Human-Generated Art

By Kaleb

AI has its pervasive finger up everybody's prostate. You hear all through the halls of people

making faustian bargains for a poorly constructed essay, or a cursed image to share with their

ethically dubious friends.

And yet people ignore a fantastic resource that has inspired society for thousands of years

before AI existed: HUMAN ART!

“But AI is free!”

Ah young grasshopper, nothing is free. It's just that the burden of cost does not fall onto you. It

costs companies a lot of money to operate their AI services. AI takes a lot of expensive

hardware to compute basic prompts. How does AI make its money? Investors who

misunderstood Wolf of Wall Street. However, that money will dry up. Open AI lost $5 billion in

2024 and those losses are set to increase. This means at the rate AI is hemorrhaging money

you may find yourself having to pay exorbitant fees for what was once free, or more likely not

having access to high-end AI models anymore.

Just because you're not paying now doesn't mean that will always be the case.

“But I don't know any artists”

If you do not have the privilege of having artist friends (my sincere condolences). Here are some

suggestions for contacting artists.

- Contact the people who did the art for this issue (or past issues) of Salient!

- Zine fests, small markets, and event markets often have local artists selling wares.

- Doom scroll using Tumbler I’m sure you’ll find something...

“But what would I get them to draw?”

An easy suggestion is that art makes a great gift for holidays such as mothers day. Or if you're

feeling particularly egotistical you may ask someone to draw you effortlessly taking down 100

gorillas with nothing but a chiseled jawline, then make that your Grindr profile picture.

Or, instead of getting AI to morph a family photo so that you are all muppets, get a caricature

artist to draw your family as the muppets we all know you are. Of course be clear and respect

the artist's boundaries when asking for a commission, but compared to AI, it's far more

meaningful and less ethically questionable!

“Ok I’ve found my favorite artist! I know what I want them to draw... bu-bu-but, I'm nervous”

Ah, nerves keep a good man from being a great one don't they?

First make sure when contacting artists that you’ve gone through their previous work to make

sure your request is feasible for them. A still-life oil painter does not suddenly want to draw

Stardew Valley fanart.

Next make sure your first interaction makes a good impression. First, just to make sure, always

ask if they do commissions. Second, if they agree, send helpful reference materials such as

photos or sketches. Third, go into as much reasonable detail as needed (eye colour,

accessories stuff like that) to help them know what you want and help you get what you want.

“I don't wanna be seen as an art freak!”

Welcome to Wellington! close neighbors of Sodom and Gomorrah, if you're here, you're an art

freak. Case closed. Capiche?

To be more constructive, there is stigma around art and artist spaces. If you truly feel like you

can't participate in a place for fear of your social standing with friends or family, that's fine. Enjoy

from a safe distance or try more conventional and inoffensive art to get involved with.

Just don't use AI ok?

“These are all nice points” I hear you whine “but you see, I am but a poor student, I haven't the

wealth to finance the arts!” To this I say two things: one, you are reading Salient, this means you

have lost faith in the capitalist economic system and are praying (sorry, hoping, opium of the

masses and such) that one day one of the several socialist groups on campus (more if you

count Young Greens) will lead a coup to take over the Beehive and establish “A very Welly

Commune” that will last a few days longer than the one in Paris, that is to say you don’t bother

yourself with long term financial goals.

And secondly, draw it yourself (DIY), all you realistically need is a pen and paper, or even just

software on your device. A quick google search into how to draw and a decent bit of, say it with

me now “practice”, will likely go a long way to cut cost and perhaps gain a new hobby. A top tip

is to ask design alumni about what they use, since they can no longer leech off the universities

photoshop licence they can tell you where the best free websites for drawing are.

To be put in small text under the provided artwork (Credit to @jazzpunkblank on instagram):

Fig. 1: me getting quirky with the animatronics, below vape addicted gremlin speaks the truth.