sam530•18d ago

Compared an oil painting I made to an AI generated one side by side

I spent 3 hours on a small landscape in acrylics last Sunday. Then I fed the same description into Midjourney and got a result in 2 minutes. The AI version looked cleaner but my painting had this weird brushstroke where I messed up the sky. That mistake made it feel more real somehow. Is it just me or does perfection actually take away from the art?

2 comments

2 Comments

lewis.diana18d ago

But doesn't that mistake mean you actually learned something from making it? I get what you're saying about the AI looking cleaner, but for me that's the whole problem. When I look at an AI image, it feels like it came out of a machine with no real choices behind it. Your messed up sky brushstroke shows you tried something and it didn't work, which is way more interesting than a perfect image that nobody struggled to make. The AI version might look good, but your painting has a story hidden in that mistake.

verab2818d ago

My friend Mike spent 8 hours on a charcoal portrait last year. He accidentally smudged the eye area with his hand and nearly trashed the whole thing. Instead he worked the smudge into a shadow and it ended up being the best part of the piece. The AI version he made later had perfect lighting but zero soul. I think that's the main difference, the human version has scars you can connect with.