Art, Ethics & Drowning Moon Studios Games

In the past few weeks, there has been significant debate regarding the use of AI generated art and the software’s training methods. Because many of these applications are trained by scraping artists’ work on the internet and generating similar images without obtaining the artists’ permission, we feel there is a moral obligation to refrain from using AI art in its current state. While Drowning Moon Studios frequently uses a technique called “digital collage” to create artwork for our games, we wanted to clarify how this process differs from using an AI program.

All digital collage artworks start with a base image from one of several public domain database sites such as Pixabay, Rawpixel, Pexels, Freepik or the MET’s creative commons database. These images are then manipulated in Photoshop, often creating layers of multiple images that are refined through the use of filters, added effects, color adjustments, and hand-drawn elements to create a single final image.

Attribution is sometimes still required, but many of these sites have the option to purchase a monthly membership where attribution is no longer necessary. Generally, if a base image used for digital collage is not attributed to any one artist, it is because Drowning Moon Studios has purchased one of these memberships. We also frequently buy stock art or license images through sites like Getty Images and Shutterstock. Additionally, digital collage isn’t the only type of artwork we use. We have commissioned illustrations and graphic elements directly from artists for a number of our games, and plan to continue doing so in the future.