The concept art for this contest, all of the promotional imagery, artwork and even a large number of the 'products' for sale on thetoyrat.com, are AI generated. This isn't stated anywhere that I can find.

Crazy to think he didn't retire from the sales of his (I assume wildly successful) N F Ts?

I've heard nothing but wonderful things about your book. Unfortunately, the artist in question does use AI. This statement is directly from her website that you linked to

Here is some more information : pixelmage.substack.com/p/manon-bier...

They have her back on their roster, with a depressing caveat

www.debutart.com/artist/manocki

Yep, I saw this. She's definitely trying to reframe things now that people have found out. Not only has she repeatedly denied using AI whenever people brought it up on her IG posts, when she was signed her own agent put out a statement declaring that she "does not incorporate AI in any of her work"

I think you're right! I only managed to find a match for this boat from Sims 4 originally, so didn't pursue it but hadn't noticed how similar the character's are.

And here's an interior illustration they also created for the same publication. You can see their credit along the right hand side of the page.

Oh and here's a screenshot of their MJ profile. Look familiar?

#manocki

You can see from that screenshot that they uploaded this image as reference for the cover. Most likely this was supplied by the client or art director but it is possible that it was created by Manocki

Since a few people are just finding out about this, I thought I'd share a fresh example of how this artist is using AI in their other commercial work.

Here is a magazine cover they were commissioned to paint & here is a screengrab of an image generated on their MJ profile

#manocki

Outside of her dependence on AI, Manon has form when it comes to appropriating other's work. This image in her agent's folio is actually the work of Elina Mushinskaya. It was originally on Manocki's personal folio but when I flagged it she deleted the site.

#art #theft #manocki #pixelmage

Step 1 - Generate a cool but completely AI image, complete with extremely cursed hands

Step 2 - Refine this image (still purely in Midjourney)

Step 3 - Paint this onto a canvas

Step 4 - Profit!

#art #painting #manocki #pixelmage

As we can see from her painted copies of photographs, she has some skill when it comes to replicating established imagery. It's clear to me that she has been using AI like Midjourney to generate images, then painting them & selling these as her own 'originals'.

#art #painting #manocki #midjourney

Then, there was a sudden leap in style, quality and volume. For anyone familiar with generative AI these all scream 'Midjourney', especially at the time Manon was 'painting' these

#art #artist #ai #grift #pixelmage

There were some exceptions. Isolated paintings that were much more complex & interesting. However in most cases, these were copied from the work of other artists & photographers, with the originals uncredited*

(*I flagged this to some of the original artists & Manon has since added their names)

This isn't an isolated example. Two years ago, Manon's artwork looked like this...

#art #artist #manocki #pixelmage

This artist 'Manocki' currently has over 150k followers on Instagram. Her recent paintings receive an overwhelmingly positive response. However the image below is AI generated.

How do I know?

I found their secret Midjourney profile.

#art #artist #ai #midjourney #manocki #pixelmage