About the Process

Since Arizona Kenopsia will be released soon, with so much art filling its pages, I feel it’s a good time to let readers know how the sausage is made!

The illustrations begin their lives as Daz Studio renders like this one, with many adjustments made to the lighting following wisdom I’ve acquired from FZD School tutorials and others. After that, I use either a Wacom or Huion tablet to draw on top of the renders. The end result shows some of the digital skeleton, revealing the digital nature of the work, but has plenty of organic flourishes to better express my vision of the scene.

An early work-in-progress shot of this illustration where the Daz Studio render is more visible along with the photobashed pictures from my personal library and some hand drawn elements just getting started.

The final work of art showcasing all my hand-drawn details and some filtering to create a little extra magic.

 
The most controversial thing I have done is use filters to soften the polygon edges and conceal some of the 3D components of the art. I did this mostly in works made between 2019 and 2022 using a technique called deep style transfer. It leaves a digital imprint on the art—a sort of tell-tale sign that this was made with a computer rather than physical paint. Unfortunately, prompt based generative art emerged from the AI world later on, something I don’t use to make these digital illustrations, and people often mistake any trace of digital magic for “AI art.” I’ve received a lot of hate when people assume I'm using prompts to generate my art.

Most people just don’t know any better, and couldn’t tell you the difference between prompt-based generation and deep style transfer filters. The prompt-based generation is where the whole world suddenly made a 180 degree turn against computer intelligence in art, for understandable reasons, and where I drew a personal line for myself. I insist on making my own art, not having others make it for me. Using prompt-generated art to create art from a database of other people’s art requires relinquishing control to a degree that a control freak like me isn’t okay with, since the art is no longer really an expression of myself if I do that. It’s other people’s art Franksteined together.

Many of the AI models are trained on artworks that are made by artists who have received lessons in lighting identical to those I did. The concept art industry has shaped many illustrators like me thanks to FZD School tutorials. Now the AI is absorbing that knowledge and using it, and many of us who still do things the old way are accused inappropriately of using AI prompts to generate the art for us. 

The unfortunate truth is that it's very hard to make digital art without being accused of using AI because any tell-tale signs of the digital process are often mistaken for proof the art was made with AI. Even I can only guess with about %60 accuracy if something has been made with generative prompts. The websites and apps used to figure it out are also equally bad at it, and man, am I ever sick of being mistaken for an AI artist, because my art is a representation of me and what is in my heart. Not other people.

I can guarantee my works are organic Daz Studio renders with photobashing, my digital painting, and occasional filters applied. That’s it. I have the work-in-progress images to prove this, showcasing the 3D models used and more, but realistically…there’s a limit to how much I want to spend time arguing with a lynch mob composed of people who are less educated on the subject. Hate’s a powerful thing, and I can only be arsed to care so much about the opinions of strangers.

August 25th marks the release of Arizona Kenopsia, a project that took me years to make. If you want to possess the largest and most ambitious of my works, this is the one!