The Controversy Over AI Art and DeviantArt

 

Self-Portrait: "Yearning" created in Adobe Photoshop and Photo Lab.
Mixed Media: Digital Painting + AI tools used. 

The Controversy Over AI Art and DeviantArt

When 2020 hit the world, I spiraled into a deep depression. Not only were people dying from COVID, but we were also dealing with shutdowns, isolation, and uncertainty. At the same time, my mom was in the process of dying from breast cancer.

I lost my drive and passion to draw and paint.

I shut down my Facebook and Instagram art accounts, as well as my art website. I kept my art blog, Zazzle, and Etsy stores, but socially, I withdrew. I stopped interacting with most of my traditional art and photography friends, except for maybe one or two.

After my mom passed away in January 2021, I slowly began dabbling in art again. I experimented with acrylics and decoupage and created gifts for family and friends. I even tried wood burning, although the smoke aggravated my asthma.

Then, in May 2023, Adobe introduced Generative Fill, powered by Adobe Firefly, in the Photoshop beta.

Something happened that I wasn’t expecting.

I became inspired again.

When AI Opened a Door to Creativity

Generative AI gave me and other artists another way to manipulate images and explore ideas through prompts. Suddenly, things I had imagined in my mind—but couldn’t quite figure out how to draw or paint—could potentially be brought to life.

I was astounded.

I could describe something I had envisioned in my mind, sometimes in great detail, and within seconds I could see a visual interpretation of that idea.

But almost immediately, I found myself asking a question that many artists have asked:

If I use AI to create a work of art, is it really my artwork—or is it the AI’s artwork?

I don’t pretend to have a definitive answer to that question.

For me, I decided that if I use AI to create or help create a piece of artwork, I am comfortable acknowledging the AI tools I used. I look at it much like a collaboration with another creative tool—or, in some cases, another artist.

But there is something important that I think sometimes gets overlooked.

The AI doesn’t decide what I want to create. I do.

I am the one who has the idea.

I am the one who develops the concept.

I am the one who writes the prompt.

I am the one who decides what works and what doesn’t.

And I am often the one who takes the resulting image and continues working on it.

For example, Adobe’s AI doesn’t always understand human anatomy correctly. Hands, feet, eyes, noses, mouths, and other body parts can come out completely wrong. I frequently have to digitally paint and correct those areas myself.

The finished piece can involve considerably more than simply typing a sentence and clicking a button.

Where My Images Come From Matters to Me

I also believe strongly in respecting other artists and photographers.

When I create my artwork, I use my own stock photographs, stock photographs that I have legally purchased, or photographs that I have permission to use. I may also use my own drawings as references for composition or execution.

If there is a particular artistic style that inspires me, I may describe characteristics of that style in a prompt or use a style reference.

But there is an important line I will not cross:

I would never intentionally copy another artist’s artwork.

That is something I feel very strongly about.

I was heavily involved in copyright protection and protecting artists’ work when I participated in art groups on Yahoo, Facebook, Sketchfest, and DeviantArt. We watched out for one another. If we discovered someone’s artwork had been stolen and was being sold on eBay, Etsy, DeviantArt, or another website, we reported it.

I still believe in doing that today.

In fact, I get excited when I see the work of old art friends being sold legally on products. It is wonderful to see how their artwork has developed and how successful they have become over the years.

Interestingly, all of those friends have eventually left DeviantArt.

Returning to DeviantArt

DeviantArt and Facebook were where I spent much of my time with fellow artists after the Yahoo groups began shutting down.

Over the years, there has been a great deal of criticism and controversy surrounding DeviantArt. Some traditional artists feel that AI has taken over the platform. Others are frustrated by the amount of sexually explicit content and what they perceive as low-quality or repetitive artwork.

I understand those frustrations.

But after returning to DeviantArt myself, I discovered something I didn’t expect.

I found my inspiration again.

Not only through AI, but through DeviantArt itself.

