With my interest in Lioden lingering because of the crashed market, the abundance of apps and MODs and the general tone deaf way certain situations are handled, I decided now is a good time to make this post.

As some of you know, asking a person a direct question will (more often than not) yield a direct answer. And so, since many seem to be tip-toeing and assuming, I will provide you with a comprehensive story.

"Is my art AI?"

I stuck up with you all for so long, I'm not going to give a TLDR. If you want to know, you can read through this post.

I've been drawing since the early 2000s. Some of you know my Tumblr or Deviantart; both of which I haven't posted any recent art on since... years. Tumblr is overrun by bots and Deviantart is swarmed with furries (in the negative sense of the word) so I didn't have an active platform to post my things on. Anyone could see my art activity well before AI programs became public.

After coming back to Lioden after a long hiatus, I wanted to make some custom decor. Drawing scenery and backgrounds has always been my weakest point. This was around the time I began using Midjourney to make scenery for the private homebrew DnD sessions between myself and my close friends. I knew what I wanted to make as Custom Decor, checked the rules thoroughly and, lo behold, there was not a single rule present about not using AI-assisted works. If there was, then I would not have bothered. This was in early to mid February. I got it submitted and it was approved, as I assumed it would.

This is a screenshot of the CD in question:



After its approval, I made a few more varieties and also submitted them. There was still no update on the rules at this point in time.

My remaining submissions were rejected on the 27th or February and the Coral Reef Arch was removed. I received this message:



Alright. I'm not going to argue. So I left it at that. Shame they hadn't put it in their rules beforehand, but hé. Back to the drawing board for me. At this point, I still loved the idea of archway decor and decided to try again, without AI (as I now knew would be against their policy.). Like I mentioned, backgrounds were not my strongest point so I figured I'd keep it simple and draw a rocky archway; which seemed manageable with my skillset. And so I did.



I also kept this WIP to show my process.



This was submitted and... soon after... rejected. This was the message I received:



Note the date. So because I had previously submitted something assisted by AI, the Mods decided they were going to reject this one too. Solely on something I did MONTHS before, which; mind you; was technically not against ANY Lioden rules at the time.

The updated Custom Decor rules which included the rule that doesn't allow AI tools were announced in the news post on the 21st of April.

What happened the first time, happened in FEBRUARY.
I pointed this out to them and this was the response:



Looks like it's mutual. Seems like we do agree on something after all.

Whatever. Not worth my time any more. As many of you have seen with my old work; even from YEARS ago; drawing characters IS my forté. I don't need any help with that. So I went back to doing what I do best: drawing OCs.

I drew my own king a few times, as seen on my den page, I also drew other people's kings and OCs, etc. I provided WIPs whenever they liked, gave updates on how things were going and made adjustments along the way. All was well.

A few recent examples of art I made for other Liodenners:




This is my latest work of my own king Kobus:



And there is the WIP:



I lied to you all: I AM going to give you a TL:DR
Yes, I used AI once to submit a custom decor.
No, I don't regret it because it was not against the rules at the time. Don't dig up old bones, you know.
No, any of my character art or commissions is not AI assisted. JUST that Custom Decor arch. That's it.
Screenshot this all you like, for this will likely be the last thing you see of me here on Lioden before this is blocked.
Abandon ship.

Life lesson: If you want answers... ask the person you want answers from. I've always been very open on this topic if one asks me.