An Act of Resistance
Transcript:
Panel 1. Top view on the Gothic Sorceress room, she sits at her desk, sewing a square piece of fabric with focus. From the top of his perch, her AI Parrot bird watches with curiosity, intrigued by the focused effort required for the task.
AI Parrot: "Can I assist with optimizing your sewing technique?"
Gothic Sorceress: "No thanks."
Panel 2. Zooming in, the AI Parrot continue to suggest while the Gothic Sorceress still sewings with attention.
AI Parrot: "Would you like to review best practices for efficient and accurate crafting?"
Gothic Sorceress: "No."
Panel 3. The Gothic Sorceress contemplates her work, holding the small piece of fabric up to the light to inspect it. She looks happy, proud, and relieved after the effort of creating a simple square piece of thin fabric. The AI Parrot listens, processing the lesson.
Gothic Sorceress: "You see, in an age of Avian Intelligence, making something imperfectly, with your own hands and mind, is an act of resistance."
Panel 4. The Gothic Sorceress stands behind the AI Parrot, who now has a gag made from the square fabric. The AI Parrot looks surprised, unable to speak. The Gothic Sorceress appears proud of her handiwork.
Gothic Sorceress: "And even better if this act can also shut you up for good!"
1325 - 
1974
73 comments
davidrevoy
🎥 making-of/timelapse: https://www.peppercarrot.com/0_sources/miniFantasyTheater/making-of/034.mp4
#krita #timelapse
57 ★ntoyohito@comicscamp.club
AMEN!!!! Down with AVIAN DUMBNESS!!! :D
★otyugh@pouet.chapril.org
Next DIY session : how to make a hammer, a molotov cocktail, and explosives.
davidrevoy
@otyugh 😆 🤣 lol
★elly@donotsta.re
@otyugh You can learn that from a certain (cook)book. All you need for AI is a strong electromagnetic pulse :akko_giggle: ★
kura@hai.z0ne.social
@davidrevoy@framapiaf.org love that message.
★sadly this does not effectively work with avian intelligence in real life...
mkj@social.mkj.earth
Next up: a wing warmer. A *very snugly fit* wing warmer! 😆
#miniFantasyTheater
peejmaybe@toot.community
Utterly perfect!
★leah@chaos.social
nice message, reminds me of my slightly imperfect wood project I've done this week :) And is a good reminder if you think your work isn't good enough.
★gekitsu@toot.cat
@leah that is a constant struggle for me as well. the duality of valuing the visibly handmade (i.e. embracing the imperfection) and also valuing highly proficient craft (i.e. reaching the point where i can make it invisible, or even mimick something else).
they are so tough to balance.
★mattwilcox@mstdn.social
Shut not shuts? or remove "can" to retain "shuts" - but the message is 100% on point (and, beautiful art, as always)
davidrevoy
@mattwilcox oops, thank you for the feedback of the mistake/typo, 👍 I'll edit it:
(-) shuts
(+) shut
commit: https://framagit.org/peppercarrot/webcomics/-/commit/72fc5c65418488bed6f614931bed753bafce6f2a , I'll update the post on Fediverse now.
4 ★Stem
It's pretty ironic since this actual strip (and all your work for that matter) you did with your own hand and mind is actually perfect.
3 ★davidrevoy
@Stem 😊 Thank you Stemy!
kate@mk.absturztau.be
@davidrevoy@framapiaf.org ...girl is my portrait copy! :neocat_approve::neocat_cool:
★Lisseuse@fnordon.de
Oh wow, this is so good. I want this as sticker.
★zombiecide@polyglot.city
❤️ for the strip, and ❤️ for also being someone who changes their mind about the phrasing mid-sentence
davidrevoy
@zombiecide Haha,thank you. Yes, I'm rewriting too much and it is visible. I'll edit to fix the shuts→shut ( fixed in commit: https://framagit.org/peppercarrot/webcomics/-/commit/72fc5c65418488bed6f614931bed753bafce6f2a )
2 ★zombiecide@polyglot.city
<3
I'm absolutely the same, and if I see other people doing it it's an instant +10% likability bonus for me (maybe even more, now in the age of avian untigellience)
★davidrevoy
@zombiecide
★bloodywing@mastodon.art
But David, stop calling it slop, it has feelings :D
★cthos@mastodon.cthos.dev
The version with the typo in it was also good because it was making something imperfectly (I thought you did it on purpose).
