Thank you so much for watching! I am glad the vids have been helpful!

Man... I needed that, lol. I am getting beat up a bit here today and stuff like this really helps. Thank you for being here and making the day a bit brighter. I appreciate you.

That sounds so COOL!

Happy new year!

They say "Leveling Up"😁

Level Up You, in Morse code, from left hand pinky to right hand pinky (writers point of view)

We actually have a whole video on the different ways to transfer images onto leather, with that being one of the ways we tried!

That WOULD make a cool book cover, wouldn't it?

Ya know, I bet you COULD! great idea!!!!

Hmmm. What kinda tools? If you like fantasy, bracers are super easy! You can start with little coasters too. They give you a chance to practice with very little material

Yes.

Maybe make a bookmark. simple a small so low "risk" for first project and you can try all kinds of different techniques. Have fun with it!

I appreciate you!!!!

@@SkillTree feelings mutual Cl3ver

They say "Leveling Up"😁

@@SkillTree that’s sick! I was struggling to try to read it from memory

@@SkillTree “Level Up You” could also fit 😏

Then I owe you my deepest gratitude!!!! Thank you!

What would you use to paint the leather? For instance, if you wanted the dragon green with the same red and black you have. Then adding more layers of paint onto the green dragon. Would all of that be dye or would it be actual paint? If paint what do you suggest to paint leather? @SkillTree

This is an odd ossue to me, especially when nobody asks for any kind of clarification. First, the art in question was not the point of the video, nor am I profiting from it. The reverse search, firstly, was to look for anything close as I know AI can sometimes take wholesale and I didn't even want the layout to be similar. Then, the base image was taken to photoshop where it was completely warped and altered by me to make it look like a line drawing, as the original was full color and looked like it was on leather. Then I traced out only bits that I want, Then I moved the medium to leather where the art was further changes and my style further added. All of which is moot because I sell nothing AI generated. I didn't cover any of the iterative process as, again, this was not what the video was about. Kind of a forest through the trees issue I am seeing.

​@@SkillTree I understand what you're saying. I would like to clarify on my end that I'm not trying to say you're a bad person or a thief just because you used AI at all. I don't think you are. I respect you as a craftsman and as a content creator. And I also understand that you're just using this as one tool of many to make something for yourself. And it's certainly much better that you're not trying to sell this or deceive anyone, as a lot of AI users end up doing. The issue with AI itself is more than just those blatantly bad things though. The reason I brought it up, and what I assume caused the higher dislike ratio on this video compared to others on your channel, is that even with understandable uses of AI it still supports the companies that made the systems in the first place. And it rubs many people the wrong way when they see a big company like OpenAI steal the life's work of thousands, get away with it, then people that they like go and support that either through paid access to the AI or even just engaging with it, which is exactly what these companies want, it helps them be legitimized so they can push it even further. Again, I get it, I'm not trying to say you're the bad guy here or that AI being legitimized is on your shoulders. I'll continue to support you going forward. This is just something I feel very passionate about as an artist and after seeing it way too many times, I end up saying critical things of it where it ends up.

Thank you. I appreciate your salient argument and understand your point. There are companies I disagree with, ethically, so I boycott in much the same way. I will keep this in mind in future😁

Thank you!!!!!!

Lol! I will take a "not bad" from an experienced pro! I have a long way to go so I am happy for any tips and tricks! Thank you so much for watching!

sorry..if i didnt comment, you could have both =( now i feel sad

Inching your way up!

From what I understand, that is a good way to make sure you aren't stealing original works. By reverse image searching and including images that are even similar, you can see if there are any works that it cribs off of existing pieces. Then, a step further is the fact that I further alter it with my project, omitting large swathes of detail and adding my own style to the mix. Finally, it isn't sold by me as a product. I usually have a weekend to create and film each project and this is a fast turnaround time getting me in the ballpark of what I need without taking too long. Now, were this something I was selling to the public, let's say as a template or some such, then I would either take the time and make it myself or pay another artist to do so.

​@SkillTree fair enough, but take care anyways; In my experience, reverse searching never worked too well with black and white pictures;

Noted! But, I also took some time and photoshoped. It was full color and in a different perspective at first. I made it more front facing with the skew tool, then desaturated the color, then put it through a filter that made it look like line art. Just isn't what the episode was about, so I didn't go into detail, lol

I think this is fine. I'm not a huge AI fan but he's not claiming he made the image and he's not selling the image. Imo the best uses of AI art is as a tool. Such as a reference image or some practice image. Which is what this is mostly for. AI is a good tool but anyone who claims an AI image is "their art" is what makes it bad.

