I’m going to try and update this on Sundays with my recent finished pieces, any progress I’ve made on larger projects and whatever random thoughts I have from the week. If you’re interested in more frequent updates as I draw you can follow me on Cara https://cara.app/fredtheclifford
9/8
Haven’t really done much drawing since the Carrbridge Packhorse Bridge. Did go to Chicago and visited friends which was fun. My friend 3d printed a really nice custom pen organizer for my drawing desk which turned out perfect. Did some observational drawings below and took some photos that I may turn into full renders.
8/17
I have worked 19 of the last 21 days. I am very tired. However I have been able to get some drawings done. Did a drawing of Dame Aylin from Baldur’s Gate 3, a Highland coo and did a rendering of the Carrbridge Packhorse Bridge from our trip to Scotland.
This past week a user on Reddit boasted about scraping everyone’s art from Cara to use for AI training. Cara is anti-AI but of course the individual saw this as something to gloat about after scraping the data. They ultimately deleted the data but it’s still frustarting cause they did it with the knowledge that Cara and its users are anti-AI. Here is the text from a post I made on Cara of the Carrbridge Packhorse Bridge discussing why I dislike AI.
“I think one of the things that upsets me most about AI in its current iteration is its absolute disregard and contempt for humanity, especially when it’s used to generate images, words, music or whatever. Could a computer program generate something like this faster and probably “better” than me? Sure. But when I look at this I remember the trip with my wife and mother-in-law (two of my favorite people). I remember the remarkably warm and dry weather we had (the locals were a little creeped out by how we got no rain the whole time). I will remember the time I spent drawing it a few minutes at a time when I had free time at work and I will remember the patients that I took care of.
I will also think of all the humans that went into making this scene. The humans who built it the bridge, the humans that used it, the humans who have lived in those houses (granted I don’t know them but that doesn’t matter), and the innumerable humans that have also looked at that bridge and taken a picture of it. It’s an OLD bridge, it was originally built in 1717. How many people fell in love sitting next to that bridge? How many children were raised under the shadow of those trees? How many hearts ached for their loved ones while watching the river flow by? How many people mourned those they loved when their bodies crossed that bridge to reach the local church (it’s known as Coffin Bridge because it was built so funeral processions could cross the river)? I don’t know them but we have all loved, and lost, and ached and cried and felt joy and anger. This is what I think of when I look at not just my art but everyone else’s art on here and in the real world.
A computer program has not, can not and will never feel these things.
I started posting on Cara almost a year ago because I wanted a place to share my art and I hated that Instagram and Meta was all in on AI. I know that everything I post anywhere is at risk of being stolen and used because that is the current reality of the Internet but I appreciate Cara’s stance on AI. I appreciate how overwhelmingly positive every one on this platform seems to be. We are strangers but we are friends in art. If you can I hope you can buy them a coffee or contact your local lawmaker to encourage them to stand against the propagation of AI. And if you don’t have the money or energy than please simply take care of yourself. Cause humans can be pretty great. Please keep posting if you can because I love getting a glimpse of the world through your eyes when you share your art. I truly hope that we as a species can reach a point where the use of technology is closer to that seen in Star Trek and less like that seen in Terminator.”
8/10
Back to work after only 3 days off. Agreed to cover a co-worker’s vacation so now I’m on an 11 night stretch. Drew another view of the large turtle my dad saw at work, drew a puppy and a cat from the internet and drew some more fan art of Dark Souls 2.
8/2
Another week of work come and gone. Some people got better, some people got worse. I started a new Bloodborne playthrough and started working on a Bloodborne drawing project. We’ll see how long I keep it up. Using two of the pieces I originally made for Cagliostro Forever, I applied for a show called Occultus. We’ll see what happens. I had wanted to create a new piece (you can see some of my early thoughts/sketches below on previous updates) but just couldn’t really focus enough to start it. Drew a big red dog for an avatar when watching Twitch and added some animal drawings to the Real Life page.
7/26
It’s been a good week at home with lots of time with family and pets. Dharma dog with her selective hearing and Poe with his lazy Sunday mood. Renewed my ACLS card for the 10th time (20 years) and my CPR card for the 11th time (22 years). Did a drawing of Edinburgh castle at sunset which turned out pretty nice.
7/19
It’s been a very long 10 nights at work but tonight is the last night of my stretch. Work has been fine as ever. I was able to finish quite a few pieces including a maroon shining parrot, a Chimango caracara on a capybara, a snapping turtle that my dad ran into at work, and a Hemiphaga novaeseelandie. I got a copy of Andrew Loomis’s Drawing the Head and Hands and Figure Drawing for all it’s Worth and did some heads including Phyllis Diller (she was a Wikipedia photo of the day and the timing seemed perfect).
7/10
Been doing more drawing which is good for the hands and the brain. Below are the random scribbles I did on my last work week, including Caberfae ski resort from a photo, fleshing out an idea for a larger piece and wanting to work on figure drawing.
Had a brief week off (really four days) cause I’m covering for a co-worker but here are some drawings from observation from the time off and getting to spend time with my nephew which was a lot of fun. Went to a baseball game, saw an exhibit about dragons, and got to see Dharma puppy. It was raining so we couldn’t take her for a walk.
7/4
Been in a bit of funk lately with drawing. Just been having a hard time focusing but lately it’s been a bit better. Finished reading some books and actually drew some stuff. Sir Alonne is in the fan art and a drawing from Manhattan is in travels. Took lots of photos that I’m planning to turn into drawings. We’ll see what happens.
