Imperfection in Art

In creation, and especially in traditional arts, one of the most beautiful elements for me is the opportunity of imperfection. I'm thinking of things like how we draw a line with a pencil, or how we handle a brush, sometimes the strokes move, something smears, runs down, splashes. Sometimes we don't manage to mix the color we wanted. Things don't fall into place exactly, or they get a little distorted. And often, it's these mishaps that turn into something new, something different, which then solves the picture, adds something new.

Drawing on paper and painting on canvas are much more difficult to manage and to correct, than using digital tools, especially while we are in the learning phase - this can be a few years, several decades, or even a lifetime. Yet, progress can be felt in this, and style later sprouts from here. In contrast, digital graphics already have many built-in tools that help, correct and beautify while we are just start drawing a line. With the ability to erase completely, or undo, we can hide and destroy all kinds of "mistakes". It is easy to get used to these and become comfortable with them. But when you think about it more closely, this kind of thing doesn't always lead to good results - or rather, it's not necessary in every case.

This is mostly a question of need, goal, communication, etc., especially when we are no longer thinking purely in terms of creation, but rather in terms of applied graphics. For now, I would stick to the traditional, self-expressive, artistic way of expression. And when I talk about it, I'm not implying of any specific artist who applies digital tools. I like the works of my favorite modern artists because they preserve many traditions even in their digital works. And perhaps it's no coincidence that most of these artists are able to work excellently with traditional techniques, and originally started with those. So this won't be a critical essay (who would I be to do that?) rather a reflection.

During my own creative process, I have discovered that these tonnes of digital possibilities, such as perfect lines, the elimination of errors, all kinds of tricks and effects, have at some point started work as a sterilization. And I discovered it in other artworks too. And we know that what is so artificially "clean" can no longer be natural. And what does not seem natural, I do not see as beautiful. For example, human faces, even the pretty ones, are asymmetrical, that is what makes them natural and why they have their own charm and aesthetics. We can find similar imperfections in nature or human creations and those work perfectly fine. On the contrary today, a new phenomenon called "AI art" (illustration generated by artificial intelligence) has overturned this harmony with a huge shovel - or a grabber. At first I was disgusted and in denial about this madness, then I tried to open up and accept it, but now I can only distance myself from it again. For a while I almost believed that this was a good thing - because AI can be actually useful in many other areas - and I thought maybe it could even be useful to me as a creator. I had to realize in a short time that it was not true. After all my recent professional burnout made me realize that.

For a person with an artistic soul, who has been drawing since childhood, who has been involved in this for decades, who knows the world when there was no AI, social media or even digital drawing, this cannot be organically injected. That is why I think and know for fact that many artists with a similar background and mindset - much more talented and well-known than me - think the same way. Let's start from the fact that what AI does is not creation and not art but only generating images. It is not more but a kind of imitation of illustration. Of course, it is getting better and less distinguishable from images created by humans - especially digital images - but it has added a huge amount to what turns an illustration into a sterile, kitsch and a commonplace mass product. It has no artistic process, only a result. It has no way of naturalness and the possibility of imperfection, because this is very difficult for machines to interpret. Because these super intelligent engines have no feelings, so they lack the most important and fundamental core that is needed for a truly good work of art. It cannot mature, develop, and is not given the time to do so. It is a bit like when someone comes up to you uninvited while you are in a creating flow, takes your pencil, makes a mess on your image and consider it done.

Maybe what I'm writing here is also a mess - also not perfect. But these are my thoughts, human thoughts. It's very difficult to talk about this briefly, it's a pretty controversial topic, either from aesthetic and moral point of view. Not to mention that AI and especially image generating is also another thing that drains the energy of the environment. My burnout meets these things somewhere at this point: do I have to compete with these machines and tools? Do I have to learn to use them, to collaborate with them? Then I can be a graphic designer only this way? I know one thing about burnouts for sure: we have to give ourselves time, but also to these processes that cause it. We have to wait for the silence and until the desire to create awakens again. We shouldn't force it, or make big decisions, we have to slow down. So we have to do exactly the things that the mechanized, rushing and competitive world doesn't allow us to. It also helps a lot that I distanced myself from social media. It was also a good idea to take out my older works, which always have a story behind. And maybe that's why I'll go back to my traditional tools for a while. I think these kinds of spiritual journeys are a cure for this situation, I can already feel the healing effect. Has anything similar happened to you?