Art vs. technology

Thoughts on YouTube, AI art, and the future for creatives.

Hi my friend. Happy Friday. I hope you're well. 🖤

Over here, it's snowy, freezing cold, and breathtakingly beautiful. Bullfinches perching on snow covered branches. Rabbit tracks in our yard. The sky a soft blue and pink, like a watercolor painting. I really hope it stays this way over the holidays...

My week has been slow and relaxed. I decided last week that the video I released then was going to be my final one for the year. Or maybe even in a while, because I'm really not feeling it with YouTube at the moment. I'm not inspired to film, I don't feel like I have anything to say or show. At least not there.

I'm conflicted about the video format. Sometimes - when I have the energy and the inspiration, (and am feeling restless) - I can have fun filming and editing and doing all that work. But I don't enjoy it as much as I should, in order to stay fulfilled as a full-time YouTuber. I'm not passionate enough about filmmaking as a craft, and not willing to up my game as a cinematographer. That's not where my strengths lie. My strengths lie in the writing, the storytelling, the narration and the music. Those are the parts I really love. In many ways, I might just as well make a podcast.

But I've been carrying on with YouTube because I'm addicted to putting out a video each week and seeing how it performs. Which is not a great main motivation, considering how poor my channel stats have been lately. I wish they didn't affect me so much, but they do. The algorithm affects my creativity. The trends, and the average attention span on the platform affects my sense of self-worth. My own YouTube addiction affects my wellbeing. I just need to get away from it for a while.

Knowing myself, I will probably get my inspiration back at some point. As you might know, I wrote an essay a few months back, about why I was quitting YouTube, only to then re-commit to it again. That's probably how it's going to continue. My presence on YouTube will come in bursts of a few weeks or months at a time, and then I'll need to rest and do other things. That will have to be okay. I’m not going to conform to algorithms or hustle culture. I’ve given up on the idea of making a living primarily off of YouTube. It's definitely possible, but the pay is poor and unpredictable, and demands way too much in return. Like I wrote in that essay, I can't see myself doing YouTube full-time in the long term and not getting burnt out and depressed.

The primary value of the platform for me will be to get my art and my voice out there, and attract likeminded people to my newsletter - the core of my business.

This week, I hit a big, and emotionally significant milestone: My email list passed 1000 subscribers. It might not sound like much to some people, but for me, it's a big deal. For an email list, it IS a big deal. Email subscribers are a lot harder to get than social media followers. And 1000 is a magic threshold I haven't been able to accomplish in most of my previous endeavors. Because I'd given up before then. 🙄

I want to say a personal and very heartfelt THANK YOU to each and everyone of you who's subscribed to this newsletter. And an extra hug + saffron bun (freshly baked, no raisins) to those of you who are paying subscribers. I love you to the moon and back. You give me hope for my future as a creative.

By the way, thank you for responding to my little poll last week. I was delighted to see that so many of you, more than half, are interested in both art and writing. Here are the results, as of the time of this writing:

Rest assured, most of what I write and talk about going forward will be relevant and applicable to both artists and writers. To most creatives, in fact. I will continute to both write and make art. But I will likely talk more about writing and storytelling going forward. And I'm excited to get back to my own writing projects now over the holidays.

I'll tell you more about my plans for 2023 in next week's letter, which will be the last one for this year. But spoiler alert: this newsletter/Substack/community space will take up a lot more of my time and energy going forward. This is where I want to pour most of my love and effort. My dream for the future is this being my full-time job, working directly for you. And I know it's possible. A lot of creators on Substack and similar platforms are doing it. And it feels like a more worthwhile endeavor than becoming a full-time YouTuber. So stay tuned for that, and also for a few extra treats I'm preparing for you in next week’s letter.

Alright. It's Friday afternoon here, and I'm going to grab me a Christmas beer and go read a novel. 😌 See ya next week.

With love,

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Print collection is out!

My print collection, "Birds In Flight" is available on my website. I received my samples this week, and they look gorgeous. 🤗 Order now for delivery before the holidays.

