: I've been using Blender.
: My PC is crap, so it's taking forever due to crashes and lag.
: It runs well enough when Windows isn't doing a lame update download and
: install in the background.
: I can't turn it off nor see what it's downloading, but I can tell when it's
: doing it.
: Adobe has a bad habit of doing it as well, even after I Task Manager it the
: snot out of it.

I have Windows Pro so I can tell it not to reboot without asking but it still does updates, usually, Tuesdays. I let it do it because, I suppose, the alternatives are worse.

: I use to use Sculptris and a old hacked version of Zbrush, but a hard drive
: crash removed my Zbrush.
: And Sculptis is far too simple of a program for my needs.
: Blender now has amazing tools for Hardbody modeling.
: I've yet to get onto using them, but I plan to.
: My online avatar wears a Halo inspired helmet I designed and refined over the
: years.
: I just need to get off my rear and model it.
: And the new tools should make it much easier.
: Hopefully.

I never got on with Zbrush, I just made blobs. I don't have the skill.

: I personally don't mind searching for needed info.
: I have multiple Blender based YT Playlist saved with tutorials I expect to
: need.
: With the Brave Browser, I can skip past useless mess withoit worry of ads
: popping up every second.

You just become aware of how often people say, "um" and "ah".

: Ai for use as a actual tool, like searching up data and quick concepting, I
: don't mind too much.

ChatGPT was a godsend doing the Jackal shield. I had to guide it because it doesn't see the obvious stuff but one of the JSON files that I exported tags into was 37 Mb. Good luck reading that. The Bungie devs were beasts, the sheer amount of work they could do. And ChatGPT would look up old xbox specs and shader definitions, and reverse engineer source code. All that would have taken me 2 years, the Jackal shield was 1 day. A LOOONG day, but 1 day.

: It's when Ai is used to do the majority of, or all of, the work that I have a
: big issue with.
: Well that and a user claiming he or she didn't use ai.

Yeh, people being people but, I suppose, like myself, they have the urge to create but lack the skills. If people are doing it for money and driving out talent, then fuck them. If someone is doing it for fun then they can scratch their artistic itch. But I suspect, in time, they will become dissatisfied by easy wins and realise they have little control over the final product. Whatever the prompt, the results look like all the other, generic, slop. And, in time, they will realise that.

: It's a wild comic series that would turn more than a few heads today.
: To VERY simplify him, he's a cross between Peter Parker and Shazam, but
: nowhere near as smart.
: Yet still very relatable in aspect the other two never have been.

From the pics I didn't get PP but I did see Shazam.

: I'm the same way.
: I have many characters I've not done anything major with.
: But that is due to encouragement and others being interested in my
: characters.
: I have a children's book I've been working on for nearly 20 years now.
: But I've not gotten past the 1st page because no one else seems to care about
: my original work.

That's a bit sad. On of my friend's husband was an amazing photographer, great at costume design and photoshop. He would think of a scene, like Captain Bligh being cast adrift in a rowing boat. And he'd dress up as the captain and various sailors and make a composite image of the scene. The results were awesome. He had lots of those on his phone. He said that he'd get a publisher someday. And I believe that his work was good enough... But he never did it and died of cancer about 4 years ago.

Have you considered self publishing? That's how Andy Wier, the guy who wrote: the Martian and Project Hail Mary, got started.

: When it comes to my personal projects and ideas, I've become VERY lazy.
: That plus my mind tends to go blank when I start writing or drawing for these
: characters.
: Meanwhile, I can easily write an entire retrospective or analysis about
: someone else's character or franchise.
: I'm weird like that.

I'm mostly the same. I actually hate writing about myself or my ideas. I think: nobody will be interested, and isn't this a bit self involved?

: By all means, save that time for your projects and dog.
: Those games are by no means worth it.

: I badly wish I could get back into that head space.
: Having my work unappreciated, ignored, or straight up stolen has killed all
: enthusiasm I once had to create original content.
: And the rise of Ai certainly hasn't helped.
: I'm 47 now and at my "what's the point" stage of life. lol

Oh dear. I have no answer except, just try to do what you can, small wins are better than nothing. And I'd rather be creating than stewing over my worries.