And so I make-believe. Because the alternative is to make peace with a future I do not want yet, sadly, feels inevitable.

For game artists there too lurks the specter of AI. Despite seeing first hand the short-comings and failures (not to mention the immorality of its current form) I can see a clear business case for it. For certain projects it could replace entire disciplines.

For game artists like myself, the alternative is bleak. The industry has been brutalized with layoffs and I have seen so many skilled, talented, experienced developers looking for jobs for months and months. There are very few jobs and far too many jobless.

There is the strong desire to throw up our hands and say, “why bother?” But accepting our own powerlessness stings, and so we pretend if we work hard and “demonstrate value” we can keep our jobs.