Digital artists are fighting the 'AI look' with rough edges, brush marks, and wobble

Digital artists are deliberately leaning into imperfections to fight the “AI look” as viewers become more skeptical of generative imagery. Creative Bloq reports that when highly refined digital images blur the line between human-made and AI-generated, some artists leave visible cues of their process—rough borders, obvious brushwork, or less-polished edges—to signal authorship. Rather than abandoning digital software, many are changing inputs and outputs: in apps such as Fresco and Rebelle, brushes and effects that mimic traditional media are gaining popularity. Artists are also compiling banks of scanned or photographed textures and reducing line smoothing. The shift reflects a broader debate over how AI belongs in creative work and how it affects trust online.