Art In The Age Of AI Is About The Idea, Says Toosid

HYDERABAD: This artist has taken to artificial intelligence (AI) for an array of works, ranging from graphic designing to branding and animation, using each pixel to put forth his ideas in the digital age.

Meet TooSid, as he prefers to be called, who thanks ‘Stable Diffusion’ software for revolutionising the digital art space and giving him the freedom to go beyond the conventional.

“What got me interested was that it felt like magic — what took hours earlier could be done within seconds. And so, now, the game is all about how great your idea is and not just how skilled you are. It’s almost like a sketchbook with no limits,” he said.

TooSid shot to fame recently when his video, featuring Western pop artists Rihanna, Drake, Snoop Dogg and Kanye West at a samosa stall, clocked close to four million views. What started as a gift idea for his friends Prithviraj, Bhuvan Bam and Prajakta Koli turned into interesting projects, eventually catching the eye of ‘Baahubali’ actor Rana Daggubati, who collaborated with him for content on his channel South Bay.

“Rana was genuine and real about his interest in my work and quickly got on call; it was very surreal. While the idea is not to piggyback on any celebrity, working with them garners a wider audience. So, I'd say they are like colours to my art, they help make my art but are not the art themselves as they don't make it better or worse. Except for the reach, the intrinsic value doesn't change,” TooSid said.

While he says AI art is exciting, he admits it can be challenging sometimes. “With ‘Vision Pro’, facial computing and many other things are coming in very often; brands will want to do campaigns there. So, the best and worst part about this is that my tools tend to change every six months,” he said, agreeing that it was not cost-effective.

Nevertheless, he says it is a great time to be an artist, especially in terms of selling oneself and monetising it through platforms such as Instagram.

“There can be a lot of competition because now everyone can make it, but the good part is that storytelling forms the core of the artwork — it is what decides its relevance and longevity. So, your mind is, any day, the most unique tool you have,” he said.

Sharing his long-term goals, Sid said he wants to create a full-fledged AI film. “The takers in the country are still a sizeable number, but I hope animation will find more fans like commercial cinema. It'll take a while, but it can happen soon,” he said.