We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Robin Davis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Robin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I knew I wanted to pursue a career in comics from the age of eight. My grandmother would always get the Sunday comics and let me read them, which instilled a passion and interest in me. My parents are from Savannah, GA, and The Savannah College of Art and Design was still considered a fairly new college in 2003. But I had decided that I loved art and comics, and SCAD would be the place to do it.

I truly started to explore comics more in middle and high school as I was inspired by manga artists and anime, especially Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto. As I was approaching graduation, I could not find a career or major that was specifically about comics, so I settled on the idea that I would be a graphic designer, a close second in my book. It wasn’t until I toured the campus at SCAD that they had a degree specifically for comics, Sequential Art!

Two degrees later, both with a focus in Sequential Art, and after exploring other jobs outside of my field, it helped me realize that comics truly was and has been my passion and the only career I want to pursue.

Robin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a freelance comic and production artist working on multiple projects with Scholastic and GlobalComix. I specialize in creating comics, illustrations, and editng comics for vertical scrolling. With a B.F.A and M.F.A in Communication Arts, majoring in Sequential Art, from the Savannah College of Art Design. I expanded on my journey with SCAD and comics as I talked about my passion for my career, but what I am most proud of in my career is being a tutor. Being able to talk to younger people about my journey in comics and teaching them the fundamentals is a full-circle moment for me.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Since 2016, I have been my grandmother’s caregiver. While taking care of her, I returned to grad school in 2018. At one point I was working part-time, attending school, and caring for her. While it was stressful, it was my normal for a very long time. My grandmother passed of February 9th of this year and I feel like a version of me has gone with her. It’s been a huge transitional curve in my life because my grandmother was the catalyst for why I got into comics and saw me through my entire professional career. SO this is a new journey I have been navigating day by day.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

It is crucial to address how AI art is harmful to creatives and their livelihoods. As it stands now, AI art collects data and reconfigures pre-existing art made by humans. Without stealing from real artists, AI art could not exist.

This dependency on existing works of art means that AI art reproduces and replaces the work of human artists without their consent. It is exploitative and intrusive to the artists who have created that work, especially considering that freelance artists earn an average income of less than $50,000 per year.

AI art is not a harmless addition to the art industry but rather a parasite. The general public must take action to support creative people by avoiding using AI art programs and directly threatening the livelihoods of artists who rely on creating art for a living. It’s time to stop this exploitation and stand up for the rights of artists.

Source: Gunawan, Annabelle Shania, and Samuel Chiu | Loyolan. “Why Ai Art Is so Dangerous.” Los Angeles Loyolan, 6 Dec. 2023, www.laloyolan.com/opinion/why-ai-art-is-so-dangerous/article_49639f7d-f399-5078-90d1-6ba712c75798.html#:~:text=After%20all%2C%20the%20tool%20is,the%20work%20of%20human%20artists.

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