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Read:

This article by Tomas Pueyo is a good explanation of the difference between platforms like YouTube, Skillshare and Medium, and tools like Substack:

The Future of Substack

I'm also reading How Story Works, by fellow Substacker Lani Diane Rich. Brushing up on universal concepts and getting some fresh inspiration for my own stories. Also really recommend her Substack, Dear Writer:

And I'm reading Slewfoot - A Tale of Bewitchery, by Brom.

I loooove this. It’s dark, haunting, but somehow warm and humorous at the same time, and it feels like it's written specifically for me. And beautifully illustrated by the author, because yes, he's also an INSANELY talented painter, My new role model. 😍

Watch:

I've finally been getting up to speed on the discussion about AI art. After having avoided it for months.

Here are two great videos I've watched:

This one, by Steven Zapata:

I read the transcript for this one, available here.

"This is art making, for God’s sake, not some agitating manual process people hate. This is one of the things people enjoy doing. Anyone with a humanistic outlook will see that because the intent and desired outcome are the same, we should reserve artmaking for those who stand to gain something from it, for whom it can bring joy and reward, rather than dumbly bestow it on an unfeeling non-being that cannot enjoy the fruits of its labors.”

And then this one, on the Proko channel, where they discuss AI art from a lot of perspectives:

So what are my thoughts?

Let me preface this by saying: I'm not against technology or progress. I do believe AI-generated art can be a usefool tool, if it was made in an ethical way. (Which it isn’t right now.) I’m intrigued to try it out mainly as an author, to get my imagination flowing and for brainstorming story ideas.

Second, I don't think AI will put all artists out of a job. Or that art - REAL, human art - will ever become obsolete. No AI can generate art from nothing. AI art is based on human art, and human input. Human-made art, especially traditional, analogue art (which will hopefully take a bit longer for AIs to figure out), will always have value. It will likely have even more value in the future. We are already tired of mass-produced crap from global chains and corporations. We are already valuing local, handmade, artisinal products more than ever. Or just getting to speak to an actual human being in a customer service call. And this need for human contact, and human-created things, will only grow stronger, the more AI takes over. So I'm not worried about the future for us creatives. I believe we, and those working in the healing and counseling arts, are probably as safe as anyone can be from computerization.

However.

This will put some artists and designers out of a job. And the rest of us will have our art stolen, digitally defiled, and exploited for profit, without our consent or even knowledge. And that makes me furious and depressed. I'm feeling reluctant about putting more of my art on the internet. I'm feeling discouraged about building a career as an artist. I'm feeling devalued as a creative and a human being. I feel like what I'm spending so much time learning and practicing and creating has very little value. Not on a personal scale. I still feel like my art has value, for me. I will still spend time on it and enjoy it.

But this is similar to the body image problem: It doesn't matter how confident you are in your body, and how much you accept yourself the way you are. You still live in a culture that brutally judges people based on their appearance, and that profits off of people hating their bodies. Of course that's going to affect you.

It doesn't matter how much I personally value my art and creativity, if the rest of society, including tech corporations, devalues it by stealing it, mass-appropriating it and profiting on it. It saddens me. It makes me less excited about pursuing art as a career.

I wish I had more fight in me. I wish I could give you a more optimistic speech on this. But my first response in situations like these are not to pick up the banner and start a rebellion, it's to retreat and reflect. It took me a while to solidify my opinions on social media, and as soon as I did, I had the energy to speak up. So I'm going to continue following the conversation on AI art and organize my thoughts on it, before I talk more about this.

What are your thoughts and emotions on AI art? Let's talk about it in the comments.

Listen:

If you need a good, long, therapeutic cry, (and you might, after hearing all this depressing talk about AI art), here's a tip:

(I love me a nice, big, ugly-cry. Even when I don't have anything in particular to cry about. Maybe that's just me being a highly sensitive drama queen…)

(Oh and aren't organs so cool? Internal ones, and Royal Albert Hall ones.)

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