Dungeons & Dragons Cover Art Accused Of Being A.I., Artist Fights Back

Posted in: Comics, Current News, Games | Tagged: ai, dungeons and dragons, Katerina Ladon

Artist Katerina Ladon has complained about being targeted for using A.I. in her artwork, when she had done no such thing.

Article Summary

Katerina Ladon denies using A.I. in her new D&D Player’s Handbook art.
Accusations on social media hint at a trend of A.I. artwork claims.
Ladon showcases her process, emphasizing her traditional hand-painting technique.
Debate intensifies as others in the industry face similar A.I. art allegations.

Earlier this week, Dungeons & Dragons posted some new Player Handbook cover art saying “Who else is excited about 384 pages of new and improved player options, equipment, spells, and more?! “

And the comments started to pour in.

OSRDwarf: “Put a chick in it! Make her lame and gay!” And with meh art to boot. Given what you intend to charge you use AI art? Pass.
MixnmatchSafe: WoTC is bleeding money so hard that they must use AI shlop instead of paying actual artists, eh?
CrimZon_Gaming: Huh… AI art. What a shock that is.

And plenty of others which have since been deleted. Because, yes, you know where this is going, don’t you? The artist Katerina Ladon posted to Facebook;

“I woke up this morning with a huge shitstorm. My socials and my inbox are on fire after one of my illustration painted for the new D&D Player’s Handbook has been revealed: I was accused of using artificial intelligence. I take this accusations very seriously, so I want to show the sketching phase and I want to be really transparent on this point: NO, IT’S NOT AI AND I DON’T USE IT IN ANY PART OF MY WORKFLOW.”

“Don’t bring me to share photo references of myself with a broom and kitchen chairs, trying to perform the character’s poses, please.
I am an artist, I have studied decades to be a professional. Since day 1 of the debut of AIs I have been very strict and critical about it and my position has not changed at all.
I paint EVERYTHING by hand, I don’t even use 3D because I’m not capable of it – but I work with photo references of myself, my animals or my friends.
Maybe I’m naive, or maybe I love hand painting too much.
This piece is NOT perfect at all, but I assure you that I had to spit blood to finish it.
Those who have been following me for a while know that I’m not very good with environments, but here I put all my soul into making this city alive and dynamic, and to tell a story that touches my heart a lot for personal reasons.
I want to thank the incredible Art Director Bree Heiss for guiding me so masterfully on this adventure.
This witch hunt makes me sick.
Please enjoy the new D&D manual which is incredibly beautiful, and don’t accuse artists randomly without having any proof about their work. Because for one thoughtless act you could ruin their career.”

Today, we saw how DC Comics was dumping Francesco Mattina’s work over accusations of using A.I. Others have similarly been accused; some have rejected those accusations, but plenty are being made. This is also why Bleeding Cool is often reticent to do so. This kind of thing is not going to go away.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!