Hand-drawn artist reflects on being accused by netizens of using AI, despite having proof of his creative process
David Revoy, an independent comic artist, shares his experience of hand-drawn work being judged on social media as AI-generated — even with timelapse videos as evidence
David Revoy, an independent artist and webcomic creator, published a blog post titled "When online commenters 'detect' my art as AI" in August 2026, laying bare the frustration many artists now face: genuinely hand-drawn work being judged by viewers on social media platforms like Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook as AI-generated imagery.
The point he emphasizes is that these accusations don't easily go away. Even when artists present evidence of their working process or timelapse videos (sped-up recordings capturing the drawing process from start to finish) to prove the work is handmade, people online remain suspicious and unable to distinguish between hand-drawn art and AI-generated images.
The article was discussed further on Hacker News, where it received 85 points and 47 comments, showing that this problem is not unique to Revoy but a widespread phenomenon in today's digital art world.
Another interesting dimension is the structural irony: it is the traditional drawing styles of human artists themselves that have been used to train many AI models without consent. The result is that when AI can generate images closely mimicking human styles, the original human work gets mistaken for AI output — a vicious cycle in which artists bear both the unauthorized use of their work and the questioning of the very humanity of their creations.
This issue directly affects Thai artists and creators. In an era where hand-drawn work can be questioned as AI-made, keeping evidence of the creative process has become a necessity — and it also invites reflection on the issue of artists' work being used to train AI without consent.