[Essay] The Heart Wanders at '270 Degrees'. From Analog to AI, and Toward Coexistence.

-----Is AI an enemy or an ally?

My heart has rotated a full '270 degrees'—from bewilderment to fascination, and finally to coexistence.

Choosing an art junior college with the sole desire to 'compete through practical skills'

I graduated from the design department of an art junior college.

The biggest reason I chose an art junior college was simply that I did not want to study 'academic subjects'.

It wasn't so much that I hated studying itself, but as someone going to an art school, I simply could not accept being evaluated on anything other than art at the time.

My sharp, youthful sensibilities led me to extreme thinking, questioning, 'Isn't it contradictory to be evaluated on anything other than practical skills?'

Looking back now, it is a logic that could truly be called 'youthful folly,' but I was serious at the time.

And so, I desperately searched for a junior college that had no academic entrance exams and where admission was decided solely by a practical skills test.

Even among art universities and junior colleges, schools with academic entrance exams were the mainstream at the time.

In that environment, having a place where I could compete solely on my own skills was the greatest salvation for me.

The practical skills test for the design department consisted of sketching in the morning, followed by a lunch break, and then a flat composition task in the afternoon.

For this day, I had been attending an atelier that taught sketching and flat composition since the middle of my second year of high school, and I even spent my summer vacation attending a summer course specialized for art university entrance exams.

It is the same feeling as other students attending cram schools, isn't it?

Flat composition is the process of sketching on Kent paper with a pencil and then applying colors with poster paint.

The theme for the practical skills test was 'Winter Olympics'.

I faced the Kent paper, developed a composition within the limited time, and applied the colors.

The evaluation criteria are not simply about whether the 'drawing is good'.

・Whether the unique unevenness of poster color is suppressed and it is painted beautifully and evenly (technical skill)

・Whether the given theme is accurately interpreted and visually expressed (comprehension)

・Whether a unique sensibility that differentiates one from others is incorporated while maintaining color harmony (originality)

Judging is conducted from these multifaceted perspectives.

For me, having neglected my academic subjects, this practical exam was my one and only greatest opportunity.

As a result, taking on the challenge head-on in my area of expertise paid off, and I was able to successfully pass.

The gritty, heavy analog era

My student life was fun, but it was also a series of hardships.

I always carried drawing pencils ranging from 12B to 10H, and I sharpened the leads myself rather than using a pencil sharpener, exposing the lead to my preferred length.
The lead part was usually about 2 centimeters long, or maybe a little longer. Everyone had their own preferred length.

I always carried a large canvas or panel around. (A0 or B1 size, about 1 meter)

I would carry it over my shoulder, along with a toolbox containing acrylic gouache and all colors of poster paint. I also always had about 20 brushes. It was quite heavy, as it also contained small plates used as palettes, brush washers, kneaded erasers, and regular erasers.

It would have been fine to leave them at school, but I had to carry them around because I had to work on assignments at home as well.

On oil painting days, I had to carry an oil painting set, and I had to be careful not to inconvenience other passengers on trains and buses.

Every day, there were practical and academic subject hours, and in addition, time was set aside for creative activities.

In academic subjects, there were classes on art history, languages, myology and osteology (artistic anatomy for drawing figures), as well as psychology and economics.

I had specifically chosen a school without academic entrance exams because I didn't want to study academic subjects when I was applying, so it didn't sit well with me that I ended up having to study them to earn credits...

I am surprised to find that the classes I took so casually back then have unexpectedly taken deep root in who I am today.

I am realizing now, more than ever, just how important studying while you are young really is.

Resistance to AI and the pride in 'time spent struggling'

For someone like me who spent their time in an era that was a 'lump of analog,' the current situation is truly something from another dimension.

I never imagined back then that a day would come when AI would draw illustrations.

First, as a major premise, I want to convey that I am by no means an AI anti.

I love anything wonderful, whether it is an AI-generated work or a hand-drawn one.

Either way, I respect those who enjoy creating. I love works that are filled with various thoughts and feelings.

However, it is a fact that a strong sense of rejection toward AI is spreading among those who love hand-drawn illustrations and paintings, and I can understand that feeling a little.

It might be a feeling close to the vague anxiety felt by production workers who feared that their 'jobs would be taken away' when machines like sewing machines became widespread during the Industrial Revolution.


I, too, once understood with my head that it was a 'groundbreaking thing that makes the world more convenient,' but my heart was putting on the brakes somewhere.

