Colin Kaepernick Wants To Use AI to Create Comics

Above cartoon by Clay Jones.

 

If you haven't heard, Colin Kaepernick has invested $4 million in his media company to produce a new line of comic books. Cartoonists, who would normally welcome this event, are angry. 

 Here's CBR on the story:

Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick draws negative responses from comic book industry insiders over his new Lumi Story AI.

Comic book Twitter and various other corners of the internet have been set ablaze with responses to the news that Kaepernick, who played six seasons of professional football as the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, has put more than $4 million into his generative AI media company, Lumi Story AI. While the announcement of a new creator-driven line or brand is usually hailed as a good thing for comics, the response to Lumi has been decidedly negative as a whole. 

 

Political cartoonist Clay Jones puts it this way in his substack:

I have been a defender of Colin Kaepernick’s right to protest systemic racism over the past eight years. Yes, his protest started in 2016. I defended Kap after Donald Trump called for him to be fired. I’ve defended him after the National Football League blackballed him for the crime of speaking his mind.

I’ve drawn multiple cartoons over the years defending Kaepernick and pointing out the hypocrisy of criticizing him for using his freedom of speech while celebrating conservatives’ use of free speech. Harrison Busker, anyone? I’ve defended Kaepernick taking a knee after Republicans and religious zealots praised Tim Tebow for taking a knee. I’ve pointed out the hypocrisy of people attacking Kaepernick while defending Nazis (Richard Spender). I’ve defended Kap from racist attacks.


I drew this cartoon defending Kaepernick, and this cartoon, and this cartoon, and this cartoon, and this cartoon, and this cartoon, and this cartoon, and this cartoon, and this cartoon.


So excuse me if now I feel like Kap has stabbed me and several of my colleagues in the back. What did Colin Kaepernick do? Colin Kaepernick has invested $4 million into a company to make comics, not with cartoonists or with people who can actually, but with artificial intelligence. Kaepernick has invested in destroying us.


Some people who can’t draw, even poorly like myself, are using AI to create “art.” These no-talent thieves call themselves “AI artists,” which makes me want to puke. These “AI artists” are artists the same way DJs are musicians. They’re not. I HATE AI and for that matter, DJs can be tossed off a cliff too.


AI uses stolen art from real artists, humans. It takes art, learns from it, copies it, and usually combines art from different artists. Most of it looks like synthetic shit. Despite it being as horrible as it is, it threatens to replace human artists.


In addition to it being unethical, it sucks. There’s no passion, quirkiness, or spontaneity in images created by artificial intelligence. There’s not heart to it. Plus, it’s stupid.


Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of Facebook groups that post pictures of cities using AI art (I don’t know why) and you’ll see stuff like the Eiffel Tower in the middle of Chicago. I’ve seen images of two Chrysler buildings in New York City. Artificial intelligence doesn’t know the Hollywood sign is not in Istanbul. It’s in Phoenix, right?


A lot of people say we’re just crying wolf or overplaying it with cries of impending doom, but we are being replaced. Take Colin Kaepernick for example. He’s replacing us. He wants to make comic books but without comic artists.


Lumi, the firm Kap has invested in, promises to “provide creators with the tools needed to independently create, publish, and merchandise their stories both digitally and physically.” News tools and programs to publish and merchandise are cool, but tools for artificial intelligence to replace artists are not.


Kaepernick was part of a team that created a graphic novel. This press release states, “Lumi was founded out of the barriers that Kaepernick discovered publishing his own works. This included high production costs, long production timelines, and gatekeeping within the industry. These challenges generate significant friction for creators, preventing many projects from getting off the ground.”


So the artists who drew and colored Kap’s graphic novel were the barriers? They were the gatekeepers until AI could come along? And yes, there is long production timelines when you have to actually draw. Here, Kap looks to get rid of those burdensome artists and have shorter production timelines which will come when all you have to do is type what you want drawn, and a software program will do it for you.


Lumi’s mission is to “democratize storytelling by providing tools for creators to turn their ideas into finished products, as well as distributing and merchandising those stories – transforming any creator into Disney. By leveraging advanced AI tools, Lumi enhances the creative process, allowing creators to focus on bringing their stories to life while the platform handles all of the logistics. Creators have had a significant impact on AI, and they should be a primary beneficiary of its use.”


Bleeding Cool wrote, “Lumi's pitch is that most people aren't equally proficient at every aspect of making and selling a book and that AI can fill in those gaps. For instance, if a writer can't draw, Lumi can produce illustrations. Or, if a comic artist has a story idea but struggles with dialogue, Lumi can help compose the words for their book.”


Imagine how awesome Peanuts would have been if all Charles Schulz had to do was type in, “Draw a dog sleeping on a dog house.” Classic! With AI, Jim Davis never would have had to hire all those artists to draw Garfield when he got tired of doing it in the early 80s (yes, Jim Davis has not drawn Garfield in over 40 years, and probably hasn’t written it either).


I am very territorial about my work and profession. I call out people when they steal from other cartoonists or manipulate their work (like replacing the text to suit their needs). Nothing pisses me off more than people stealing cartoons. I hate that even more than I hate memes. Yes, I hate memes, but that’s a longer blog in the future that I’ve written before.


If you want to draw, draw. Don’t let drawing poorly stop you. It hasn’t stopped me. Also, stop sending me your ideas. Draw your own ideas. If I was the kind of cartoonist who used other people’s ideas, then nobody would want to send me their ideas. That’s irony. Do you know what doesn’t get or do irony? Republicans and artificial intelligence which is also ironic because Republicans don’t do intelligence either.


Kap, cut the crap. Support artists, not machines. You can start by becoming a paid subscriber to this blog. In fact, you can start by subscribing to every cartoonist’s blog here on Substack, but me first.


I feel safe speaking for all political cartoonists when I say we could use $4 million.


By the way, I’m not a gatekeeper because I’m not going anywhere.


Cartooning note: The cartoons inside the cartoon are just a few of my past cartoons in support of Colin Kaepernick. I usually only need two layers for my cartoons, one for drawing and the other for coloring. Pasting the cartoons inside a cartoon meant a new layer for each, so this cartoon now has nine layers.


Also, I love drawing afros.

Much more at Clay's substack.