The mascots in traditional Xi often attract people's love with their cute and cute images. Psychologically speaking, these things can evoke a childlike innocence in people's hearts and give people a sense of spiritual pleasure. So the mascot carries a special emotion in the culture and also leaves many people's memories. As a very important traditional Xi custom of our Chinese, although the content of the program may not be highly anticipated, it is a pity not to watch the Spring Festival Gala. Therefore, every year the Spring Festival Gala will design a mascot to represent the image of the Spring Festival Gala.
As the mascot of the 2024 Spring Festival Gala, "Long Chenchen" is designed according to the classical style. Its nose is inspired by dragon-shaped vessels from an ancient site in Henan, and the shoulder decoration is taken from the moire bronze forbidden ornament of the Henan Museum. CCTV hopes to show the meaning of the mascot through the design, and express its attention and blessings to the country. However, surprisingly, many netizens expressed some doubts about the image of this mascot. They believe that the image of the mascot is too cute and far from the traditional majestic image of the dragon. Some netizens joked: This mascot looks like a baby who came out to work before the full moon, which is far from the meaning of the country's heavy weapon.
Further doubts about the mascot's image are not just because of its cute and goofy style. What's more, it has a high similarity with the currently popular AI style. Nowadays, many software can generate new drawings in a short period of time through AI technology, and many of them have this style. While these generated works can also be used, they are generally less elaborate and aura than those painted by the designers themselves. As a result, netizens joked that the mascot looks more like an AI-generated work than a designer's elaborate design.
This AI style has generated some discussions and doubts about the image design of the mascot. Although CCTV explained that the meaning of the mascot is "the important weapon of the country", many people think that such an image is really far from the important weapon of the country. Netizens believe that although we understand that mascots should have a cute image and commercial considerations, in terms of art design, animation production and other majors, the rapid generation technology of AI is causing the replacement of artificial creation, which makes many graduates worried.
In recent years, with the development of AI technology, many enterprises have begun to replace manual creation with automatically generated "artifacts". This has brought certain challenges to the employment of art students and other related majors. During the job search process, AI-generated work may be nowhere near as original in terms of originality, personality, and detail as artificially created. However, many companies do not need to be too "professional", as long as the use of AI can save employment costs, they will not hesitate to choose AI technology.
Many graduates, especially those working in art design, animation production, etc., face increasing pressure in the employment process. The development of AI has led to a difficult employment situation for these majors, and many jobs that originally required artificial creation have been replaced by AI, which has made the employment prospects of many graduates more and more worrying. Some survey data show that even the employment rate of graduates from top domestic art schools such as ** Academy of Fine Arts and Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts is relatively low, not to mention students from ordinary universities.
For the contradiction between innovation and professionalism, we should not blame it solely on the lack of talented actors and artists. In fact, one of the important reasons is that there are too many "rules and regulations", which makes innovation take huge risks. Especially in the field of art and design, the widespread application of AI technology is leading to the layoffs of many previously created positions. Enterprises are more inclined to use AI technologies that can save labor costs, rather than human creation with a higher level of expertise.
Against this backdrop, the employment situation for art students has become more difficult. Even though AI can draw faster, its originality, personality, and detail can't compete with human creation. However, due to the constraints of the real situation, many companies do not think that they need to be too "professional". As long as the use of AI can save costs, coupled with the relatively low effect difference, it will not make a big difference. For art students, this brings uncertainty and difficulty in employment.
To sum up, the questioning of the image and AI style of the mascot of the Spring Festival Gala reflects the dilemma between innovation and professionalism in modern society. The development of AI technology has undoubtedly provided new possibilities for creation, but at the same time, it has also brought great challenges to many traditional industries and professions. In this era, we need to continue to think about how to balance the application of technology with artificial creativity, and how to give professionals more opportunities and recognition for development. Therefore, for students majoring in art and design, they need to constantly exercise their professional abilities, and at the same time, they should also pay attention to the development trends of the industry and opportunities for innovation.