Just hit 10,000 AI-generated images in my art portfolio and it changed my mind about creativity

I started using an image generator back in March to make backgrounds for my digital paintings. Last week I crossed 10,000 images and it made me stop and think. At first I felt like a cheat using AI for art, but after looking through all those pictures I realized the machine didn't do the hard work. I spent hours picking the right prompts, tweaking colors, and compositing the best parts into something new. The AI is just a tool like a fancy brush or a better camera. What surprised me most was how my eye for composition improved after sifting through so many outputs. Has anyone else hit a big number like this and felt their perspective shift on what counts as real art?

3 comments

3 Comments

patricialee28d ago

Ten thousand images though, that's a lot of evidence pointing the other way. All that time spent picking prompts and compositing could have been spent actually learning to draw or paint from scratch, which builds real muscle memory and understanding. The machine doing the heavy lifting distracts from the fact that you're still mostly curating, not creating. If the tool is doing the bulk of the execution, calling it "just a fancy brush" feels like a stretch when a brush doesn't generate entire scenes for you. Maybe the shift in perspective is just getting comfortable with relying on the crutch.

the_anthony24d ago

Funny you mention that, I actually went through something similar a few years back with photography. Spent months shooting thousands of frames, trying to get the perfect shot, but looking back, the real growth came from sitting down and learning to actually edit the raw files. The clicking part was easy, the skill was in the post work and understanding light. Same thing here, those ten thousand outputs aren't wasted if you're using them to train your eye for what makes a strong image. The curation part is a skill too, just a different one than traditional drawing.

harper_foster28d ago

Hitting that many outputs really forces you to examine the process instead of the product. The real skill comes from recognizing what works and what doesn't after seeing so many results. Keep sharpening that eye for composition, it's what separates solid work from just another generated mess.