT on the lessons from every great newspaper or book editor I’ve worked with. I call it "J. Jonah GPT" – an angry editor who challenges my ideas and edits my writing. He told me the first draft of this particular essay was ‘A bag of crap. Go re-write it!” before giving me tips on how to make it better. He ends almost every response with, “Now get out of my office!” I also have another one as an Art Director, but it isn’t quite as good. Helpful when I’m in a rut, though.
5. Make It Defend Its Ideas: Question the AI's suggestions and dig deeper into its reasoning. Ask it how it got there. If the questions it poses sound bogus, or if it seems like a hallucination, it probably is. Don’t put too much trust in the things that are generated by these tools— they are still faulty. All new technologies have this issue.
6. Share Your Brief: Don't be afraid to upload project briefs and requirements for better context. If you don’t understand an assignment or a creative brief— if it has a lot of acronyms from the marketing and sales dept that you don’t understand because you did an arts degree and didn’t major in marketing, run it through your preferred AI generator. It can demystify some of the esoteric language art directors and marketing managers like to use to make a simple idea sound more complex (and justify their job.)
Practical Applications in Creative Work
When I'm working on a project – whether it's a New Yorker cartoon or a children's book illustration – I use AI tools like Adobe Firefly as part of my ideation process. But here's the crucial part: I never use them for final output. Instead, I use them to:
- Generate reference materials: Sometimes, you can spend hours scrolling through Google Images, Pinterest, etc., to find the right reference image for an illustration. A cartoon might need a specific kind of grandfather clock, or a car from a specific angle. You can scroll forever to find the right one, or sometimes… you can just punch in what you want and get on with the job. (My one caveat— do NOT trace. Look at the image on the screen and draw it in your own style; don’t onionskin the reference/swipe.)
- Explore composition options: (to be clear, I draw these by hand in pencil once they’re generated. It’s like sitting in a life drawing class and being able to get up and move around the room. Sometimes, I will get the generator to show me what the image might look like if certain elements are composed differently to lead the eye around the image in an interesting way. Again, only do this if you’re blocked. Don’t rely on it. You should be able to do this in your own head ordinarily.) Note: I do not use ChatGPT for this purpose as I have ethical misgivings about how it was created. (I use Firefly.)
- Test color schemes: Color is a magical thing— it can tell stories, bring new life to an idea, or be a nice way to lead the eye around a composition. If you’re having trouble finding the suitable color scheme (and your swipe file of color schemes isn’t giving you any love) try a tool that knows about color theory and can generate some interesting color schemes for you to try out. Just make sure you actually understand the ‘why’ of how something is working rather than just blindly trusting the machine to choose your palette.
- Brainstorm different approaches: Sometimes, you might not have thought to come at an idea from a particular angle that is more surprising or novel. It’s worth checking before you settle on the finished concept, just in case. This is part of the process you can drag out forever, so always give yourself a time limit or a ceiling on how long you’re going to explore different approaches.
The key is to maintain your creative voice throughout the process. Whatever makes your work uniquely yours – that's what you need to protect and nurture. Don’t just type in a prompt and turn in whatever the machine spits out. Bring yourself to your art, and use the AI tools the way you might ordinarily use something like Google Images for references. Does it always work? Almost certainly not.
(I ended up getting my friend Ray to send me a photo of his hand for this job. Sometimes, it happens that the old ways are the best.)
The Future of Creative Work
As we move forward, the ability to adapt and learn new tools will become increasingly important. But remember this: tools are only as good as the artists who wield them. The most valuable thing you bring to your work isn't your technical proficiency – it's your unique perspective, your experiences, and your creative voice.
I tend not to be as doom-and-gloom as Zee Bashew’s Bittersweet Ode To ‘The Last Generation Of Working Artists’:
“I hope that we as a society find a way to incentivize people to learn real processes still,” he says, explaining that he’d prefer to live in that type of world rather than one in which data is scraped from unknowing artists without their consent.”
Bashew suggests we take a moment to appreciate the world in which we live today, where artists can make a living. “Here and now, before process goes the way of the horse and buggy, we can sit and listen to the last generation of working artists.”
I believe the new generation will find a way to bring a unique perspective to the world the way artists always have.
My hope is that there is some way for them to be incentivised to develop the skill— monetarily and otherwise. If there is no industry to go into, there will be no artists to occupy that industry. If the blockchain ends up being that tool, I’m willing to rescind my scepticism of those technologies and embrace them as a way to make a living. I didn’t think
would be a viable way to get paid to publish my work four years ago, but today, it’s the thing I do more than anything else.
Maintaining Your Artistic Voice Through Process
One question I often get is how to maintain your artistic style while using AI tools. It's something I struggled with early in my career, leading to what illustrator Edward Sorrel once asked me: "How do you decide who you're going to be when you wake up in the morning?"
The answer lies in being intentional about your process.Bunker down into the making of the thing. Keep examples of your work that truly represent your style nearby. Use them as anchors when you feel yourself drifting too far into AI-generated territories. Take breaks, step away, and come back with fresh eyes.
Final Thoughts
The creative industry is changing rapidly, and staying informed about new AI developments is crucial. But don't let the pace of change overwhelm you. Focus on what matters: creating authentic work that reflects your unique voice.
"The bottom line is AI is here, and it's not going away. It's not the first technology-based challenge that has impacted the ability of creative people to make a living (I'm looking at you, the internet), and it won't be the last. It's just the latest. I think there will always be a market for real artists creating real, unique art to make a living doing it. That market keeps changing and evolving. It's up to artists to change and evolve with it."
~ The Ink Stained Wretch #116: 1/10/24
Remember, AI is a tool – like a pencil or a paintbrush. It's not meant to replace your creative process but to enhance it. The key is finding the balance between embracing new technologies and maintaining the human element that makes art meaningful.
I hope this was helpful. Your pal,
Want to stay updated on developments in creative fields? Check out resources like OneUsefulThing.org, and keep an eye on platforms like ArtStation and CreativeBoom for insights from working artists. I highly recommend the two Substacks below for more up-to-date insights on this topic:
Don’t worry; I’m aware of all their terrible missteps and multiple faux pas these past years. And don’t get me started on the artist-tool companies using AI Art Generators to create their marketing materials. <smh>
I should stress that I do have respect for Zemeckis in his attempts to push things forward in his space— someone has to be first. Sometimes, it’s not pretty, but it takes guts to try.
I'm certainly in that divided camp. I don't want to believe there is only one way for everyone to work going forward. If we're going to have any kind of good world, it would need to have space for different creative pipelines.
That is a very long post. Interesting for sure but maybe ease us into it? :)
Coupla things:
The AI mistakes are so creepy I can't look at them. Pervy.
I'm too old to care what happens with AI. But it does look like the bots are going to be doing all everybody's work very soon. Then what?
So learn to draw I say. And draw, draw, draw. And don't let them find you.
Want to stop AI in its tracks? Accuse it of colonialism!
I'm certainly in that divided camp. I don't want to believe there is only one way for everyone to work going forward. If we're going to have any kind of good world, it would need to have space for different creative pipelines.