@@whoahanant agreed 100%

From what I understand, that is a good way to make sure you aren't stealing original works. By reverse image searching and including images that are even similar, you can see if there are any works that it cribs off of existing pieces. Then, a step further is the fact that I further alter it with my project, omitting large swathes of detail and adding my own style to the mix. Finally, it isn't sold by me as a product. I usually have a weekend to create and film each project and this is a fast turnaround time getting me in the ballpark of what I need without taking too long. Now, were this something I was selling to the public, let's say as a template or some such, then I would either take the time and make it myself or pay another artist to do so.

@@SkillTree I would rather wait months for a new video than to see another project using AI art. AI generators inherently and explicitly steal work from artists without any way of tracing it back to or crediting the sources. This could have been a great opportunity to showcase an artist whose work you enjoy. I enjoy your work and it's been extremely inspiring for me in my leather crafting journey, but I would be extremely disappointed if you continued to use AI in this way. I hope you seriously consider this feedback and reconsider using AI in the future

I am curious now, genuinely. What are your feelings on the practice of compositing for reference material? For example, if I wanted to make a knight riding a giant rat into battle. Normally, I would scrub the internet and find an image of a rat that I like, then a knight, cut them together on a background until the whole image is roughly what I want it to look like. Then use that as reference to create my own work. It is a super common practice. Is that immoral too? I didn't create the images I am referencing. I suppose that is how I see this. If I had AI generate an image, used it as is, claim it is my own, sell it and make money from it, any one of those things, I would agree with you. But as use for reference material and edited myself as such for a thing I am not even selling and still making it clear the reference was not my own... I guess I am not seeing the damage here. What are your thoughts?

@SkillTree I think the main damage is that it normalizes using AI for people who ARE using to profit off of other people's stolen art, but otherwise I don't think this is a super harmful use case. Generally I don't think compositing peoples art to create a reference for an original piece is problematic either. However, if I were to make a leather carving of "The Great Wave Off Kanagawa" I would want to pay credit to that original art. Similarly, if I was directly tracing my carving off of Artist A's knight and Artist B's rat, I would be crediting those artists because I'm directly copying their designs into another medium. If I used that composite as inspiration and started a new piece of art from a blank canvas, I might not credit those artists based on how much I deviated from that reference. I also think you did a fine job of making it clear it wasn't your original image. But I don't think you should be referring to the generated image as "reference material" when you are directly tracing and copying it.

Ah, I think the issue ther, then, is that, since the episode wasn't about the process of getting the image, you didn't get to see the changes made. The original image was dragged into photoshop and hevily altered, with the original being a 3 point perspective 3D piece. I made it 2d, changed perspective, changed the line art, removed and added bits, etc. Though, I would still never pass it off as a wholly original creation, the two look nothing like eachother lol. I do understand your point though.

It is a tool like any other. The art was not the point of the video. As for the art, the AI gave me a foundation which I took steps to make sure it didn't infringe on anyone's work (even though I am not selling it so it is a moot point). I then took it into photoshop and edited it until it was what I wanted. No different than taking inspiration from a freely available piece of media, changing it to suit my needs, and then using it to practice a skill. I suppose I could agree if I were then selling the art I got from the generator, but I am not. I guess, like any tool, I don't find it unethical unless you are using it in an unethical way. Cheers

What is the issue with the audio? I am genuinely curious. I seldom get any complaints from anyone and when I do it is because either myself or Madi mess up the levels and have the music too loud lol. I went and played it on 3 differend devices and it seems OK. Usine a rode shotgun mic that is only about a foot over my head and pointing towards my face JUST off camera. Love to hear your thoughts.

@@SkillTree Ok, via *_simple_* user experience. (1) "Loudness" (2) "Clarity"; (1) On my half-decent set-up, I often have to turn down many YT vid's. Which is fine, because *_above_* 100% is not achievable [ _whilst keeping it simple_ ] , but below 100% is. With your vids I have to take steps (silent room, amplification, etc...) (2) great tip @ 8:50 also showcases the issues you have with clarity, the hammer is so much sharper than the voice Your environment may be a challenge, but other YT videos e.g. woodworking get past those challenges Addendum : love your vids... watch most of them multiple times; will keep feeding the algorithm 😉 👍 *_and_* 🔔

@@SkillTree Your videos are always way quieter than the average, but there are a handful of other pretty big channels I follow that are the same. The mix is sometimes a little off, though not enough that it's something I'd actively complain about for the most part, but the actual audio quality? Meh, I've heard better, I've heard worse, "appalling" is a little OTT IMO :p Just speaking as someone who consumes a lot of similar content, I'd suggest trying a lav mic for your style. You don't need to be hiding your mics for verisimilitude, so you aren't restricted in that aspect. I don't know about the mic you're currently using but there's _such_ a notable difference in quality between 2' and 2" away for mine, regardless of the settings.