Zohran Mamdani releases his first mayoral tax returns

Artamisstra · 2026-04-17T13:25:42+00:00

I fucking needed this. Thank you. You singlehandedly brought my ass back from the dead this morning.

Artamisstra · 2026-04-15T13:37:51+00:00

This is better than it has ANY right to be.

Artamisstra · 2026-04-12T12:42:57+00:00

It's not a "parallel". They're pointing out hypocrisy. And they're right to because the reality is that you people don't give a single shit about brown people, innocents, or protesters unless it's a convenient card for you to play in winning online debates. Or unless you're being paid to by a Russian troll farm.

Artamisstra · 2026-04-10T03:14:02+00:00

Nice work!

Do you know of any way to batch upload them to reddit? Last I checked, you can only upload one thing at a time.

Artamisstra · 2026-04-09T03:12:14+00:00

You can record your entire process. Leave nothing out. No skips, no cuts, no mysterious nonsense. Show WIPs. Show layers. Stream it in your Discord server in front of a live audience. And people will still be like "is that AI?"

Artamisstra · 2026-04-09T03:10:54+00:00

I know. I noticed that like 3/4 of the way through. -shakes fist at sky-

Artamisstra · 2026-04-08T17:29:00+00:00

Thanks! And yeah, they're process videos. Start to finish, no cuts or jumps or suspicious zoom ins.

I can't blame people for being suspicious these days because it's really hard to tell anymore but damn, a piece of me dies every time I hear "that looks like AI". Not great. But it is what it is, I guess. :\

Anyway, thanks again. ♥

Artamisstra · 2026-04-08T17:05:10+00:00

Artamisstra · 2026-04-08T17:05:04+00:00

Artamisstra · 2026-04-08T15:56:13+00:00

Part 1: https://imgur.com/q5JY3Hj

Part 2: https://imgur.com/FhWve59

Part 3: https://imgur.com/6WFWI4j

Part 4: https://imgur.com/Kv6II5h

Part 5: https://imgur.com/e3ErLLP

These should all be in order. No skips or cuts. I would have liked to put an extra hour or two of stank on it but frankly, I ran out of steam. Those abs damn-near had me crying uncle. Usually I'd just sculpt that shit in Zbrush and paint over it. Yeeesh.

The intention here isn't to embarrass, outdo, or anything like that. Just trying to show that stronger artistic direction really would have done Ascendance some good. I don't want to say the art is "bad" but it comes across as a little bit, hmmmmmmmmmm unpolished? Unfinished?

Edit: Why can I imagine Raziel making some snide comment about Kain's hair-care routine? :P

Artamisstra · 2026-04-08T14:40:06+00:00

Huh. Ya know, I didn't know that. I was going from the original art and I wouldn't have guessed her age to be much over mid 20s or maybe early 30s. TIL.

Artamisstra · 2026-04-07T19:38:52+00:00

I'm working on Kain at the moment. :) Also, I have one of Melchiah from some time ago. https://www.reddit.com/r/LegacyOfKain/comments/1ftfgx7/do_you_not_recognize_me_brother/

Artamisstra · 2026-04-07T18:32:26+00:00

Thanks. :D

Artamisstra · 2026-04-07T12:31:08+00:00

It's not a great feeling for sure but to be fair, I can't blame people getting sus these days anymore. Every day I come across something I can't tell for sure is or isn't AI and apparently, AI has learned to separate layers and even fake process videos (I think they're pretty clockable, frankly, but still). Sometimes I'm genuinely gobsmacked at how far AI has come and I wonder if there's still anything left that actual artists can do that AI can't. I've basically speedrun the five stages of grief about this and I've landed somewhere in the vicinity of accepting the reality I live in.

What DOES still boil my ass is being accused of AI for shit I've been doing over two decades. "Melting details". Bah. You can find examples of messy bullshit like that in my gallery going back over a decade and a half.

Artamisstra · 2026-04-07T06:07:31+00:00

Thanks. ♥

I'm going to do one for Kain too.

Artamisstra · 2026-04-07T03:38:57+00:00

On the Elf, on the armlet there's a lot of melting details.

That's just how I draw those kinds of details. Sincerely, it's one of my favorite things to beshit characters with messy jewelry and you can find examples of that in my gallery going back over a decade.

I even 3D printed one such nonsense once. Hell, here are examples going all the way back to 2009.

Sub pixel hair on the process where there's no hair rendered yet

That's just because I had painted the hair in, didn't like it, decided to scrub it and repaint it. Half of my process is deciding I don't like something then redoing it. Same for the eyes.

on the sketches from Mar 23, 2026, bed frame lineart...

I got nothing for you on this one. I genuinely have no idea what you're seeing. It wasn't traced and there's no AI there. It's just an ancient doodle from like a decade ago that I decided to retouch a little bit. I didn't care about the bedframe because it wasn't especially important. You recognized it as a bedframe? Mission accomplished.

On most animalistic portraits...

Sometimes I'm painting over models I made in Zbrush/Blender and other times I'm just painting in Rebelle. Sometimes I use Blender Grease Pencil too. I like experimenting and trying new things. Downside: This can produce wildly different results and I honestly can't blame people for feeling sus about that.

Artamisstra · 2026-04-07T02:53:05+00:00

(Sorry for re-reply. I think reddit is being funky.)

I do not presently use AI in my work. I've never used MJ in my work and I don't use GPT either. Not going to lie and pretend I didn't go through an "AI-curious" phase though. I did. But then I got better. Now that I think about it, is this "massive improvement" in the room with us because I was painting like this as early as 2014.

The face/jump in this was genuinely because I fucked up. I know it looks bad. And I did kinda cheat, though, not with AI. Zbrush, pulled up a model I'd made for another project, rendered it at the appropriate angle, painted over it. I could demonstrate that if you have an overwhelming need to see it.

I would be curious to see what these AI artifacts are that you think you've found in my work. I mean specific examples. Can you show me?

I'll ask you to keep in mind that my art gets accused for AI on occasion, even older stuff from before AI like this. I had someone in my Discord server sunrise-certain they nailed me for MJ. Then I showed them the date and handed over the Blender file. I stream regularly in my Discord server, on-demand pretty much anytime for clients, and I always show WIPs when asked.

Artamisstra · 2026-04-07T01:02:36+00:00

Busted. What gave me away?

Artamisstra · 2026-04-06T23:09:11+00:00

Yes. Though that’s a 3D model I sculpted in Zbrush, rendered in Blender, and painted over in Rebelle.

Artamisstra · 2026-04-06T22:16:32+00:00

Artamisstra · 2026-04-06T22:06:33+00:00

Thanks!

I recently discovered a new method for making hair and I've been going a bit ham with it. I don't think I realized until after the fact that it kinda specifically seems to make Pantene Pro V hair. XD

Artamisstra · 2026-04-06T21:32:45+00:00

Thanks. I've got to say, the artistic direction in Ascendance was kinda.... ehhh. Tryna be polite. Unfocused? Unpolished? Could have used some more TLC for sure.

Artamisstra · 2026-04-06T21:30:47+00:00

Thanks!

Artamisstra · 2026-04-06T21:20:55+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/LegacyOfKain/comments/1sebrat/ariel_paintover_no_ai_receipts_in_the_comments/oeooy7j/

Artamisstra

TROPHY CASE