SLO

SLO, 3 months ago

We have a VR system set up in our living room. I don’t even want to talk about how long it took me to figure out the receivers were making a steady, high pitched noise. There are 4 of them and they are situated near the ceiling.

I hear it from a lot of things when it’s quiet enough. Clock radios, tvs, monitors, my pugmill, heaters. There was a noisy power strip with a flashing one-off switch that I’m still convinced was going to kill someone.

I DON’T know anything about electricity - so mostly it makes me anxious that my house is going to burn down. I have bad enough hearing loss that I have to use closed captions on my TV - but it IS mostly because deep voices are extremely muddled. I’m surprised a bit by how many “not really” answers I see.

SLO, 3 months ago

It’s all Science Magic to me. I am continuously thrilled that the world is filled with people who are much smarter and more curious than I am.

I’ll sleep a little better knowing the quiet strip flickering under my aquarium isn’t a ticking time-bomb though.

SLO, 3 months ago

I leave mine unplugged. It would be nice if they would turn off.

SLO, 3 months ago

Every day is a big deal. They aren’t any less important if your re-walking them either. It’s the act of trying that’s important, not the days behind your belt. Fucking awesome!

SLO, 5 months ago

The drawing program (Procreate) automatically screen records my drawing as I work on it.

SLO, 5 months ago

It’s just a drawing program, not an AI program.

SLO, 5 months ago

I guess I’m confused. No, the computer didn’t trace anything. I traced the general outline of some flowers to create a rough draft before drawing the stencil for this tattoo.

SLO, 4 months ago

Thank you!

SLO, 10 months ago

I’m an artist - I tattoo, do freelance illustration and produce handmade pottery. My husband is also a tattoo artist. My entire income is made through art.

I have stopped attempting to draw coloring books - AI “prompt artists” have taken over and are pumping out grayscale coloring books at extremely low prices. Not a high income producer for me in the first place, but the entire field is falling apart.

Tattooing is a different story - I use AI to produce references regularly. Not full drawings, just references I can use to create my own drawings. Pottery remains unchanged.

The obvious difference is the type of art. The further it moves from a drawing, the better the outcome when AI is involved from my POV.

To be honest though - how many of you actually have real artwork in your house? Not prints - actual handmade art. Art has been struggling for a long time now - it has little value to the average consumer. Mass production has made it a throwaway product. Most ceramics are made by machines now - vases and “paintings” and dishes are all isles in a home goods store, stamped out and inked by a machine. Most professional artists are employed by companies, not off selling their art. I don’t really need to spell out what will happen when the company gets a hold of a free program to replace their artists.

There isn’t a good outcome for artists here - consumers want cheap art. Companies want cheap artists. Artists want living wages and for a lot of us that means not making a living off of art already, because the wealthy class that has luxury money to spend on handmade and original art is shrinking as we speak.

At least - it is here in America.

SLO, 10 months ago

Good eye! I appreciate the feedback!

Giving my clients what they want is very important to my work. Grandma was quite the avid crocheter, but the artwork I drew up using the center… Stitched(?) Crochet work had a rather unfortunate resemblance to a butthole. Tattoos are permanent and memorial tattoos are very personal - it’s more important to make them attractive and meaningful than factually correct. I would hate to have someone mention something like “hey that looks like a butthole!” thinking they were being funny and cause a client to feel embarrassed or upset about their work. It is hurtful to both their self image and their memories of the person they got the tattoo for.