Is illustration dead? Creatives weigh in on AI and the future of commercial art
Image licensed via Adobe Stock
Inbox quiet. Rates squeezed. Feeds filled with AI noise. If you're wondering whether illustration has flatlined, you're not alone.
Here's the honest take from working illustrators and art directors: illustration isn't dead. It's changing. The ones staying busy are treating this moment as a filter, not a funeral.
Pushback against AI panic
Conceptual illustrator Ollie Hirst is blunt: "It's absolutely not dead!" He points out that brands replacing illustrators with generated imagery are seeing backlash. His advice: call it out, ask questions, and start a public conversation when you see it.
Others are winning by leaning into being human. Paul Ryding made his best year in 25 years by pitching "handcrafted," "human-made," and "organic" as the value. Clients might not care where art comes from, but audiences do. Tom Robinson of agency Handsome Frank adds: "We're the busiest we've ever been." Busy exists. It's just not evenly distributed.
The hard part: fewer briefs, smaller budgets
Not everyone is thriving. Despite big clients, Sasha Lsrblst says work has slowed so much he's considering other paths. Kyle Webster hears similar stories from unrepresented freelancers. That pain is real.
Budgets are also slipping. Lisa Sheehan sees cover rates stuck or down compared to 15 years ago. Willa Gebbie notes client types have shifted; quick-react content doesn't fit every style. Still, she's confident there's room for craft and purpose.
The human advantage
AI made one truth obvious: style alone is easy to copy. Voice isn't. Visual art director Amber Day says clients now care more about message and point of view than polish. Your story, your taste, your lived experience - that's the edge.
Illozoo founder and SCAD professor Mohamed Danawi sees rising demand for ideas, storytelling, and conceptual problem solving. That's where illustrators win. Nikki Scioscia's clients even asked for work that's visibly human, so she went back to pencil, lightbox, and ink - and had more fun than fussing over perfect line work.
Zooming out: it's a cycle, not an obituary
Book cover illustrator Nosheen Ahmed offers perspective: every field runs in cycles. Tools change. Expectations shift. That doesn't end the craft; it reshapes it. The job now is to prove your value in new ways.
A practical playbook for 2025
- Lead with your humanity: Share process shots, sketches, and messy drafts. Buyers need to see the human hand and brain behind the work.
- Pitch outcomes, not images: Talk message, audience, and impact. Show how your ideas move people, clarify products, or make a brand feel alive.
- Create case studies: One-page breakdowns: problem, concept, execution, result. Make the thinking visible.
- Set an AI policy: Tell clients where you use or refuse AI, and why. Align it with ethics, originality, and legal clarity. For legal basics, review the US Copyright Office's guidance on AI-generated works here.
- Sell premium and practical tiers: Offer "human-crafted premium" (strategy + concept + custom art) and "fast-turn lean" (limited rounds, narrowed scope). Let budgets choose without eroding your value.
- Diversify smartly: Mix editorial, brand, product, packaging, posters, licensing, and education. Avoid reliance on one channel that can vanish overnight.
- Niche by narrative: Own a topic or story lane (health, climate, fintech, culture). Become the go-to thinker there, not just a style on a list.
- Be findable where buyers look: Keep a tight portfolio, clear services, and simple contact paths. Trim anything that doesn't sell your best ideas.
- Protect your rates with structure: Quote for usage, rounds, and speed. Add rush fees. Scope in writing, always.
- Plant relationship seeds weekly: Send process updates, short ideas, or relevant sketches to past clients. Familiar beats cold every time.
What to tell clients who ask "Why not AI?"
- "You're not buying pictures; you're buying thinking."
- "We build a visual system your audience trusts - consistent, on-brief, and legally clean."
- "I solve business problems with clarity, not prompts with guesswork."
Bottom line
Illustration isn't dying. It's being asked to stand for something again. The edge is your mind, your taste, and your story - not perfect pixels.
Show your process. Sell the thinking. Build relationships that value authenticity. That's how you stay booked in a noisy market.
If you want to sharpen your AI literacy so you can talk to clients with confidence, browse these curated AI courses by job. Learn enough to advise - without losing your human core.
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