Meanwhile #180
In which our author almost comes to a horrifying realisation about his vocation but gets distracted by some teeth.
Hello and here are the hyperlinks.
Interesting/infuriating (delete as applicable) interview with Indie Game Studios’ publisher Travis Worthington about the use of generative AI art. Respect to Polygon’s Charlie Hall for not accepting easy answers and questioning the multiple layers of legal/moral/economic complexity.
One detail that raises question marks for me: Wizards of the Coast have stated that artists are no longer allowed to use AI in the creation of work for Dungeons and Dragons products. I’ve heard this from publishers I work for too, and although it’s a commendable stance to take, where is the line? What computational processes are considered to be Bad AI? All creative software (or, if you’re using any imagery taken with a modern camera, firmware) uses it to some degree, even if it’s just a for a bit of colour-correction or cloud-tweaking. I just don’t see how any such policy could possibly be enforced.
The whole subject seems straightforward, but then the more you scrutinise it the more you realise there are no clear definitions, no hard edges, it’s all a big mess and oh god the machines have been making self-portraits this whole time.
Aardman’s Gavin Strange has designed characters for the University of Bristol’s new dental school and they are of course utterly adorable. Quite why a dental school needs characters is beyond me, but look at their little faces.
Another entirely joyful process video from Fourth Cone, this time conserving a 1971 Doors poster. Absolute sorcery – who knew saving old print involved so much wetness?
I completely missed the publication of John Pawson: Making Life Simpler earlier this year (thanks for the heads up AisleOne). A weird bit of trivia about Pawson’s particular brand of architectural minimalism that I find intriguing: there are now two horror films (You Should Have Left and The Feast) set entirely at his Welsh retreat, Life House. Although envisioned as “a place for calm and reflection”, on screen it appears to be anything but.
Designer Steve Leard has launched a new weekly book cover design podcast, Cover Meeting, with guests including David Pearson, Micaela Alcaino, Jamie Keenan, Suzanne Dean and Coralie Bickford-Smith.
Ooh hello desktop VSCO, how are you?
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