I am genuinely trying to get better at art. I’m not there yet (likely never will be), the lying machine is still better than me.
The context:
This is my sketch.
And this is what the ai output.
I like to think I poured my heart and soul into it. I know there are people who will tell me that I’m terrible for using ai at all. I’m also sorry if this is the wrong community to ask this question (ask reddit would delete my post instantly if I tried to post there).
Again, is this slop? I am not an artist. I drive a forklift real good, that’s my skillset. So if I were to use the ai upscaled version for my book, well, I’m asking for opinions.
The example you provided isn’t upscaling. Upscaling is the act of interpolating pixels to increase the resolution of a bitmap image. What you’ve done is had the AI color and shade in your sketch.
Frankly, it’s clear from the sketch that you have some great foundational skills. I don’t really understand why you would stop halfway and let a computer steal the learning and practice opportunity from you. It’s like a carpenter building a piece of furniture and just stopping before sanding and painting it.
I’ve built furniture before, and stopping before sanding and painting is definitely a thing. It’s a lot of work and you literally can only fuck it up while you’re learning. Finishing a piece is a lot of work when you know you are going to spend years apologizing for how badly it sucks. While an unfinished piece is functional for like 1/3 the work and it’s not pretending to be finished so you can’t really be disappointed.
I think the metaphor you chose is apt. It just doesn’t really address the point in quite the way you were thinking.
I was also speaking from experience. I recognize that ‘unfinished’ is definitely a style that some people like. I rocked a desk for the better part of 5 or so years that was literally a stage platform (2x4 framing with a plywood lid) I had made and didn’t want to sand or stain.
That said, it’s also kind of in the name- the sanding and stain/paint are called ‘finishing’ because they are the final steps for a finished end product. I would say the same thing about sketches in that there are scenarios where they are acceptable and stand on their own, but they’re generally not considered a finished product. A sketch is kind of like the rough stage of a carpentry build: it’s the hard part. The stages that come after are a lot of tedium, but the main structure is there and the finish line is in sight.
That was a lot of words to say I generally agree with you but feel that it’s still a reasonable comparison.
Oh it’s a great comparison. Sorry if that didn’t come through clearly.