When AI art first started becoming a thing, I paid no mind to it. I even played around with it myself because it was just a fun little thing to mess with. What has truly grown my bitterness towards it is the people who are mostly using it. I don't believe most have pure intentions. The main tech bros pushing for AI feel like the same ones that pushed for NFTs. They don't truly care for art.

For me personally, I don't see AI "art" as art because it's not made by a person. It's made off of an algorithm trained to notice patterns in static based on keywords. There's no true thoughts behind why things were done the way they were in a piece. Nor do I believe one can be an AI artist. The person putting the prompts in is not an artist. The AI is the artist. The prompter is the commissioner and the AI is the artist being commissioned. The "skill" of knowing what you type as a prompt is the same skill of knowing how to properly communicate to an artist what you want. To me a drawing made by a toddler will always have more soul than a drawing someone prompted a computer to make. A child learning to draw more than a stick figure is more work towards art than the "artists" who only make AI "art".

Would you not say thats the same as using a digital drawing tablet? You can study traditional painting for years and develop a personal technique with your own brushes and even mix your own unique paint. However when you use a digital drawing tool you are getting perfect brush strokes created by pre-made brushes using simulated paint. I don't think anyone here would argue that digital painting is not a valid form of art through; its not the same, but they are both valid and allow you to focus on different things with different results.

As both a traditional and digital artist, I can tell you that you're not even close. The main difference between traditional and digital art is the ability to do certain things easier and faster, but there is a steep learning curve. You have to study digital painting the same way you have to study traditional; it can take years and both offer many different type of tools that take time to learn. Even getting "perfect brush strokes" in digital art can take a lot of time to accomplish. Digital art is just another medium of art. You still have to understand your craft to make it.

AI image prompting removes the need for theory, for all you need is to give it instructions on what it is you want, the only bit of theory around it is how to tell the AI what you want. The AI is what's providing most of the visual appeal. This is the line where tools turn to automation.

AI art doesn't understand theory nor do most that push for it being used for profit. That's why when you look closer to at a lot of AI art, no matter how pretty at first glance, you can start seeing the flaws and illogical attributes in it.

A traditional artist being forced to use a drawing tablet doesn't suddenly lose their ability to draw and create art, just like how a digital artist being forced to use a pencil doesn't lose theirs. You take the trained algorithm away from an AI "artist", they can no longer create their art without another algorithm and other people's art.

BARK

I don't blame you. Most visual novels are pretty limited in their customization. It kinda surprised me to find one with as many options as this one. They're even making a second one currently, which seems to have a bit more than the first. The demo is currently out. I recommend that too.

This is my Windows 10 laptop. I try to keep my desktop a controlled clutter. Not too neat, not too messy. My wallpaper is from the webcomic Ava's Demon.

I feel like my desktop is pretty boring lookin' compared to some of y'alls.

Character customization is something I really enjoy in games. The game that immediately comes to mind for me when I think of customization is the visual novel Our Life (itch | steam). It allows you to customize your character's appearance and personality as you grow up in-game.

(Oh, also, an important criteria that's just my personal peeve: the ability make gender non-conforming characters. Think Saints Row or Dragon's Dogma. Because my soul cracks every time I encounter some beautiful stuff like Black Desert (yes online but I was desperate) and then the only type of a girl character I can create is the girliest girly ever with revealing armor and zero short hair options...SIGH)

Our Life allows for gender non-comformity as well as allowing your character to be transgender and/or non-binary.

I know not everyone enjoys visual novels and text-based games, so I'm unsure if it'd be your cup of tea.

I used to have one of my side projects hosted on Neocities at one point. It was my first time using it and I hated it. I wanted to host my project there for discovery reasons, but it gave me too much of a headache messing with the editor and files.

For all my websites, I work on them locally and then push them via git where the hosting platforms I use automatically update them. I had been doing that before I had even tried Neocities so switching to an editor like that wasn't something I was willing to put up with at the time.

Other than that though, I do like to browse Neocities to see what kind of sites and projects others are creating. It's how I eventually found this place.

My tastes in pizza are pretty boring (I'm a picky eater). I like plain cheese pizza and pepperoni pizza. I'm always down for stuffed or parmesan crust.

Strong

I've only gotten a few that I made varily quickly. They're all for separate sites I have up.

A vocaloid cover of a song I've never heard of. I liked it so much I bought it on the artist's bandcamp. Also I love the video.

I am going to open more tabs than you! >:3

Doubt. I worked to clear out a bunch of my tabs yesterday, otherwise there would've been a lot more. My tab issued has gotten so bad that I had to get this browser extension to keep track of it all and sort through it.

Wow bookbinding is always a useful hobby, Id love to make my own book someday! You seem like a very talented person all around - Im always impressed by how talented people are who join this forum

You're too kind. Also bookbinding is a lot easier than you'd expect. The main issue is having the patience and time to do it. It can be quite tedious.

I love your use of colors in your post!

Thank you! I wanted to make the text snazzy while still being simple

Howdy! I’m Rodrick (Rod for short). I’m a full-time student majoring in game development. I make art, make games, and make websites.

I am into a variety of hobbies and things. My hobbies range from bookbinding to drawing (digitally and traditionally) to writing and reading to web and game development to pacing around in circles thinking about my OCs for hours at a time. I try to play games myself, but I end up watching others play them most of the time. Visual novels, interactive fiction, and 2D RPGs are the game types I’m most into. I enjoy a story with what I’m doing (also I’m prone to motion sickness so I don't play many 3D games).

I have multiple sites. Some are long gone or under construction, while others are still up and running. My sites all fall under my two domains (deadinsideartist.art and shroom.ink) and their subdomains. They range from being completely handwritten to being made with static site generators. I’m self-taught and young so I’m constantly learning new stuff and trying different tools. I enjoy being able to see the things I create from anywhere and on anything as long as I have an internet connection.

Random facts about me:

• I have 39 tabs open in my browser as I write
• I’m currently drinking non-alcoholic sparkling grape cocktail out of a Hatsune Miku shot glass
• My internet died twice while I was writing this
• Talking in new places makes me nervous

Don’t ask me how I found Melonland. Clicking through different neocities sites and on different buttons got me here. For quite a while I’ve been wanting to be a part of a web development community whose focus wasn’t around “the best SEO” or “the types of projects that’ll help you get noticed by recruiters”. I started doing web development for the same reason I started doing art: for my own enjoyment and fun. It’d be cool to be able to get a job in the future with my skills, but I’d personally like to forget capitalism exists whenever I can.