Manga

Will AI Art Take Over the Manga Industry?

Will AI Art Take Over the Manga Industry?

Some people claim that AI art will be the next big thing in manga.

Summary:

  • AI can create art now, and people wonder if AI art will take over the manga industry.
  • The mangaka of Fist of the North Star is skeptical about AI art.
  • The AI revolution in manga is not happening anytime soon.

Nowadays, artificial intelligence has progressed to a point where it is possible to create almost any sort of art using it. This, naturally, led some people to believe that if AI can make good-looking art, maybe it is also able to replace manga artists. The reality, however, is way more complicated, as computers lack one thing living people have: creativity.

Pros of AI art in manga

 - image 1

On paper, the idea of using AI art to create manga seems appealing: it eases the process of creation, letting the mangaka focus solely on the plot. It also allows virtually anyone to enter the industry, without having any drawing skills or finding an artist to collaborate with.

Sure, it requires some understanding how AI text-to-image models work, but that’s still a much lower entry barrier than learning how to draw. Considering all of these factors, the supposed AI revolution sounds like a good thing, except… it won’t really happen. Not anytime soon, at least.

Thoughts of a famous mangaka

Tetsuo Hara, the artist behind Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken), expressed his thoughts on AI art in a recent interview. His position was that the art created by a machine does not have the human expression of finality in it, and, therefore, does not have a soul. Hara worked on Fist of the North Star for years.

During this time, his eyesight deteriorated, and years later he was blind in one eye. Hara sacrificed his health for the sake of his work, and considers his art an expression of that concept, something that an AI can not recreate. While text-to-image models are trained on human art, they do not understand the expression of creativity that led to that art looking as it is, and can only imitate it.

No AI revolution

 - image 2

There is truth in Hara’s words. While it is possible to create a beautiful picture using a text-to-image model, that picture will never have soul. You can’t really get exactly the kind of image you want, the kind of image you envision: you can only be satisfied with what the model gives you. As so, creating a proper manga using AI art is simply not possible.

The “AI revolution” in manga, forecast by some people on the internet, won’t happen anytime soon. It’s perfectly fine to be excited with the technical progress of humanity, but sometimes you have to accept that we are not there yet.

Source: goetheweb.jp

Some people claim that AI art will be the next big thing in manga.

Summary:

  • AI can create art now, and people wonder if AI art will take over the manga industry.
  • The mangaka of Fist of the North Star is skeptical about AI art.
  • The AI revolution in manga is not happening anytime soon.

Nowadays, artificial intelligence has progressed to a point where it is possible to create almost any sort of art using it. This, naturally, led some people to believe that if AI can make good-looking art, maybe it is also able to replace manga artists. The reality, however, is way more complicated, as computers lack one thing living people have: creativity.

Pros of AI art in manga

Will AI Art Take Over the Manga Industry? - image 1

On paper, the idea of using AI art to create manga seems appealing: it eases the process of creation, letting the mangaka focus solely on the plot. It also allows virtually anyone to enter the industry, without having any drawing skills or finding an artist to collaborate with.

Sure, it requires some understanding how AI text-to-image models work, but that’s still a much lower entry barrier than learning how to draw. Considering all of these factors, the supposed AI revolution sounds like a good thing, except… it won’t really happen. Not anytime soon, at least.

Thoughts of a famous mangaka

Tetsuo Hara, the artist behind Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken), expressed his thoughts on AI art in a recent interview. His position was that the art created by a machine does not have the human expression of finality in it, and, therefore, does not have a soul. Hara worked on Fist of the North Star for years.

During this time, his eyesight deteriorated, and years later he was blind in one eye. Hara sacrificed his health for the sake of his work, and considers his art an expression of that concept, something that an AI can not recreate. While text-to-image models are trained on human art, they do not understand the expression of creativity that led to that art looking as it is, and can only imitate it.

No AI revolution

Will AI Art Take Over the Manga Industry? - image 2

There is truth in Hara’s words. While it is possible to create a beautiful picture using a text-to-image model, that picture will never have soul. You can’t really get exactly the kind of image you want, the kind of image you envision: you can only be satisfied with what the model gives you. As so, creating a proper manga using AI art is simply not possible.

The “AI revolution” in manga, forecast by some people on the internet, won’t happen anytime soon. It’s perfectly fine to be excited with the technical progress of humanity, but sometimes you have to accept that we are not there yet.

Source: goetheweb.jp