Ven Locklear

Waits patiently...

I just hope everyone goes Standard and Adobe realizes that people don't value their AI tools enough to make them a good business choice long term. A boy can dream!

If you're someone like me that has to use Adobe for industry reasons, just a reminder to read the fine print in the latest plan changes. "All Apps" is now "Pro" which is $170/yr more expensive, but you can change to Standard, keep all the apps, and just forego some extra AI features.

Caught up on Stranger Things, didn't hate the finale like some! Maybe because I was never a superfan? I was just here for the synthwave, the monsters, and the friendship themes, and Season 5 delivered those. I'll miss the show!

This was a blast! Happy holidays!

Wut

Text reads: USE AI? No thanks. I'd rather get my misinformation from the local swamp hag.

anti ai, pro hag

Oh yeah and I should mention that this is painted in Photoshop. I also use 3d and photobashing on certain illustration/concept projects, but my preference is drawing/painting.

Yeah, I've heard of artists avoiding certain styles because of it.

My most recent artwork on Subsidia for Excision and Sullivan King. I'm not on twitter, but apparently there was a kerfuffle over there with some fans claiming it was AI art. HA. HA. HA.

Predator Badlands was a delight. Maybe Predator movies shouldn't be delightful. But I was delighted nonetheless 😁

Happy whale explosion day to those who celebrate! 🐋

Yeah but was it AI generated?? I discovered that at a nail salon recently, but it was country pop/slop.

New single artwork, always fun to draw meat and chrome.

Great movie weekend! Saw Frankenstein in theaters, really felt the love from Del Toro. Beautiful and thoughtful....aaaand for a palette cleanser rented the new Toxic Avenger, lol

Yup, and it's really hard to tell, at least for the average listener like me. This time I only suspected because it was an album with five versions of the same song. It's now been taken down, but it's still depressing that it's a new norm.

I'll look into it. A while back I switched to Youtube Music, since I heard it was SLIGHTLY better at paying artists and didn't have rogan, but I think neither of those things are true anymore so I've been giving Spotify another try. YT music was just terrible for keeping track of artists.

Also, I'm sorry if this makes you depressed too. I've been avoiding social media BOTH because of all the AI slop AND because of everyone posting about how sad they are about the AI slop. So I'm sorry to add to that part of it!

Spotify's newest trend is AI tracks and albums impersonating smaller artists who either aren't producing music anymore, are on a hiatus, or have passed away. So now when I go to hear new releases from my favorite artists, I regularly encounter illegal AI slop. And it makes me want to cry.

CHINGA LA MIGRA 🐊💥 risograph prints will be with me at SPX on some kind of sliding scale, with sales donated to the Florida Immigrant Coalition, a coalition of advocacy groups across the state, and CASA, a group active here in Maryland as well as Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Ah, there's nothing like waking up to see a post from a past client where they've used AI instead of a real artist. I shouldn't look at Instagram in the morning.

RIP Graham Greene. I've never seen Dances With Wolves, I guess it won 6 Oscars. What didn't win six Oscars was Clearcut, but god damn is that a fascinating movie with an eerie performance from him. He goes from hilarious to scary just like that, and oh boy that de-barking scene. GO WATCH IT NOW!!!

💗 ARTSHARE 💗

To celebrate my 500 followers milestone, I host my very first #artshare thread here on BlueSky!

You know the drill:
- share this post so others can join
- present yourself (optional)
- show your art (obviously... 😅)
- no NSFW please (artistic nudity/erotica is allowed)
- have fun!

Late here because I'm on vacation! But thanks so much for the tag. I'm Ven, illustrator and concept artist, and here are couple of my Excision album arts:

My Fantastic Four

Oooohh

I got my copy of Bad Space Comics!!!!!!

Take good care of her for me 🥹 I moved away last year.