cluedog

Sorry if communications has been light. My dad suffered a stroke and I have been spending time at the hospital to help him. This has sent work to a screeching halt but it's my hope to start up again soon. It's been tough on the family and it's our greatest hope he recovers.

I just want to say to everybody I am deeply grateful for the support you have given me with your comments, commissions, likes, messages, and retweets. The fact of the matter is artists, from the heights of Taylor Swift down to cartoonists like me, are nothing without you. I am going to admit something that most professionals with similar problems will not and that is that almost everyday I struggle with mental illness. I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, a heightened scientific term for what is essentially a worry wart. Everyone struggles with doubts and fear but mine is so visceral and fierce that it literally keeps me awake at night. It's been particularly difficult the past few months and I get about only 3 to 5 hours of sleep at night. I wake up in the morning with feelings of pure terror. I look in awe at so many other artists and professionals who maintain poise and calm but I am not ashamed to say that, more often than not, I am scared out of my mind. My

Having considered the body of comments and much thought on the subject of AI, here are my final thoughts on the subject. It will remain a continuous source of concern and worry for artists such as myself and will, in the end, hurt the bottom line. I know a couple of cases on here where users have turned to AI where once they were a source of commissions and I fear this may magnify over time. Unfortunately, there is little that can be done about that, I am afraid. Nonetheless, as many have noted, AI has been fairly unregulated and unfettered at this point and pending lawsuits against Deviantart and Midjourney may affect how these sites will allow the proliferation of AI-generated content. Some AI services may place more restrictions or charges on the usage of their programs. Some sites like Pixiv have even taken the steps of preventing AI-generated art from being used for profit, although Deviantart has yet to take such a step, if it ever will. Lastly, AI art, while often