Let’s get this out of the way: I’m not an artist. I doodle. I sketch. I scribble ideas on napkins and whiteboards and the backs of receipts. But when it comes to turning those ideas into polished visuals, I’ve always hit a wall—a paywall. Next stop, AI transformation.
For years, my marketing concepts, animation dreams, and book cover visions sat in the “someday” pile. Not because I lacked imagination, but because I lacked the budget to hire someone who could translate my vision into reality. Even the friendliest Discord spammer or Fiverr gig worker can rack up costs faster than you can say “revision round three.”
The Creative Bottleneck
It wasn’t just art. I’ve run into this creative bottleneck in every corner of my work:
- đź“š When I wanted to publish my new book, I needed typesetting.
- 🎥 When I became an Official Content Creator for Once Human, I had to learn the entire YouTube pipeline—branding, editing, uploading, optimizing. (still in progress SundanceSurvives)
- 🎧 When I wanted to improve my sound quality, I had to call in LennyB, my go-to audio wizard, to help me wrangle plugins and EQ settings.
Each dream came with a technical toll. A skill I didn’t yet have. A cost I couldn’t quite justify. A delay that turned momentum into inertia.
Enter AI: My Creative Co-Pilot
AI didn’t replace my collaborators—it amplified my ability to collaborate. It didn’t make me an artist overnight, but it gave me tools to sketch out my ideas in ways that others could build on. It didn’t make me a sound engineer, but it helped me test mixes before I bugged LennyB again.
Suddenly, I could:
- Generate concept art for marketing campaigns without hiring a full-time illustrator.
- Draft book layouts and cover mockups before investing in professional design.
- Script and storyboard YouTube videos with visual prompts and voiceovers.
- Experiment with sound design using AI-assisted plugins and presets.
So… Is AI Putting Artists Out of Work?
I don’t think so. I think it’s putting gatekeeping out of work.
AI is giving people like me—people with vision but limited execution—a way to start. To prototype. To play. And when I do hire an artist, I come to them with a clearer brief, a stronger concept, and a deeper respect for their craft.
AI isn’t replacing creativity. It’s democratizing it.
Final Thought: From Marginal to Momentum
I’m still not an artist. But I’m a creator. And now, I’m a creator with momentum.
If you’ve ever felt stuck behind a skill gap or a budget wall, AI might just be your ladder. Not to climb over artists—but to climb up to them, with something worth building together.
Let’s make more. Let’s make it faster. Let’s make it ours.
You can check out my book here: Making Change Stick
Dont miss my other posts in my Blog Archive.
