My friend in Seattle switched from selling prints to teaching workshops because of AI art

She used to make a steady income from online print sales, but after Midjourney got big last year, she saw her sales drop by almost 40%. Now she focuses on in-person classes about her watercolor technique, which AI can't really copy. Has anyone else seen artists change their whole business model like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

shane_bell23d agoMost Upvoted

Read an article about a potter in Portland who closed her online shop and now only does live throwing demos at markets. Said people want to see the real skill now.

spencer_gonzalez124d ago

My buddy Mark in Austin was a graphic designer for ten years. He lost two of his biggest clients to AI image generators last spring. Now he runs a weekend screen printing class out of his garage, teaching people how to make physical stuff. It's actually doing better than his old freelance work.

fisher.thomas24d ago

Yeah, it's wild how many people are getting pushed into hands-on work now. Feels like a real shift back to making actual things you can hold. Wonder if that's gonna be the next big side hustle for a lot of folks?