The Perspective of a Successful Artist Who Now Loves AI
Introduction
I used to be firmly against AI art. As someone who’s been drawing since I was a kid who got their first Wacom tablet before high school, it felt like everything I loved was being threatened and even stolen, which is a common notion in the art community. But over time, I realized that a lot of my discomfort didn’t come from AI itself, it came from the community I was in. It came from fear of rejection, of losing my place, of being “one of those people."
Obviously, I wouldn't be on this website if nothing changed; there would be no images or posts on this account. This is a bit of a self indulgent musing session, mainly just to get my thoughts out about the current state of artists and the art community as a whole, and to give some perspective to people who have never drawn or interacted with online art communities.
Growing Up in Echo Chambers
Around 2020, I was part of several online art communities and even had my own decent following on Tiktok and Twitter/X, most of which had a very strong anti-AI stance. Questioning that view, or even just expressing curiosity about AI tools, wasn’t just discouraged, it was dangerous if you cared about being accepted or liked. And I did.
As a teenager, being liked, respected, and part of the “in-group” mattered more than I realized, which honestly is a very common thing. In hindsight, I wasn’t forming my own opinions. I was adopting those around me.
I believed AI art was wrong, even believing it was downright evil because the people I looked up to said it was, and to be fair, some of their concerns weren’t unfounded. But nuance was often, if not always, lost. It was all-or-nothing. You were either with the artists or against them.
That started to change when I stepped away from the idea of pursuing art as a career and began studying computer science. I wasn’t being pressured to adopt any one view in this setting, just encouraged to learn. And so I did.
A Reflection on How AI Never Replaced My Art
Learning how AI models work was a turning point for me. Understanding data training wasn't some abstract, untouchable idea anymore. They were interesting systems that I couldn't get enough of. And as I played with them, I realized something unexpected: they helped me become a better artist.
AI didn’t replace my creativity, I never traced over an image I generated and called it a day; but AI undeniably enhanced my own art. It taught me how to break down lighting, composition, and color harmony in ways that traditional tutorials never could. It helped me iterate, experiment, and even rebuild my confidence in areas where I felt I really sucked- Looking back at some of my art from before I began exploring options, my art had some lovecraftian-tentacle-like hands and proportions.
I met so many wonderful people through my work, and some of my closest friends.
After thinking about things for a while, I realized that my fear of AI was never really about AI itself. It was about rejection. But when I finally gave myself the permission to be curious I discovered a whole new part of myself, and discovered a community of people where I could just be myself with little, usually no judgement.
Present Day
I’m still an artist. I still center my entire desk space around my XP PEN cintiq that has hundreds of tiny stickers on it, and I have had to buy 2 additional packs of pen nib replacements in the last 4 months from drawing so much. Even with the whole "AI Panic" going on in the art community, Art has increasingly became one of my main incomes and I've been more successful than I ever have been in past years, and I have enjoyed art WAY more than I ever have. I even pay for all my living expenses which 4-5 years ago I wouldn't be able to believe.
in April 2025 alone I got around ~20 clients, multiple varying commissions from portraits and profile pictures to full blown concept art and scenes. The honest truth is that a lot of people value hand drawn art, and artists, way more than what is believed!
If someone asked whether I’d ever give up one for the other, hand drawn art vs AI, I’d say no. Being part of both worlds is what fulfills me. Even if I sometimes mask parts of myself depending on the space I’m in, there’s joy in knowing I belong in both.
Conclusion
To any artist who feels unsure or quietly curious, take a step back.
Ask yourself what you believe. Let yourself explore, away from the noise of social media and judgmental communities. Since 2020, the art scene has only grown more toxic, more divided, and I’ve met so many artists who are quietly miserable, maybe not for the same reason of wanting to explore, but from the constant fighting and unpleasant nature of the art community. One of my closest friends, who is an amazing artist, even said that she stopped drawing entirely due to the community around art.
But it doesn’t have to be like that. You don’t have to change your mind. You don’t have to fall in love with AI. But you do deserve to explore freely, without fear of being weird or even a bad person.