cactusleague

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Alright, as we close out this year, I want to pay some of my favorite pieces from the year.

#happynewyear

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There’s a protest going on against AI art over on artstation, so I feel like now is the time for me to make a statement on this issue! 

I wholeheartedly support the ongoing protest against AI art. Why? Because my artwork is included in the datasets used to train these image generators without my consent. I get zero compensation for the use of my art, even though these image generators cost money to use, and are a commercial product. 

Musicians are not being treated the same way. Stability has a music generator that only uses royalty free music in their dataset. Their words: “Because diffusion models are prone to memorization and overfitting, releasing a model trained on copyrighted data could potentially result in legal issues.” Why is the work of visual artists being treated differently?

Many have compared image generators to human artists seeking out inspiration. Those two are not the same. My art is literally being fed into these generators through the datasets, and spat back out of a program that has no inherent sense of what is respectful to artists. As long as my art is literally integrated into the system used to create the images, it is commercial use of my art without my consent.

Until there is an ethically sourced database that compensates artists for the use of their images, I am against AI art. I also think platforms should do everything they can to prevent scraping of their content for these databases. 

Artists, speak out against this predatory practice! Our art should not be exploited without our consent, and we deserve to be compensated when our art is exploited for commercial use. 

[cactusleague]

The Everfilling Cauldron - each ladle of the pot seems to never diminish this kettle's brew.

My goal was to try my hand at creating something at the Hearthstone level of rendering.

#humanmade #pot #kettle #chunky #soup #fallvibes #values #fire #winter #dnd #icewinddale #hearthstone

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Some early environment development work for a freelance project.

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It’s been a whiiiiile

I’m honestly pretty impressed with the improvements here. I guess Tumblr’s back on the menu boys.

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Here's some work from recent times to catch y'all up.

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Explaining why I’m back here ...

When Twitter is trending on Twitter

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Freelance work of late. I don't get to do sci-fi as much! Astronauts fighting for mysterious reasons! #conceptart #gamedev #keyart #dutchangle #composition #nasa #fiction #illustration #art https://www.instagram.com/p/ClFW-KxJvfp/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Did an animated version to show how I envision players would see the sign for the mystical otherworldly tavern. #dnd #tavern #magic #rollthedice #satyrs #pink #oldworld https://www.instagram.com/p/CRC85erFzyQ/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Down the Hatch Magic Tavern. A watering hole that's a right angle to reality showing up wherever thirsty patrons are to be found. #dnd5e #sign #tavern #mystic #magic #design #ttrpg #graphicdesign #handtype #painting #conceptart https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ2OQnKF1l1/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Challenge from Twitter for d&d playing artists with rogue characters to draw their character like a Fabio cover of Rogue. There was no way I could pass that up. #dnd5e #romance #fabio #bird #chest #glistening #rogue #rouge #kenku #sexybeast #puffyshirt #challenge #twitter #swashbuckler #lostbutton #rimlighting #chakka #illustration #characterart https://www.instagram.com/p/CQPKuBUFXST/?utm_medium=tumblr

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It's done! Here's a piece I've been working on lately as a set piece for the d&d crew that I sprung on them as a surprise last session. So much fun to work on and a lot of growth in here. #dnd #tabletop #zoom #roleplay #airship #ff9 #steampunk #magepunk #sunset #city #feudal #clippership #warehouse #medieval #dnd5e #levelup #environment #illo #illustration #art https://www.instagram.com/p/CO1WZLhFHZs/?igshid=100fz57uollzo

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Little commission I did a while back. Someone's ewok archer with a bobcat patterning on it. #commission #art #starwars #ewok #nubnub #kybercrystal #archery #bears #scifi #characterdesign https://www.instagram.com/p/CNAVKTcF2mQ/?igshid=16158ww5jqxne

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My submission for the Character Design Challenge - @characterdesignchallenge - for March 2021 - Mushroom Fighter. I'm gonna call him Umami. I ultimately landed on this sort of assassin mushroom with a sickle and a truffle spade! I imagine him hiding in a collection of fungi and suddenly an ambush! #mushrooms #cdchallenge #conceptartist #digitalart #digitalpainting #edgecontrol #sickle #trufflespade #competition #fungi #illustration #badguy #monster #stealth #assassin #willienelson https://www.instagram.com/p/CMnrvumFua6/?igshid=sgccqoxytrft

[cactusleague]

My submission for the Character Design Challenge - @characterdesignchallenge - for March 2021 - Mushroom Fighter. I'm gonna call him Umami. I ultimately landed on this sort of assassin mushroom with a sickle and a truffle spade! I imagine him hiding in a collection of fungi and suddenly an ambush! #cdchallenge #conceptart #mushrooms #fungi #umami #assasin #illustration #artoftheday #sickle #trufflespade #truffles #stealth #madcapcoffee #digitalpainting https://www.instagram.com/p/CMnrFedlbps/?igshid=18yyzyqyz5axe

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Finished off this little challenge to do some themed skin designs for an Overwatch character. I went with Ashe and her robo butler Bob and wanted to see what baseball would look like on their bright sci-fi world. #characterdesign #skins #conceptart #ideafactory #baseball #pc #overwatch #ashe #bob #players #fps #batter #catcher https://www.instagram.com/p/CML8ghyg-s2/?igshid=qa04qtum2rzy

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Red from Transistor. Started this as a piece for a friend but it grew into a practice piece to try a lot of stuff and push myself a bit. I think it was at least partially successful in that! #digitalart #transistor #red #supergiantgames #gamedev #portrait #fanart #characterart #swords #ladies #indiegames #gingers #pinup https://www.instagram.com/p/CLvofpyl9w0/?igshid=c5liicr1my0y