The day I realized my "style replication" prompts were just stealing other artists

I spent like 6 months feeding Midjourney prompts that copied the brush strokes of my favorite digital painter from Japan. I thought I was just studying their technique, you know, like a digital apprenticeship. Then last Tuesday a friend showed me a side by side comparison of my AI output versus their original Patreon post from 2022. The lighting, the colors, the exact way the eyes were shaded - it was the same down to the pixel. I felt sick realizing I had been using AI to clone someone else's soul basically. Has anyone else had a wake up call about where the line is between inspiration and theft?

3 comments

3 Comments

shanec611d ago

Three years of art school down the drain and I still trace my own hand shadows on the wall, how's that for a reality check? You ever try explaining "style theft via text prompt" to your grandpa without sounding like a complete lunatic?

keith2741d ago

Yeah but that's not really how digital painting works, pixels don't have souls.

torres.blair1d ago

Man I can barely trace my own hand without the app crashing, forget explaining anything to my grandpa.