Heard an artist say they 'trained' on their own style for 10 years and it hit different

I was at a coffee shop last week and overheard a painter telling a friend how AI art basically just remixes other people's work without the years of practice. She said something like 'I spent a decade learning color theory and brush control, and now a prompt gets there in 10 seconds.' It made me wonder if we're undervaluing the process of learning an art form when we say AI is just another tool. Has anyone else had that conversation with a working artist and felt weird about it?

3 comments

3 Comments

haydenbutler1mo ago

I was pro-AI art until my painter friend said the same thing and it clicked.

uma_johnson1mo ago

Did you ever try learning something from scratch just to see what it feels like? I spent a few months messing with watercolors and it was humbling as hell, really made me get why artists get defensive about AI stepping over that struggle. It's not about gatekeeping, it's about respecting the time and failure that goes into getting good at something.

lucaslee1mo ago

When you said it clicked, what part of that struggle do you think the AI misses most?