Anyway thank you for this series, it's so good.
davidrevoy
@cthos Thank you for having the charity to think that even my mistakes are done on purpose for the good of the comic; but I'm actually less intelligent than that. Just the irony, and a proof I should probably use a DeepL thing to proofread my speechbubble, but because there is AI in everything, I tend to skip it. 😆
12 ★Thank you also about this new mini series!
doctormo@floss.social
There's no AI in Inkscape 😉
(actually don't know if you're using Inkscape to typeset these weeklies)
2 ★davidrevoy
@doctormo Sure! :inkscape:
doctormo@floss.social
OK, I'll come clean, Inkscape *does* have support for AI¹ 😜
¹ Adobe Illustrator files
15 ★vektorgarten@mastodon.social
@doctormo Inkscape might be able to open AI files, but that is limited to those AI files that have a PDF embedded into them (= are saved with "PDF compatibility"). What Inkscape then actually opens is not the AI file.
2 ★TerryHancock@realsocial.life
@doctormo
Oh, does Inkscape fully support importing AI files now? I haven't needed to do that in a long time.
But circa 2012 when I did, I had to do some hacking to get the drawing layers to translate into Inkscape's conventions.
Not sure I have any AI files around to test with now. I accepted submitted art in AI, but converted to SVG for check-in. But I don't actually own a copy of Illustrator.
cthos@mastodon.cthos.dev
Oh I feel you, I disabled spellcheck on my phone because it's gotten *worse* since everyone started shoving LLMs into everything.
★(But also I think you're being modest. Avian Intelligence and the Amphora of Great Intelligence are very very good critique of the current trend.)
mirabilos@toot.mirbsd.org
@cthos you should not use such, yes. Humans will gladly do it ;)
antopatriarca@mathstodon.xyz
I have mixed reactions to the message. I agree that doing something by ourselves is an act of resistance, but I feel that doing things imperfectly is completely on brand with the current AI slop. Quality, accuracy, precision, ... do not seem to have any role in the AI world the tech bros are trying to create.
★davidrevoy
@antopatriarca Don't mix imperfect with bad; many creators are just preventing themselves to share their creation because a subjective feeling of having to make things perfect. They can be tempted by using the plagiarism machine for escaping this feeling or , on another hand, go reverse and embrace a philosophy like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi , that's what my message convey here, as well as enjoying the process and the benefits of seing in the self-reflection of our efforts something to be proud.
2 ★antopatriarca@mathstodon.xyz
As a software engineer, the main message I receive in this world is to make things fast, sacrificing on quality, ethics and everything we have learned. So your message somehow triggered my hatred for all the vibe-coding messages I see around me. I understand the art world is different, and I do actually enjoy making my own private, very imperfect art. This is why I had mixed feelings; it triggered something deep in me, even if I understood and agreed with your message with my head. I suppose I never realised I am starting to have almost PTSD from all of this.
★davidrevoy
@antopatriarca I totally understand your reaction toward AI slop, vibe coding, and all this mediocre content. True, my usage of "making something imperfectly" can unfortunately be mistaken for that.
I'm also tired about this, about the rules like 'find the 20% that does the 80%' , the pressure of the late stage capitalism in all area to rush and produce low quality for the highest price.
It's hard in all of this to make a room for the 'imperfect but authentic' art form or craft.
gjos007@mastodon.social
This hit home.
★poleguy@mastodon.social
Your lighting, shadows and details on the cloth square in the lower left panel jumped out at me: beautiful!
★SeasonsChange@retro.pizza
@poleguy I was going to post the same thing. The shading and detail on the fabric is so satisfying. It really has a weight to it. Also, love her facial expressions in this strip especially the bottom left panel. Well done!
davidrevoy
@poleguy Thank you for noticing the subtle transparency of the fabric. 😊
poleguy@mastodon.social
You gave me too much credit. Now I see it. Wow. I was actually impressed right off the bat by the lighting and shading of the folds. Now I'm doubly impressed. (The other panels are also great, but wow!)
poleguy@mastodon.social
My mother, who is now 87 taught me how hard it was to draw fabric and showed me the basics of how to do it.
