#367: Wacom uses A.I. Art, Paris Sketchbook #2 & NYC Subway Sketches!

+ Morris shows a bit of leg! (ooer)

Welcome to another week of New York Cartoons. I can’t seem to shake off the magical Parisian dream state I was in over Christmas. I filled up three sketchbooks while I was there, so I have more art and stories to share from the trip. In the meantime, you can see the first two in this week’s issue below, including live audio from where they were drawn.

Here’s a new sketch of a woman I drew in Paris that I haven’t published yet— there’s a story behind this one. (Subscribe to get it in your inbox).

Why-com?

A number of you reached out this past week asking what I thought about Wacom using AI-generated art in their advertising materials over the previous days. I gave them the benefit of the doubt on this one, as I know the team and have built a lot of trust over the past 20 years as a brand ambassador for them. They make fantastic drawing tablets and always hire artists to create their promotional art. Why they didn’t do it this time is still a mystery, after reading their statement.

As usual, Tom Richmond¹ captured in words the whole situation much better than I could— this was a very disappointing incident. I’m sad to see how it all played out. I made my comments on the issue clear under Tom’s post. I’ve been pretty outspoken on my position about the specific AI/ML Art generators that were scraped using copyrighted materials: you can see me talking about it here.

🍾 Process Junkie launches this month!

While I do love the convenience of digital tools, I can’t ever replicate the joy of using analog tools. Tangible pen and ink, paper and pencils. My new Substack called “Process Junkie” will explore all of the joys of the Process of making art. If you’re interested in that kind of thing, you can sign up here before it launches this month.

I have a really exciting project I just finished for a Hollywood personality (ooer) in New York to share as my first post— Hint: They just sold out Radio City Music Hall. Stay tuned…

This week’s Sketchbook is Part #2 of my Paris Sketchbook series from Christmas. You can see Part #1 here. As Duane Toops said of the story…

You can see the whole sketchbook here:

Until next time,
Your pal,

Jason

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