Longibates concertina

I feel like I need to scream a little bit.
About AI. About Art. About making things.
So. How can I put this down?

A year ago I heard a weird metallic sound while I was working. I Had no idea what it could have been but was cool enough to make me imagine it coming from a tiny creature, so I quickly sketched a sort of frog. Obviously that sketch joined the abandoned graveyard of sketches for a while, until months later thanks to a güiro toy that sketch became a 3D sculpt, a skeleton, a rig, and eventually a physical object that I needed to paint as I wanted it to feel alive, like the sound that first made me curious.

As soon as I had it in my hands, I realised what my subconscious had been trying to tell me for the entire time: working on this personal project has in many ways been a summary of what I have been thinking about AI and ART over the past few months.

I spent quite some time experimenting with AI, got almost lost in it, because I wanted to understand what it could actually bring to the process, rather than simply dismissing it. I tried to find a place for it in my workflow, studied what I was supposed to get out of it, and investigated the environmental costs as well - which made me even more upset and mad.

Eventually, I realised that, for me, it doesn't add anything of real value to the type of art and design I want to make. Not because it can't generate an image. Of course it can. But there is a massive difference between generating and creating.

We are at risk of losing our craftsmanship, our ability to think creatively and solve problems. The skills, the experimentation, the ridiculous amount of ideas that get lost, and sometimes the ones that become something good by accident. But most important: the process, and the importance of making mistakes.

In my mind, a single Longibates is quite of a shy creature. It breathes, taking its time to compose a melody, buit its not very loud. But when they raise their necks and start singing together, their voices become loud enough to scare away predators. And I think there is something in that. It feels like I want some help screaming that there is something wrong happening here.

This little one took months. It started with a strange metallic sound, became a sketch, disappeared into a sketchbook, came back because of a wooden toy, turned into a 3D sculpt, then a physical object, and eventually a painted miniature.

None of these steps were necessary on a conscious level, but you get the picture only at the end of the process, I gues. Thats exactly why I enjoyed doing it. It took a hell of a time, but at the same time I have learned so much.

Thank you if you made it to the end.

Hope to hear your concertina song and your thoughts soon.

Thank you Damiano, for being brilliant and helping out with the scientific naming, biomechanics, and miniature painting! And thank you Reeve for coming over and creating such an amazing photoshoot! -Silvia