SpaceCat🔞

Butts :3 Artist @_nattizh

AI opinionated piece! I've had conversations with artists who consider any use of AI a violation of their Terms of Service, even after I've explained that I'm only using it as a reference for body positioning and poses. No AI generated character designs, no facial features, no artwork being passed off as my own. Just basic body diagrams to communicate what I'm looking for. Sometimes it's ridiculously difficult to explain something as simple as, "I want this arm extended outward, this knee positioned here, and the body angled this way." Finding an existing reference image with that exact positioning can be a complete waste of time, especially when you're not particularly artistic yourself. That's where AI becomes useful to me. It's a communication tool, not a replacement for the artist I'm literally paying to create something. I understand why some artists are hostile toward AI. I understand the concerns about their livelihoods, intellectual property, and the direction the industry is heading. Those are legitimate conversations worth having. But there's a difference between opposing a technology and treating people like shit simply because they use it. Whatever happened to basic professionalism? I've commissioned quite a lot of artwork over the years, and I've genuinely enjoyed supporting independent artists. I've spent my own money because I value their creativity, their skills, and the time they invest in their work. I don't see AI as a reason to stop supporting human artists. But I'm beginning to find myself distancing from certain parts of the art community, not because of AI itself, but because of the hostility surrounding it. And that's something I genuinely don't want to see happen. I'm certainly not the only person who commissions artwork, and I wouldn't be surprised if others eventually started distancing themselves for similar reasons. When customers are met with hostility simply for asking questions, explaining their references, or expressing a different opinion, eventually some of them are going to stop engaging altogether. That's a dangerous direction, especially when commissions are a primary source of income for many independent artists. I'm not suggesting artists should abandon their principles, accept AI, or tolerate something they fundamentally disagree with. You have every right to establish boundaries around your work. But there's a difference between maintaining those boundaries and actively pushing away people who genuinely want to support you. I've even had an experience where I paid an artist upfront, only to have the commission refused and essentially be told to fuck off. Thankfully, I had the option of disputing the charge through my credit card provider. I explained the situation and exercised my rights as a consumer here in Canada. And before someone inevitably gets upset reading this, you're perfectly welcome to tell me to go fuck myself. That's your freedom, just as I'm free to express my opinion. Artists have every right to establish their own Terms of Service, refuse commissions, and decide what they're comfortable working with. I respect that. But those terms don't automatically override applicable consumer protection laws or automatically justify keeping someone's money when the agreed upon service hasn't been delivered. You have the right to refuse my business. I have the right to challenge being charged for something I never received. What concerns me most is how this hostility might affect the very community people are trying to protect. If supporting independent artists becomes an increasingly unpleasant experience, some customers may simply walk away. And who exactly benefits from that?Certainly not the artists who rely on commissions to pay their bills. This isn't an argument that artists should sacrifice their values for money. It's an argument that professionalism, mutual respect, and reasonable communication shouldn't disappear simply because people disagree about technology.