Can AI Replace Artists?

Half-Human, Half-Bot Art Experiment

15th April 2025

Hey creative souls, welcome back to my new blog!

If you’ve been scrolling through social media lately, you’ve probably noticed that AI is everywhere. It feels like it’s slowly taking over the 2D art world. With just one prompt, people are generating amazing visuals in seconds. And honestly? It made me wonder — what if this affects my career?

Embracing Change Instead of Fearing It

But instead of panicking, I took a step back and thought: technology will always keep growing. As artists, we need to evolve with it. It’s not about competing with AI — it’s about learning how to collaborate with it.

The Project: Combining Human and AI Creativity

In today’s blog, I’m sharing an experimental project where I used both my artistic skills and AI to create something unique. About 50% of the work was done by me, and the remaining 50% was supported by AI. The goal was to take a realistic Bharatanatyam drawing and convert it into a particular art style.

Why Not Just Let AI Do It All?

Yes, I know — now AI can do this in under a minute. But here’s the catch: we never really know what it’s going to give us. It might come close to our idea, or it might be something completely off. That’s where we artists come in — to guide it, shape it, and bring that vague output closer to our vision. Whether it’s getting the right composition, accurate hand gestures, the expressions, or the soul of the artwork — it still needs our creative touch to truly come to life.

My Process: From Sketch to Style Transformation

This particular drawing was created about a year ago. I started with a reference image and was inspired by an illustrator I follow on YouTube named Kesh. I really love their style and wanted to try something similar.

So first, I did a rough sketch in Photoshop, focusing on the 4½ head proportion that I wanted for the figure. Then I colored it, sticking closely to the reference. After that, I uploaded my artwork into Leonardo AI to see how it could transform the piece.

Reference

Line Art

Coloring

The First AI Output: Not Quite There Yet

The first results? Well… they weren’t perfect. The hands looked unnatural, the eyes were off, and even the dress patterns were completely distorted. Since I was using the free mode of the tool, I didn’t have many customization options. Still, I gave it my best — adjusting everything manually to fix the distortions and bring it closer to my original vision.

I must say, though — the kind of detailing that could’ve taken me 2–3 hours? AI handled it in minutes. That’s the beauty of this collaboration. It’s not flawless, but it definitely saves time — especially when you know how to guide it right.

A Fun Twist with ChatGPT’s Tools

While writing this blog, I also tried something fun — I asked ChatGPT’s AI tools to turn the same image into a cartoon version. And you know what? The result was actually pretty good! At first, I jokingly thought, “Humari job ja rahi hai... pata nahi humara kya hoga!” 😅

But let’s be real — AI also needs creativity to function. Even with all its tools, it can't replace an artist’s imagination. Someone has to guide it, tweak it, and bring that human touch. So no need to panic — there's still plenty of space for us in this AI-driven world. Or maybe I’m just consoling you... or myself... or maybe not?

Even this blog you’re reading was worded by ChatGPT — but the thoughts, the emotions, the vision behind it? All mine.

So… does it really make a difference? Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t. I don’t think even I can give a final statement on that.

With this confusion... that’s it for today’s blog!

If you’ve got thoughts, opinions, or just want to share your take on AI in art — drop a comment on my Instagram post. I’d love to hear what all you creative souls think!

Until next time, stay curious, stay creative, and keep evolving.