Seeing your work wants me to go back and do my life over and lean in to the drawing side harder. What an inspiration!
(Not really, of course: I could/might still lean in to that whenever I want to: no regrets.... I love where I landed.)
Keep it up!
emmetoneill@mas.to
Where's the love button?
There must be a love button somewhere around here!
★davidrevoy
@emmetoneill
Thank you Emmet!
★Greuppe@akko.chir.rs
i hate my brain sometimes
i look at this picture and the first thing that come up in my brain is "kinky"
PixelPodium@mastodon.art
@Greuppe It is so incredibly kinky to resist LLMs and GenAI, and bully the companies pushing them.
★davidrevoy
@Greuppe 🤣 🤣
( At the same time, I can understand the feeling if one imagine being playfully gagged by a gothic woman. :bloblurk: )
7 ★light@noc.social
"In an age of computers, making something imperfectly, with a brush and easel, is an act of resistance".
Stem
@light You have a point, we should not forget that being criticized then becoming normalized is what happens to technology since ages.
davidrevoy
@light That's why in my speech-bubble the "With your own [...] mind" part is important.
If AI was just a "tooling" upgrade as your metaphor suggest about comparing it with a tech upgrade like computers did ~ 50 years ago, I would have no problem with it ... mostly (OK, still have problem with the energy part, the massive rip of online content for the dataset too, and their control/dev by the largest worst companies in world.)
@Stem
3 ★le_proviseur
Ma_gni_fique !
2 ★nyxallocer@woof.group
Truly Not, the Thing With The Feathers.
DrJLecter@beige.party
yesssss
★f4grx@chaos.social
menfin, mais écrabouille le tout entier directement ce faux piaf a la fin!
★davidrevoy
@f4grx 😆
NeroBurner@fedi.at
I LOVE the Avian Intelligence series 😍
2 ★davidrevoy
@NeroBurner Thank you
★voxel@infosec.space
First small goal to wipe out the Avian Intelligence industry :)
adipoeserPursch@troet.cafe
@Bberkholz 💪🏾👍🏾😁
crimsonfall@mas.to
This is why I sometimes consider just making art traditionally. AI still can’t do that (not yet anyway) and no one can accuse you of being slop artist (tho im sure some one will still say otherwise) :blush_marisa:
mo@mastodon.ml
i feel that revenge. After all these episodes of repeatedly listening Avian Intelligence.... :blobcatfireeyes:
mirabilos@toot.mirbsd.org
Yesss!
textbooks@mastodon.social
Glad this is not AI
stuartl@longlandclan.id.au
… at least until the cyberparrot figures out it can use its beak to chew through the fabric.
★phillycodehound@indieweb.social
This is great!
★ELS@sfba.social
An even better solution is a bag with which to cover the bird’s head. Everyone knows that birds go to sleep when it gets dark, even if the dark is artificial.
davidrevoy
@ELS TIL here! Seriously, I had no idea it was a thing. Visually, if I painted that, it would look like a harder torture or kidnapping technique, imo. 😆 But thank you for the feedback!
2 ★ELS@sfba.social
In any case, I love the artwork!
elaterite@mastoart.social
Great comic!
faoluin@chitter.xyz
🖼️ 7dc86bb4d0608b02.png
rikard@topspicy.social
I love her dress!
keydelk@fosstodon.org
Love this!!!
muellermeier@bark.lgbt
proof that Avian Intelligence is better than Artificial Intelligence because you can actually shut it up like that.
★Stem
C'est marrant, l'intelligence aviaire est le seul arc du mini fantasy theater à avoir plus de deux épisodes. Apparemment, le sujet est très inspirant.
★davidrevoy
@Stem En fait, j'ai quelques 'tags' à présent sur le site pour trier tout ça, mais c'est sur que l’Intelligence Aviaire c'est de loin la plus longue série. https://www.peppercarrot.com/en/webcomics/miniFantasyTheater__Avian-Intelligence.html
Je continue car il y a un effet très intéressé personnel: "tant que je gagne, je joue". C'est difficile à écrire, mais le thème intéresse. Alors je continue. Et pour une fois, mes messages et mon activisme est bien plus relayé que mes blog post, même sur les plateformes proprio (eg. screenshot Insta ci dessous). 😺
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