As AI continues to disrupt the creative industries, illustrators are seeking new avenues where they can thrive. 360° illustrations present a unique and lucrative opportunity, requiring a combination of traditional artistic skills and new technical expertise like coding, CGI, and audio design. This article explores how illustrators can stay relevant and secure new business opportunities by embracing 360° illustrations, a field safe from AI disruption.
As artificial intelligence continues to advance, many illustrators are feeling the pressure. AI tools can quickly generate images that mimic a wide range of artistic styles, often at a fraction of the cost and time of a human artist. For many, this is a worrying trend, raising questions about the future of illustration as a viable career.
But there's a silver lining: 360° illustrations. Unlike traditional illustration fields, which are increasingly infiltrated by AI, 360° illustrations offer a unique opportunity for illustrators to remain relevant, and even thrive, in this rapidly changing landscape.
AI may be capable of generating impressive 2D artwork, but creating high-quality 360° illustrations is a completely different challenge. Here’s why:
To create a commercially successful 360° illustration, an artist must combine expertise from various disciplines, including coding, audio design, CGI, and knowledge of the unique visual distortions inherent to 360° environments. While AI can assist in each of these areas, assembling all the pieces requires transitioning from a skilled technician to a "director."
AI tools struggle with this type of multidimensional complexity, particularly when there is little usable data available to train on. There aren't millions of 360° marketing campaigns with studio-quality advertisement photography available for training. For example, while AI can generate a flat image, it lacks the ability to correctly apply 360° distortions to create seamless, immersive environments—especially for intricate interiors, detailed cityscapes, and dynamic close-up scenes involving people interacting with the subject of an ad campaign (see our 360 perfume advertisement as an example).
The key factor that makes 360° illustrations safe from AI disruption is the issue of 360° distortion. Unlike traditional illustrations, 360° images have unique distortions that need to be carefully managed to ensure a commercially viable result. For instance, city scenes, interior environments, or characters close to the virtual camera require precise adjustments that AI is not yet able to handle effectively.
Currently, there are very few usable studio-quality datasets that contain correct 360° distortions for AI to learn from. This lack of training data creates a barrier for AI development in this field, providing a safe haven for human illustrators who can navigate these complex visual challenges.
As the demand for immersive content grows, so does the market for 360° illustrations. Here are a few of the new opportunities emerging for illustrators:
These are just a few of the new business avenues that are opening up as 360° illustrations grow in popularity.
Given the current market conditions and the rapid rise of immersive content, 360° illustrations are poised to become one of the most lucrative fields in illustration. As traditional markets become more competitive and AI continues to develop, this is an area where skilled illustrators can truly set themselves apart.
By mastering the complexities of 360° illustration, you can position yourself at the forefront of a growing industry that values creativity, technical skill, and the ability to innovate in ways that AI currently cannot.
If you're an illustrator looking to explore new opportunities and stay ahead of the AI curve, 360° illustrations could be your next big break. To learn more about how to get started and hear about other emerging opportunities in this field, we invite you to sign up for our upcoming webinar. Just send us an email and let us know you’d like to be notified about our next upcoming online event.
Istvan Prem, the director of our 360° Alice application, is a seasoned expert with a master's degree from Oxford and extensive experience at the forefront of this new revolution.
To see how 360° interactivity can make classic literature exciting again, sign up and explore a chapter from our 360° Alice in Wonderland eBook for FREE. Step into the magic!
