Category: General Words

People keep getting my artwork tattooed… without permission

November 24, 2023

The thing about being an artist is that there’s many ways to enjoy an artwork, even when it’s “just” a two-dimensional piece. Whether that’s an actual painting, a print, merchandise (pins, apparel, etc), digital formats like computer wallpapers or phone backgrounds, using an artwork as an avatar/icon, there’s plenty of ways out there to appreciate and enjoy an artwork. One of the highest bits of artwork appreciation may be when someone decides to take your artwork and permanently affix it to their skin via a tattoo. Right?

In theory, anyway.

After social media is gone, what’s left for artists?

October 6, 2023

So... What's left for artists? Exploring new avenues for audience building

So… What’s left for artists? How can we keep things happening and continue to build an audience?

During the time of fragmented social media, it’s difficult to find an audience and connect with people to make much-needed sales and continue pursuing your artistic career. Many artists who found themselves having built great communities on Twitter have now found their entire reach and community entirely destroyed. So… What’s next? What’s left? I’ve compiled a few different methods you can use to try to reduce the impact of splintered social media networks and help future-proof yourself (and your art) as well as bolster additional sales, as well as giving you some new suggestions for ways you can expand your art business and bring in extra income.

What is Glaze and how can it help protect against AI scraping?

April 25, 2023

The world has changed very quickly since I posted about “AI art” in November of 2022. It was new, and just hit the scene, and everyone was curious about what it was and what it could be used for. By now, you’ve probably been beaten over the head with how unethical “AI art” is (I put it in quotes because it is not actual artificial intelligence, and others argue that it isn’t even art, but from here on out I’ll be calling it the common vernacular), how it steals from living artists, and how it cannot produce anything without a data set (mostly stolen) to begin with. If you don’t know about these things, here’s a great video to catch you up to speed:

Still, I’m not here to beat you over the head about AI art. Instead, if you follow me on Mastodon, you know that I like to test out new technologies and give a “trip report” about them. One of the latest things I tried out is Glaze — a pixel manipulation algorithm that acts like a protective varnish (“glaze”) over your artworks.

AI Art – What is it?

September 16, 2022

A renaissance painting of 8 angels fighting: What is AI art?

You may have heard of AI art (or, as we should now call it, “data generated images” or DGI), or art created with the assistance of artificial intelligence. A lot of my friends are talking about it, and many more are asking me for my particular opinion on what I think about DGI/AI art. It’s a hot button topic for sure, so I’m answering a few questions you may have about the tools and my particular take on DGI/AI art.

Nov. 2024: This post has been updated with information regarding how the landscape has shifted over the past 2 years.

What happens to your body of art when you die?

July 17, 2022

As artists, it’s easy to simply know that your artwork will, oftentimes, outlive you, and part of your legacy on the world can be quantified through your artistic journey and the creations you made (and possibly even the impact you had on the art world) while you were alive. But not all of us can aspire to the fame and notoriety that many artists climb to. Many artists are happy enough creating, and though they’d love to sell a few works to someone who may permanently collect them, they don’t put much thought into ways to leave a permanent artistic legacy behind – why would you?