Yes, let the hate and salt flow through you to downvote.
Digital Artists really do have every reason to be concerned the day AI art was gaining steam. But, I want to point out an angle that I personally do not see being discussed enough and it may sting a lot of digital artists. From personal experience, digital artists are typically bad businessmen who may love the smell of their farts a little too much. I’ve had a few decent digital artists who’re good but a lot of them are just unreasonably brash.
When you ask them to correct things because they fucked up numerous times before they get frustrated, stop correcting and just send you what they feel is done. When they basically tell you to ‘deal with it’ when you spend out of your comfort zone to get a decent piece from them. The laundry list of excuses for delays and why they can’t seem to deliver what they promised.
When I dove into AI Art and used already-made pieces of art I’ve been commissioned from artists I knew and did business with, they can count their days. No more having to consider chance on sinking down some $100 ~ $300 for some art piece from an artist who could be an artist that I exampled. No more long wait times. No more indefinite periods where that artist doesn’t take commissions which could be months, health reasons aside.
So my opinion is to just consider the reasons behind as to why some people use AI Art. They’re tired of being burned by digital artists who’re bad business people, regardless of quality and were glad that AI is here to take their place. It isn’t because of lack of skill, laziness, lack of finances like all of those reasons are always spammed to be. Maybe, just maybe, a fair number of digital artists suck on a personality/business level to where some people are glad AI replaces them.
AI can emulate any style, including traditional styles. It’s not just some amateur who can’t manage their commissions among uni/high school exams getting fucked over. But sure, you must be right. Every artist deserves their livelihood compromised because some random dude can’t pick a proper professional.
As a side note, and hoping this helps others looking to hire an artist:
Whenever dealing with illustration customers I’ve signed a contract. The contract specifies the amount of revisions covered over a single artwork and how much would it cost to carry on further. It also gives some framework of reference on the type of work involved when doing revisions, ie examples of techniques used or the proportion of the area being reworked (changing half the character would be a major revision, changing small details would be a minor revision, etc). Hashing out a contract gives me and my client time to agree on payment, such as milestone payments, which means that if the client isn’t happy with the performance they can withdraw early and only lose a fraction of the money. It also means the artist can hold up on delivering if the payment never shows up. It protects both parties, essentially.
If you as a client chose to throw away your money at someone without working out fair conditions and deadlines, well, what can I say. You gambled and lost.
Be a better client, learn how to pick better professionals.