‎About inspiration, self respect and appreciation

Hello again, AI/Blender guy is blabbering once more :D

‎When preparing this article I was thinking what to even make it about. The main idea was "AI as inspiration for traditional art". I was planning on creating a Blender picture inspired by a post of mine. But time flew by and I didn't get much progress on it due to various reasons (work, university, etc). And during one of the evenings I got this idea of talking about inspiration in general. And that's how we ended up here.

‎Okay, so... I N S P I R A T I O N, what even is that?

‎Honestly, good question. Inspiration is an elusive thing. For someone, it's a sudden realization and invention, leading to new one-of-a-kind arts:

‎- What if I try making this unique thing? I gotta try it!

‎Someone else might see inspiration as their favourite artist's (or even their own) work, encouraging to create new versions, new points of view:

- This is such a cool concept, what if I try to expand it?

‎There are probably even people who see inspiration not as a reason but as a way to express their emotions, be they happiness, sadness or even just a simple horny, any emotions that will echo in hearts of others:

‎- Let the world know how I feel ^^

‎What is inspiration for me personally?

‎Hmm... I can't say for sure but I have a guess that is probably is the closest one to the truth. For me inspiration is a unusual condition when I want to remember something special. You see, I like to create stories with my GF, all sorts of plots all the time. And sometimes I want to set them in stone, to save them for later, to give them a shape beyond words. And that encourages me to make arts :D

‎I'll tell you more, the three pic set I mentioned in my first post is exactly this kind of inspiration. It's a story we came up with that I decided to illustrate :>

‎Okay, but what about that self respect you mentioned?

‎Well, that's a different question. When you create stuff (be it AI generations, Blender renders or anything else really) how do you feel about the results? Do you feel like you did an amazing job and deserve a cookie? Or do you feel that you could have done much better and your results are okay at best? If your answer sounds closer to the second one - you don't have to worry. Let me explain :>

‎I happened to be in both camps at once. I am proud of AI gens I make but at the same time I keep thinking of my arts as of something mediocre. But the possible problem can be hiding in the fact that you are the artist. As a creator, you may tend to see more details than an average viewer. If you felt wrong drawing a hand, seeing it in the final result can trigger that feeling again, even if anyone else says that the art is perfect. This is probably why some people tend to underestimate their works and skill in general :^

‎And from what I know - I am one of them. Due to my Blender skill issue (duh), I have to always make compromises here and there. Make clothes a bit distorted to move a hand to a specific position, scale this body part unnaturally for it to fit into the frame, the list can go on.

‎Those details are minor and nearly unnoticeable in final results but for the authors they can stick out and mean a lot.

‎Okay, and what should I do about it?

‎My biggest advice - show appreciation to the creators, especially newer ones. Even if it is just a simple "wow, that's a cool art". This little compliment can mean a lot and I know that from experience. You can't imagine how many times my friends and GF have cheered me up when I was feeling that my arts are not good enough. For them the pics are great, and that helps me to get proud of them myself :>

‎I'm sure that the same applies to AI generation as well. When you see some finger artifacts or distortions, others might see just a cool image that they really like :D

‎Maybe that's why I tend to follow some creators that are relatively new to this place: to show them that there are people liking their works. I even PM them to say that their stuff is cool to enhance that feeling. And I have two artists that actually became my friends because of me PMing them :D ☀️🪽

‎So yeah, find and follow your inspiration, enjoy the works you make, don't bother yourself too much about mistakes or imperfections and don't hesitate to show creators (especially newer ones) some love ^^