Horsey Beginnings

When I was a kid, my best friend whom I’ll simply call “M” was an amazing artist. I met her when I was 9 and she was 10 and she could draw horses that actually looked like horses! Not just some brown smear with a series of stump-like limbs, like I scribbled out. I was both amazed and wildly jealous. I wanted to be good at drawing horses too, after all. 

And so I practiced. Someday, I vowed to be as good as M. Someday, my horses would also be recognizable and easily categorized into the equine category by any passerby who happened to glance down at my drawing. 

I drew and drew and drew, always shoving my latest creation at my father (something of an artist himself). He’d give an approving nod and say, “You’re coming along, aren’t ya?” It wasn’t until I got older that I realized he never gave me wild, over the top praise like most parents do for their little artists. He pointed out what was good and told me to keep working at it and that was enough encouragement for me to do just that. 

I kept at it. A lot. As the years went by, I got pretty decent. I could draw faces and hands and sometimes bodies that were attached to those faces and hands. Plus, my horses were solid. To this day I can still draw a decent horse without really trying. 

It Takes a Bit of Work Not to Suck…

There was only one problem with all my hard earned improvements. M kept practicing too. 

She blew me completely out of the water. Even now, her art has advanced so much that she’s won awards. She even painted a mural for the freaking Air Force. She also painted a hyper realistic portrait out of watered down skittles. SKITTLES!!

Nope. I admit defeat. Compared to her, I suck and will only ever suck. Guess what? That’s ok. I asked her once, how long a typical drawing (just with pencils and shading) took. She said 10 hours. HOURS. I realized then, that was my problem. Who had that kind of time? Not me! If my drawing isn’t done within 30 minutes, it’s never going to get done. I suddenly felt less bad about my lackluster skills. She worked her absolute bum off for it. I could not say the same.

Visuals and Marketing

What does all this have to do with marketing, you ask? 

Visuals make things come to life. There’s a reason tv commercials have such professional footage. It draws the eye, makes it seem more legit and professional. Other marketing efforts are the same. Your website needs graphics. Photos, logos, art, whatever. It needs something to break up the monotony of a sea of letters. As much as art is enjoyable for the sheer sake of its own beauty, it’s also incredibly helpful when you’re trying to get someone’s attention. 

Don’t discount how much visuals can enhance your message. 

It’s so worthwhile to source a little graphic design for your project. Find a good photographer. Hire a talented digital artist. Maybe even something as old school as having an eye catching mural painted on the side of your store. Draw attention. Give people a reason to notice you. A little creative relief from the constant bombardment of the dry, technical world around them. Just a little something to stimulate their brains and make them decide to give you a second look. 

The Artistic Vampire that is AI

When you do decide to use graphics to enhance your message, don’t just use AI to come up with your art for you. AI has its uses in this world, but it has absolutely no business in the realm of creativity. It steals from real human art that it finds online. It mimics, copies, regurgitates, until it has picked dry the bones of true artistic talent and whimsy. 

The worst part? People are using it left and right. It’s all about saving a buck, right? Why pay a living, breathing artist when they could get the same results for free? 

I hate that. So much. I worked sooooo hard just to make a halfway reasonable horse. M worked herself to the bone for decades. In this world, that means nothing to corporate greed. It should, though. It really should.

One of the only saving graces of humanity, in my book, is our ability to make beautiful things. Music. Poetry. Writing. Art. To steal those otherworldly gifts is to make a mockery of one of our few redeeming qualities. In my opinion, most aspects of humankind are not to be proud of. The arts are so important. They make us feel things. See the world differently. Find a way to express ourselves that our mouths never could just by talking. That is sacred. Not something for technology to rob of us. 

Art from Humans

Support human art. It’s not always as expensive as you might think. Everyone knows someone who is trying their hand at photography, let them do a project for you. Find a local artist who needs some exposure, or even learn a bit yourself, you might have fun! With programs like Canva and Affinity Designer, it’s not as hard as you might think. I made all my logos myself through the use of Affinity, and I’m dang proud of them too. Another option would be to use stock photos. Many of them are from real photographers who are looking to get their name out in exchange for a little exposure. I, myself, use them from time to time, such as on this website. But I feel good knowing that the images came from a human being, not artificial intelligence. 

Use art in your marketing. Your websites, your blogs, your ads, your emails, all of it. But use it responsibly. Don’t feed the soul sucking AI machine that is threatening the future of thousands of artists. Stand for creativity and support those who put their everything into their work. At the end of the day, as impressive as AI art is, it will never have the same meaning that humans and humans alone can express.