I will admit i'm a bit intimidated to post here. I've been on DA so long, and i've only recently found some traction within my followers who wanted to see my original work and not just my goofy Rayman fanart. But then again, I am not really posting for followers, fame or attention. I want to create a time capsule for myself that I can look back on in the distant future to see how far i've come; my thoughts, my ideas, my creative visions then, now, and moving forward. It is a great feeling to look back on yourself and see how much you've changed and grown, and I want to do that.. but somewhere that isn't going to prey willingly on its userbase with the promotion of 'AI art'. Its a spit in the face to anyone with creative integrity. It is generated with no intent, no will, no 'soul', no purpose other than to fulfill the willfully lazy and marketable schemes of con artists (hah, get it?).
Even the objectively 'worst' drawings on the internet in terms of quality will be worth infinitely more than any generated AI piece that exists, no matter how pretty it is. Art has value to me not in how much its worth, or its monetary gain, or its role in some corporate scheme, but what the intent was behind it. The mental process, effort and itent behind its creation is what gives it power and value, because art at the end of the day isnt about money, its about how it makes you feel. I want to be in a place where I can exist and happily post my goofy concept art, doodles and occasional commission without feeling like the digital environment I put it into wants nothing but to crush its existence.
finalfridayss
Well said. Its sad seeing how far dA has fallen. I can’t even look at mine anymore, just feels painful to go back to with Eclipse and the AI bullshit. It almost feels like the admins have contempt for their users with how many bad decisions they make. If I’m recalling correctly, the admin said at one point: “It doesn’t matter what we do, everyone will get mad at us anyway”.
It just feels so spiteful and anti-art. I’m dreading the day dA shoots itself in the foot one last time and it goes under. It was my childhood and all my teens were spent there. I hate thinking how much of internet history and art would be lost forever if dA were to go away. And considering how often Core is on sale, they’re probably getting desperate. Maybe the AI shilling was their ticket out, but either way its a gross betrayal of their users and a slimy corporate move. For all my anxiety about Newgrounds, and the reputation it seems to have, it appears to be the only website that gives a damn about artists and the integrity work anymore. Seeing art packaged as “content” and a “product” makes me want to puke.
KingFaramund
Your phrasing of art being packaged as content/products is so true. It's so frightening in a way. Like, the internet has always been chaos, but the disgustingly corporate mindset invading every branch of this place is sickening to say the least for sure. It's all about money, money money0 get rich quick schemes, pyramid cons and predatory tactics to get a buck now. Ads everywhere you go, scammers galore, the monetization of everything, everything is flavored with a eerie hyper-capitalistic taste that just is awful on the tongue. I haven't even been on the internet that long and can see the absolute transformation it's taken on over the past few years alone. I'm definitely sad about DA too, and I've been there a mere 5 years-- joined right before the Eclipse format. The sites team and others like it should be ashamed of themselves for spitting on us like they do, and if they fall, as sad as it'd be, perhaps it be a mean lesson to them.