This upcoming year (2026) I will be dedicating time to update my professional portfolio. My regular art posts will likely be slower but a higher quality. Thank you for your patience. ♥
The injury to my drawing arm (Tendonitis) is healed but I've lost a lot of strength. So I'm working out the tendons / muscles and limiting my drawing time to 2-3 hrs a day.
I would appreciate if anyone in the illustration industry (fantasy) would be willing to provide feedback on my portfolio in the future. Also, I'm looking for recommendations for online portfolio reviews (illustration) as I cannot attend many in person events like LBX.
A collection of AI related stories I find interesting as an artist. Updated: Oct 9. 2025

DC Comics won’t support generative AI: ‘not now, not ever’
People have an instinctive reaction to what feels authentic. We recoil from what feels fake. That’s why human creativity matters. AI doesn’t dream. It doesn’t feel. It doesn’t make art. It aggregates it. - Jim Lee
The GenAI Divide. State of AI in Business 2025
ChatGPT's very limitations reveal the core issue behind the GenAI Divide: it
forgets context, doesn't learn, and can't evolve. For mission-critical work, 90% of users
prefer humans. The gap is structural, GenAI lacks memory and adaptability.
“First of its kind” AI settlement: Anthropic to pay authors $1.5 billion
Authors revealed today that Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion and destroy all copies of the books the AI company pirated to train its artificial intelligence models.
Disney, Universal sue image creator Midjourney for copyright infringement
Universal filed a copyright lawsuit against Midjourney on Wednesday, calling its popular AI-powered image generator a "bottomless pit of plagiarism" for its use of the studios' best-known characters.
Procreate - "AI is not our future."
Generative AI is ripping the humanity out of things. Built on a foundation of theft, the technology is steering us toward a barren future. We think machine learning is a compelling technology with a lot of merit, but the path generative AI is on is wrong for us.
Artists Score Major Win in Copyright Case Against AI Art Generators
U.S. District Judge William Orrick on Monday advanced all copyright infringement and trademark claims in a pivotal win for artists. He found that Stable Diffusion, Stability’s AI tool that can create hyperrealistic images in response to a prompt of just a few words, may have been “built to a significant extent on copyrighted works” and created with the intent to “facilitate” infringement. The order could entangle in the litigation any AI company that incorporated the model into its products.
The rise of Cara: the anti-AI social media platform for artists
“Times have changed since we started all these lawsuits. There was a perception from the public that no one cares and it’s just a few loud activists. But now, here are one million people who care about this. It’s strength in numbers. It validates how people feel.”
Kobold Press Issues the No AI Pledge
Both as the Kobold Press CEO and as a game designer, I’m pleased to say that Kobold Press’s policy on AI is simple and direct: We don’t use generative AI art, we don’t use AI to generate text for our game design, and we don’t believe that AI is magical pixie dust that makes your tabletop games better.
I’m a Luddite (and So Can You!)
He wanted people to take pleasure in their work rather than "mere toiling to live, that we may live to toil.
For the sake of transparency, here is my general stance on gen AI:
- I believe creators should own their art (images), writing (text), video and data.
- I do not believe AI datasets are entitled to use data sourced from copyrighted images / text without permission.
- I do not think AI generated images should fall under 'Fair Use'.
- I do not use AI / ML in any part of my art /or design process.
I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes. - Joanna Maciejewska
Image Credits: NO AI Design Project
Public service announcement for artists.
💡 Good Idea
- Stretching before drawing
- Taking regular short breaks
💀 Bad Idea
- Overusing your muscles / tendons
- Working too long due to a time sensitive art event
Disclaimer: The content provided is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. I am not a medical professional.
I'll be at Art Fight 2025 (Team Crystal)
https://artfight.net/~LillenArt
This will be the best time to receive gift art from me. 🤍
Looking for:
✓ Humanoids
✓ Femme OCs
✓ Fantasy / Horror / Dark
✓ Game OCs: D&D, BG3, FF14, WOW

Low Key
- Darker values than the standard range
- Values are compressed: dark (black) to mid tone
- Lightest lights are only in the mid tone range
- Color: Richer colors, a lot of browns
- Atmosphere: Moody, mystery, drama, subdued
- Darkly lit scenes w/ low contrast, still life
- Examples: Dutch / Flemish Painters
High Key
- Lighter values than the standard range
- Values are compressed: mid tone to light (white)
- Darkest darks are only in the mid tone range
- Colors: Appears more vibrant / colorful
- Atmosphere: spring, happy, airy, bright, soft, calm
- Relies more on color than value
- Great for landscapes / environment scenes
- Examples: Claude Monet / Impressionists
Sources:
-
Schoolism, Digital Painting Workout, L4-5, by Wouter Tulp (Paid Course)
https://schoolism.com/s/sub/course/lessons/16/580 -
Watercolor Affair, Examples of Value in Art, by Anthony Roebuck
https://www.watercoloraffair.com/examples-of-value-in-art/?tva_skin_id=32 -
Draw Paint Academy, How to Paint in a High Key, by Dan Scott
https://drawpaintacademy.com/high-key-paintings -
High Key vs. Low Key by Shawn Dell Joyce
https://www.shawndelljoyce.com/post/high-key-vs-low-key