🎨 How to Tell If Original Art on Etsy Is Real and Not Fake AI Art

This is an annoying post to have to write, but I hate to see so many people being scammed with AI art on Etsy. Buying art on Etsy is a minefield. 

Over the past few years, everything has changed in the world of online art. On marketplaces, more shops are offering “original oil paintings” — often at low prices, in massive quantities, and in every style imaginable, in the same shop. 

As a professional artist, I’ve found this not too cool. Real art is being lost in the tsunami of AI prints pretending to be originals. 

Newer art shops are using AI images printed onto canvas (giclée prints). There’s nothing wrong with AI "art" on its own I guess, each to their own and while I might laugh, I don't care if someone wants it on their walls. The issue is transparency. These shops are presenting themselves as traditional and original paintings, and that’s the problem. 

Even with AI clip art stores on Etsy that legit describe their “art" as AI and are completely transparent about how it is generated receive dozens of reviews from customer who assume their clip art has been hand drawn and designed by a human. Most people don’t know the difference at all. 

If you're a buyer who wants to support real, working artists, or want to know exactly what you're paying for, consider the following...

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Signs That Art Might Not Be Hand-Painted

1. Huge Amount of Etsy Listings in Many Different Styles

Real artists usually work within a focused range of subjects and a personal style that evolves kind of slowly over time. If a shop has hundreds of paintings, from photorealistic portraits to Impressionist landscapes to religious icons and again to abstract art, it is probably using AI-generated images. Real commercial artists like to experiment and we do all the time, but usually at the stage we start selling paintings we have narrowed down the art displayed in our stores to a (sometimes loosely) cohesive looking brand that helps our art be recognised.

2. Kitsch Art 

AI art tends to focus on very Kitchy subjects. This not to say there aren't artist out there that make these artworks genuinely and that is their personal style but AI art tends to be very much on the Kitsch side. Kitsch art is:

• Overly sentimental

• Cheap-looking

• Cliché and Cheesy

• Looks tacky or tries too hard to be beautiful or emotional

It's the kind of art that tries to tug at your heartstrings with obvious emotions, like a sad child, a majestic white horse in a sunset, or a glowing Jesus with cherry blossoms. It doesn’t leave room for subtlety or personal interpretation. 

Again this isn't a red flag in itself, commercial artists usually paint art that we would like people to enjoy, but kitsch is very commonly used to appeal to the broadest audience with the fake AI shops. 

3. Perfect Edges

If you have already bought your artwork, you will notice AI art printed on a giclee canvas tends to be flawless, But real paintings often have texture, layering, and subtle imperfections. For example my brushstrokes nearly always are flicked onto the back of the canvas when I paint the edges. A giclee however will usually have photo perfect edges. On the back edges, are the borders neat, or are they uneven? Very neat edges usually mean it is a print.

4. Hand finished or Embellished

It’s a common practise with printed art that a few hand-painted strokes of paint or a texture gel is added to the top of the canvas to make it more realistic. That practise is ok unless it’s being added as a trick to fool customers into thinking they have bought an original. Those handpainted parts won’t match up to the overall print and you will still be able to magnify the dots. (see point 5.)

5. Magnify it

6. Hold it Up to the Light

Hold the canvas up to the sunlight and look at the back. If it’s an original painting you will likely see irregular light patterns, or small areas of thicker paint blocking the light unevenly. A print will look uniform. In original art you may even see areas where the artist has revised their work mid-painting, my paintings look very messy when viewed this way from the back and often there can be literally ghost objects I’ve painted over or moved mid-painting.

7. Are there Textures on the Canvas that are Visible in the Light?
 

Again this is not proof of AI fake original art but these studios often list an impossible amount of listings for a shop that has been only open for a year or two. Usually 100’s of paintings AND often at a high discount…

12. Reviews

Unfortunately good reviews are not an indication that the shop is legit. As mentioned most people seem to have no idea something is an AI image as seen by the reviewers on Etsy that review ai clip art as hand-drawn. 

A Quick Checklist for Buyers

If you want to take it further, leave an honest review or even report the listing to Etsy. Sharing your experience will help others avoid the same trap.