Why does nobody talk about the cost of learning to draw before AI came along?

I was cleaning out my closet the other day and found my old drawing tablet from 2018. I paid about $300 for it, plus another $200 for a year of online art classes. That was a lot for me back then, working a part-time job. I spent hours trying to get better, but I just couldn't make my hands do what I saw in my head. It was frustrating. Now I see people making whole comic pages with AI in an afternoon, and it feels weird. Part of me is glad the tool is there, but another part wonders if I wasted that money and all that time struggling. Has anyone else found an old hobby purchase that feels totally different now because of AI?

3 comments

3 Comments

aaron_mitchell1mo ago

That struggle taught you how to see, though.

felix4141mo ago

Yeah, it's like the limits force you to be more creative. My dad's old film camera only had 24 shots a roll, so every single one had to count. You'd really think about the light and the moment before clicking. Now I can take a hundred pics of my coffee and just delete them, but that doesn't make me better at seeing a good shot.

alicemurphy1mo ago

You know, your post made me think of my friend who bought a really nice camera. He spent ages learning all the settings, but now he just uses his phone for everything. He says the old photos have a feeling the new ones don't, even if they're technically worse.