That might be because I had a sense of pride in the time I spent at the studios and prep schools I attended for entrance exams, the commute I made carrying heavy bags, and the inconvenience of having to start over from scratch if I made a mistake while getting my hands and clothes dirty with paint.

Because I cherished the 'time spent struggling' that I had invested, there was a part of me that intentionally kept AI at a distance.

Turning point: Encountering Gemini, and the heart begins to move '90 degrees'

I have been selling illustrations as a side job for several years, but I create those works without using AI.

Now that I have developed multiple chemical sensitivity, I can no longer draw by hand the pictures I used to draw every day because of the fragrance transfer to paints, paper, and canvases.

Since I can no longer use a computer at home, I draw freely using an app called 'ibisPaint' on my smartphone.

For birthday cards for friends and family, New Year's cards, and for Mother's Day and Father's Day, I draw illustrations with ibisPaint without using AI.

I do this because I know it makes them happier, and I cannot forget how disappointed they were the one time I used AI to draw something.

AI has an 'AI-ness' to it, and that is likely because it is still easy to tell at a glance that it is AI.

Also, I think a major reason is that I myself have not mastered AI like the artists who use it.

However, when I started note, I realized that I couldn't keep up with the work from thumbnails to illustrations without using AI, so I lifted the ban on image generation with Gemini.

And then, what do you know?

I was surprised by the recent progress in AI technology.

As someone who didn't even know the word 'prompt' until a few months ago, seeing illustrations created with just a single word,

my way of thinking first tilted by '90 degrees'.

And to my partner: my perception changed by '180 degrees'.

...How wonderful.

I became increasingly absorbed in AI, which would do anything for me through prompts.

I also enjoyed prompt battles with Gemini.

'Do it like this, do this, do that,

No!! Do it like this here,

...I'm telling you! Do it like this over here...,

Yes, yes! That's it! See, you can do it when you try.'

How much time have I melted away on this task?

Far from having my job stolen, it only makes things more efficient.

Where did all my old struggles go?

I became completely hooked on generative AI prompt battles.

Furthermore, after encountering the wonderful works of artists who utilize AI and witnessing them enjoying their creative activities to the fullest from the bottom of their hearts,

Before I knew it, my perception of generative AI had changed '180 degrees.'

I realized, 'AI is not an enemy, but a partner that expands my expression.'

'270-degree' coexistence: AI+1

Eventually, once I had built up a sort of personal base for my prompts,

I started to find even the back-and-forth with AI to be a bit of a hassle.

I thought, why not have it create part of it, and then I can draw (or make) the rest myself?

The reverse is also true; I started to think, why not draw part of it myself and then ask AI to handle the finishing touches?

Fortunately, I had skills in image editing.

Not only did I learn them at junior college,

but after graduating, I also attended a computer school for six months so that I could master Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for work.

I honed my skills at design firms and in editorial work,

and I continued to draw illustrations as a hobby, selling them on the internet and as NFTs, offering them as stock images, and creating flyers and leaflets at the request of acquaintances.

I decided to combine those skills with AI and research ways to coexist with it.

And what resulted was my paid article, 'AI+1.'

Honestly, it contains all the techniques I need right now.

I am certain that it will be a useful article for those who think the same way.

As I reread my own article over and over, a certain conviction began to sprout.

That what I truly wanted to do was not to compete with AI, but to create 'something even better' together with it.

With this realization, my thinking had gone beyond 180 degrees to reach '270 degrees.'

Expressing myself while swaying

Instead of leaving everything to AI, I add my own touch to what AI creates to make something even better.

That was the moment when the version of me that used to messily apply paint in an atelier finally shook hands with the version of me that finds the latest technology fascinating.

Encountering the overwhelming expressive power of AI, I am impressed and think, 'It really is amazing,'

and upon touching the warmth of hand-drawing, I rethink, 'I really do love this too.'

In this way, while swaying back and forth, I am now in an exquisite position of '270 degrees' rather than swinging completely to one side or the other.

Knowing the merits of both, this position feels truly like me, and I even feel a little proud of it.

I intend to continue exploring my own way of expression while acknowledging the merits of both AI and hand-drawing.

By the way, the thumbnail image for this post was created by having AI draw the base and then combining it with a hand-drawn illustration I plan to use in my next work.

The overwhelming speed of AI and the dedication of drawing with my own hands.

It is a work that embodies '270-degree coexistence,' fusing both of those elements.

Having actually moved my hands and gained a powerful partner in AI, I am once again realizing the comfort of how the range of expression expands surprisingly smoothly.

Even if the tools change, the joy of creating remains the same.

Thank you for reading until the end.