Simulated Realism and Art – Scott A. Story

I’ve been thinking about imaginative artists (like me) and AI art, and what we have to do if we want outdo simulated realism. By this, I mean the highly rendered, semi-real, semi-oil painted look AI can whip up.

I say simulated reality, because photo real is a thing artists have dabbled in for generations. That’s not what’s at issue. As artists, we want to make art that is profound, or pops off the page, or communicates great meaning or emotion. That’s not photo realism, necessarily. A good photographer can capture those things, so it’s not about medium.

I’m spitballing here, getting my head together. I don’t want to be rendered obsolete by technology. Maybe it’s inevitable, maybe not, but I don’t want to be second best to a machine. The human touch has to count for something.

So, besides being able to draw and compose well, what I see that I need to focus on is:

1) Depth of field, or aerial perspective, or loss of line in the distance

2) The color and qualities of different light and its effects on local color

3) Reflected light, core shadows and core lights, and the desaturation of shadow.

That’s a big wish list, I know. I’ve played around with all three of these in different work, but mastered none.

It’s a strange time. Photography dealt a blow to our forbearers, then 3D art in the recent past, now generative AI. There should be a path for the traditional artist to compete in.

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Scott Story

Scott Story is a freelance illustrator and cartoonist who lives in the Midwestern USA. He has been involved in the comic industry since 1992, and webcomics since 2004. He has drawn comics for dozens of publishers including Image, Amp, Arrow, Digital Webbing, Arcana, Spinner Rack Comics, and many others.

Scott is known for the rich detail, clever storytelling, and organic quality to his art. As a cartoonist, Scott is an all-purpose creator– he writes, pencils, inks, colors, letters and designs. Scott Story has also done advertising art; covers for books, CDs and tabletop games; movie, event and concert posters; interior art for tabletop games; logos and website graphics; and a wide range of other media. Scott was trained in traditional media, such as acrylics and water colors, but now he divides his time between the traditional and digital art worlds. He is in demand for his digital painting skills, used on covers, posters and prints.

As the creative director of Story Studios LLC., he has published two graphic novels, Johnny Saturn: Synns of the Father, and Johnny Saturn: Homeland Insecurity, with two more in the process of being completed. Story Studios has also published seventeen comics, a sketchbook, and a pinup book. He has written articles for Blueline Pro’s Sketch Magazine, and prose stories for print anthologies and the web. His webcomic, Johnny Saturn, is a past winner of the Webcomics Readers Choice Awards, and Scott was a speaker at the prestigious Graphic Engagement academic conference hosted by the Purdue University Comparative Literature Program.

Scott is a member of the Indy Webcomic Group, and he was the creator and a founding member of the highly successful Collective of Heroes, a juried collective of indie superhero webcomics.