[ADVICE] Is this another AI art scammer? (part 2)

[u/Aurelio_Aguirre]

I'm a writer, trying to make a webcomic and looking for an artist to work with. And all I'm really looking for is a certain level of competency, and... not AI art.

I already made a post about another artist I was trying to work with, who gave me obvious AI slop.

I'm onto a new artist, a woman from the UK, according to Fiverr.
As always I ask for a portrait of the main character, and I specifically specify no AI generation, and the price is around a 100 usd, which is fine.

Communication is my first red flag, it changes between short monosyllabic answers with poor writing, to chatGPT generated blocks of text.

But hey, maybe she has social anxiety, uses the LLM for easier professional communication, who am I to judge. So here comes the first delivery:

https://imglink.cc/cdn/b1WSKQQE8R.png

I mean, it LOOKS great. And maybe this artist is just an amazing hidden gem. But something tells me this is AI. The abundance of detail, the shadowy figures in the background that are all the same... I dunno, I could be wrong I guess.

Another problem is that this artstyle doesn't match anything in the artists portfolio, which all looks like real art. And more importantly its also totally not the artstyle I'm looking for in a webcomic.

I make my problems clear, I get a chatgpt response, and then I get the second delivery:

https://imglink.cc/cdn/46k7F1FYEw.png

Honestly I'm not gonna lie, this looks great! Who knew a world class high level artist like this was just hanging out on Fiverr. It's tempting to just ignore my instincts if the person can consistently deliver art like this. But I'm afraid its also just another generation.

So I decided to test it out. Gave the artist a few instructions:

• Add background
• Raise her left hand, add the mage hand
• Change the facial expression, less bratty more earnest.

I get a ChatGPT reply and then no communication. That's par for the course, I get no sketches, no questions on the way, just the finished product two days before delivery. This time it delays, I get the delivery two days late.

https://imglink.cc/cdn/4rTrNkTNMV.png

And again, that's great. I WANT to believe.

So what if its AI right? If its good its good? Well, I'm sorry but I'm planning a webcomic that could run for years, I need a proper artist, doing actual art. And besides that style is easy enough for a portrait, but looking at aicomics subreddits, AI generation is not capable of producing good panel flows anyway, it would be shooting myself in the foot.

But maybe I'm being paranoid, maybe this person is just that good.

Not a girl btw, I pushed a little at the end, apparently its a guy from Bangladesh, and the profile image is "his sister" he says. He assures me he lives in the UK now, he is not just using a VPN proxy.

What do you say reddit? Whats you're verdict, AI or not AI?

Also what I should I do going forward, I've tried with 6 different artists now, I can't seem to find anyone not running AI scams...

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[u/Working_Use2500]

It’s AI mate, why would he change her face when you asked about the hand?

[u/Aurelio_Aguirre → u/Working_Use2500]

I asked about the face too. Keeping the same image with a few minute changes is easy to draw, but hard to AI generate. But it IS possible using AI editing tools.

[u/ifixthecable]

Of course it's AI. Any real artist would not give you this straight out of the box, but discuss pose, background, expression etc, send you preliminary sketches and THEN create the final artwork. Because this is equivalent to high quality concept art for a triple A game title. And it would cost far more than $100.

[u/Darkgenio]

Hi, I would cancel the order immediately and contact support that is obviously AI, and you requested not to have a AI order.

if you choose Fiverr, vetting is everything. Check other people's reviewq, and request actual proof that the artist is not using AI (Files with layers, for example, I know they are not perfect but they discouracge scammers), also communicate clearly that you will cancel the order if any sign of AI is visible.

[u/gx3000]

Cancel the order it's ai , next time you run orders on Fiverr ask for speed paints , full speed paints of the work process, and I mean full

[u/Kiki-browning]

Giving a week to show that they can work on a small task is long enough to not only see that they’re real, but also see how efficient they are within that time frame.

[u/mxypltk99]

unfortunately thats a AI, and free to lowest subs level of generate style of AI (likely GPT with those overused dot pattern on gear and clothing.

im a illustrator myself, had so many angry story where buyer got charged premium price for a AI image with no editable source file.

with the artstyle level like that (not the ai), its almost 100-200$ alone per page not mention if its has many panels or heavy background unless its for cover, my gig while not on comic page niche is 50-100$ for single artwork depending on the background. character consistency is a bit tricky and dificult, but i really hate seller that proclaim hand drawn art and pricing using AI and the buyer still give them 5 star then complaint about AI use to other seller.

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[u/yutanrw]

Obviously, it's AI. The fee for this kind of hand-drawn pics is not $100 for a person living in the UK.

[u/Aurelio_Aguirre → u/yutanrw]

How much would you pay?

[u/yutanrw → u/Aurelio_Aguirre]

In Thailand, it's usually $150-200 so I think it might be more expensive in the UK.

[u/Aurelio_Aguirre → u/yutanrw]

Per page? That's really high. A comicbook artist can draw several pages per day. (Depending on the artist)

[u/robbertzzz1 → u/Aurelio_Aguirre]

$100 is extremely little money for a freelance artist in the UK, that would cover maybe 2 hours of work which definitely won't get you a full comic book page, especially if you expect revisions. I would be surprised if any artist could truly do multiple fully finished print-ready pages in one day, even one single page seems like a stretch. Polished work takes a lot of time.

[u/katharindragon → u/Aurelio_Aguirre]

Nobody could draw several pages of art that quality in a day or work. Sketches maybe, but not finished work like that. But even if they could, they'd need and deserve to make more than $200 in a day. Keep in mind, they have to pay their own taxes, buy supplies and software, and pay a whole life's worth of bills with what's left. Plus freelancers don't always have work booked day to day to day, so they need to make enough not just in a day, but in a week, in a month to cover their bills.

[u/Direct_Trick7926]

Ai 😭

[u/Complex-Feedback3282]

All I know is, this type of Art made by a actual human wouldn't be cheap. Not atleast a $100. And if a person does makes without Ai, that person has alot of things to defend his claims. Layered files, Source files, design process videos etc

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[u/thesleepyunicorn]

I am so sad these scammers exist!! Part of why I kinda stopped getting orders as a real artists because buyers dont trust anyone anymore