Respecting Art Creation

I was making some pixel art yesterday (I've posted it, if you haven't seen it yet!) while my friends were drawing digitally. We were chatting and creating, and it was a very fun time. We have different skill levels, but during creation, we are equals - we are all humans who have a "story" to tell.

Those aren't serious stories, and they don't need to be. The simple action of holding your creative tool of choice and making something is a story worth being written and told. They probably will not be blockbusters, but they will form memories that might change your life positively.

A dumb inside joke meme, an art of your friend's characters, or a music sketch that you have been composing on and off... Regardless of what you think of it, there is much value in a thing you made yourself.

A thought that I've been having lately, albeit in a larval stage, is that "Art is basically pretty much any human activity that AI managed to ruin." I know, I'm bringing AI up again, but really, am I being wrong or excessive? What other invention has brought us artists so much despair, demotivating so many people and robbing them of their potential? What other creation has been so intrusive and superfluous, so eager to be the leader instead of the "Copilot", so hungry for human autonomy and spontaneity?

This is why I will respect any art from any human artist of any skill level. I will cherish anything my friends and fellow artists make, and encourage them to pursue their ideas even if they are not to my taste. Because art is only as engaging if it tells the story they really want to tell.