I’ve been making new art friends, and the talent I am seeing is incredible.

There are artists using AI as part of their creative process and then digitally painting, editing, and refining their creations. There are traditional digital artists, photographers, illustrators, painters, and artists working in combinations of all these mediums.

The diversity is amazing.

Yes, DeviantArt has always had artwork that I personally have no interest in viewing. There is plenty of content I simply scroll past. But that doesn’t mean I believe I should decide whether someone else’s creation qualifies as art.

If an artist genuinely considers what they have created to be art, who am I to tell them otherwise?

I may not like it.

I may not understand it.

I may not even want to look at it.

But I can still respect their right to create it.

At the same time, I completely understand why some traditional artists have left DeviantArt. Their concerns about AI, copyright, artistic identity, and the changing nature of the platform are legitimate.

I am not writing this to tell them they are wrong.

I am simply sharing my own experience.

AI brought me back to creating art when I had lost my passion for it.

And DeviantArt helped inspire me again by allowing me to see what other artists are creating.

For that, I am grateful.

So, Is AI Art Really Art?

The great AI art debate will undoubtedly continue.

People will continue arguing about whether computer-generated imagery can be considered authentic art. There will continue to be concerns about copyright infringement, the use of artists’ work in training datasets, artistic ownership, and whether AI could eventually displace human artists.

These are important conversations, and I don’t believe they should simply be dismissed.

Many artists argue that AI has no soul, no personal experiences, no consciousness, and no genuine emotions. Therefore, they believe anything produced by AI is merely a statistical simulation rather than true art.

But I think there is another question worth asking:

What about the person behind the prompt?

A prompt can be incredibly detailed. It can contain imagination, emotion, memories, symbolism, personal experiences, and passion.

The person writing that prompt is bringing something to the creative process.

And today’s AI tools allow artists to go even further. In Photoshop, for example, an artist can use their own drawing as a composition reference and provide a separate image as a style reference. The technology can become another tool in the artist’s creative toolbox.

Does that make the computer the artist?

Or is the computer the medium?

That is a question each of us will have to answer for ourselves.

Remember Colored Pencils?

This debate actually reminds me of something from my own artistic journey.

For many years, colored pencil artwork wasn’t taken seriously by the traditional art world. Colored pencils were often viewed as a child’s medium rather than a legitimate fine-art medium.

Colored pencil artists were laughed at and mocked.

But I didn’t care.

I loved colored pencils.

It was my passion, and I continued creating with them regardless of what other people thought.

Eventually, galleries and the art world began recognizing colored pencil as a legitimate fine-art medium.

Today, colored pencil is an established and respected artistic medium, and there is an incredible community of professional colored-pencil artists producing breathtaking work.

So perhaps AI art is going through its own version of that struggle.

Maybe today’s arguments about whether AI-assisted artwork is “real art” will look very different years from now.

I don’t know.

But I do know this:

Art has always evolved.

New mediums, new technologies, and new methods of creating have often been questioned when they first appeared.

Photography was once criticized as not being “real art.”

Digital art was once dismissed by some traditional artists.

Colored pencil was once considered a child’s medium.

And now we are standing at the beginning of another technological shift.

Perhaps AI will eventually become accepted as another artistic medium—not because the machine itself has a soul, but because there is a human being behind the imagination, the choices, the direction, and the desire to create.

For me, that’s what matters.

I lost my passion for creating art.

Then something unexpected helped me find it again.

AI didn’t replace my imagination. It gave my imagination another way to speak.

And DeviantArt reminded me that there are still countless artists out there creating, experimenting, learning, and inspiring one another.

So instead of immediately dismissing something because it is different, I encourage you to explore it.

Go look at the digital artists on DeviantArt.

Look beyond the controversy.

Look beyond the arguments.

Look at the creativity.

You may be surprised by what you find.

And you might even find yourself inspired.

Note: My blog post was edited and parts revised by Chatgpt.

Keep on Creating!

Carol Moore