Conlaodh

You have probably heard of the new site for artists, Cara. There's been a lot of enthusiasm for it's strict 'no AI' policy and artist-friendly vibe, and it has seen explosive user growth since it started. Perhaps you're wondering if it would be worth joining. I've spent a few weeks as a member now to see how it felt, and I'll share a few of my observations. On the positive side, having a site where artists aren't going to be crowded out by, or have to compete with, an influx of quickly-generated AI art is a great concept. It's an ad-free site as well, at least for now, which is an attractive feature too. It promises a vibrant and interactive community, something different from sites like Artstation, where there is typically little interaction between artists, most of whom are professional artists using their Artstation portfolio for employment purposes. When I first joined Cara, I just browsed the site and watched for the first week, trying to get a feel for it. My first

I've commented several times about my concerns with AI generated art. There's no getting over the fact that it can create beautiful work, and it's getting better all the time. However, while many argue that Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, etc., are simply tools that can be incorporated into the workflow for exiting artists, I'm still skeptical about that. I've struggled to see a way of using AI to work in tandem with the tools I usually use. But Photoshop may have changed the game for me with its new Generative Fill feature. Now I can see a way to use its AI functions as a seamless part of my workflow. The two images above are an example of that. The bottom image shows my original "Black Forest" render (with the clay render included on the side). I originally created that image in portrait mode. The top image shows how Photoshop's Generative Fill allows me to seamlessly create a landscape version of the same render, simply by using the "crop" feature to extend the canvas