Unpopular opinion: I tried using a free AI art generator for my portfolio and it backfired hard.

I spent a week making a 'digital painting' with Midjourney, but when I posted it, three people instantly recognized the style and called it out as AI. Learned that shortcuts are obvious and clients can tell, so now I'm back to my old Wacom. Anyone else get burned trying to use AI as a shortcut for original work?

3 comments

3 Comments

simon_coleman2mo ago

Midjourney's style is actually pretty easy to spot now.

emmas192mo ago

Remember when that whole "is it AI or not" game was going around last month? I tried to trick my sister with a Midjourney piece and she guessed it in like two seconds flat. It's like what simon_coleman said, the style just has this... smooth, weirdly perfect feel to it now that you can't unsee. I figured adding a bunch of my own brushwork in Photoshop would fix it, but nope, the base just screams generated. Makes you wonder how long until the next wave of tools gets good enough to actually hide it.

ross.kevin2mo ago

Totally get what you mean about that smoothness, but honestly some artists are using AI as a starting point and then painting over it so completely the vibe is gone. Saw a piece last week where the only tell was a slightly odd ear, everything else felt raw and human. The tools might not hide it, but the artists sure are learning how to bury it.