Riff: Let me make you some art - Pixel art commissions
i came across xaya-e post, or rather, targeted ad, and I’m unsure how I feel about it.
On one hand, she must know any AI free model can generate infinite pixel art, for infinite time and versions, for what accounts to zero effort, and so do the people commisioning it.
I think digital creation is going (has gone?) the way craft and artisanal stuff has already gone: upmarket and niche.1
To put it bluntly, if you're selling pixels in the era of the giant pixel generating machine - you gonna have a bad time.
The only working strategy if you ran that business, is to target a market that is relately price insensitive and looks for differentiation among their peers: farmer markets, affordable luxury, you get the idea.
In that context I think xaya-e strategy is sound, I bet a lot of bearbloggers have disposable income, want to differenciate themselves and are price insensitive to pixel art (compare with gen pop which values pixel art at $0.00).
Best of luck to you xaya-e, but for what I can see, you don't need luck, for what I see, you know exactly what to do.
Coding is going the same way too btw, make your pivot now.↩