That time a digital artist called my pencil sketch 'lazy'

I was at a local comic con in Portland last summer, and I had a table showing my traditional ink drawings. A guy walked up, saw my sketchbook, and said 'you know, an AI could do that in 2 seconds, it's just lines.' He was a digital artist who used AI tools, and he honestly thought he was paying me a compliment about efficiency. I asked him if he'd say the same to a calligrapher or a woodcarver. Has anyone else had a real artist dismiss traditional work like it's beneath them?

2 comments

2 Comments

leo_johnson14d ago

Gotta say, the whole "AI could do that" argument kinda misses the point. Yeah, an AI can spit out lines fast, but it can't replicate the feel or the texture of actual ink on paper. I've tried AI tools before and they're cool for some stuff, but they don't have the same weight as something handmade. The digital artist probably didn't mean to be rude, but comparing traditional drawing to just "lines" is like saying a painting is just "colors.

wren_mitchell13d ago

Ngl @leo_johnson your last line hit the nail on the head. "A painting is just colors" is basically what that digital artist said about traditional work, and it's such a lazy take. Honestly I've seen AI art that looks technically impressive, but it always feels hollow, like when someone describes a movie as "just frames" because they missed the whole point of storytelling. The texture thing is huge too - you can't fake the weight of a real brushstroke or the way ink bleeds on paper. Tbh if someone thinks lines are just lines, they probably haven't spent enough time holding a real pen.