The goal of this post is to discuss whenever “AI art” is good, bad, or irrelevant to graphic novels.

I have been playing around with AI image creation tools since last year. Midjourney first, then Dalle, and most recently Stable Diffusion.

All images in this post I “created” using Moebius based text prompts today. The quotation marks are intended as the only thing I have created are text prompts. Whenever the AI created these images is highly debatable. If I feed an AI model ten thousand panels of Moebius art and the AI returns one panel based on them, then who is the creator?

Feel free to discuss the legality (copyright) of this technology, who should get the royalties or the credit. Or to discuss whenever it is ethical, but what is really interesting to me is to determine if this technology is good, bad or irrelevant for us, graphic novels readers.

I know that a true connoisseur is likely to differentiate within the below images and the true work from Moebius, but for how long? We are at the verge of reaching a point where this differentiation will be impossible. Moebius passed away in 2012, so this differentiation may be possible with external tools, but what about living artists? Furthermore, what if a living artist publishes a book using AI generated art based on his own work. Is that acceptable? Should the artist disclose the AI use to the public? All that will probably come with regulation, or not, who knows.

I prefer human-made art before computer-made art, especially when it comes to graphic novels. This despite knowing that some of the artists that I follow already use CGI to a greater or lesser extent, that is fine… But AI generated art is in another level, something that I do not want to welcome with open arms. Having said that, is the same as with any other technology, like it or not, it is here to stay.

So what is your opinion on this matter?

P.S: I believe I am not breaking any community rule, but if I am then please delete this post.

  • @[email protected]MEnglish
    4•1 year ago

    If I feed an AI model ten thousand panels of Moebius art and the AI returns one panel based on them, then who is the creator? Feel free to discuss the legality (copyright) of this technology, who should get the royalties or the credit.

    I guess it depends on the terms of service for the various AI tools? As in-- if you pay your service / subscription fee, then are you allowed to do whatever you want with the outputted art?

    Good question about the credit. On the surface I’d think ‘created by X using Y tool after the style of Z’ seems fair & accurate, but what about people who try to play sneaky with that? Would it help if AI tools automatically included invisible but detectable traces in images to watermark their output?

    Furthermore, what if a living artist publishes a book using AI generated art based on his own work. Is that acceptable? Should the artist disclose the AI use to the public?

    Considering the reputational hit if they were ‘found out,’ I’d think most would want to be honest for their own good.

    I know that a true connoisseur is likely to differentiate within the below images and the true work from Moebius, but for how long? We are at the verge of reaching a point where this differentiation will be impossible.

    Right, that’s my concern as well. These tools have been widely used for only the past year or two. It seems ludicrous to think that they’re not going to keep improving.

    They’ll be able to make a coherent comic page but what else are they bringing to the table beyond a degree of variation around a theme? They can never go “great idea, I saw this film once and wonder if something like this would work.” Then the writer takes the ball knocked back to them and adds another layer. AI can produce something that resembles this process but it can’t possibly get that spark that happens when two or more people are collaborating together as they might drag in something they heard on the bus, something random they saw while flicking channels an hour before, and on and on. –@[email protected]

    I don’t mind that argument, as romantic / hopeful as it might be, but it leaves out the scenario of: what if a decent writer and good prompt builder decides to use AI as the artist, with no second person necessary? They could merely have a good eye and feel for detail & aesthetic, and I think it would be enough, combined with their own quality writing, to build a complete graphic novel, or at least something pretty close to that, currently.

    All of that of course becoming easier with time as the tools improve, as well as their own facility with such tools.

    Why would we not expect to see output like that in coming years?