# @stevedmcdonald on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DNajK29O2J-
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/63359559-stevedmcdonald-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/ef48405fd5.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-08-16T11:50:23.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Steve McDonald 🎨📚 (@stevedmcdonald) — https://gondola.cc/stevedmcdonald

## Caption

Blocking out the noise

I block a lot of people. Not because I want to, but because I want to stay present in the present. 

Another print drop is coming soon, a new course launches in September, and my next book is underway. That’s where I’m focused: on making, sharing, and moving forward. Yet I still get pulled back into the same tired questions and misunderstandings from five or six years ago...so many are stuck in the first month of a conversation that’s been evolving at light speed ever since.

Here’s the reality:
Creativity hasn’t disappeared. Artists aren’t extinct. Legacy media is still fighting its losing battle, while a whole new community of artists, galleries, and forums keeps growing...open, collaborative, and exciting. Courts keep finding these new tools legal (that’s why they’re still here). The tools evolve daily, and those of us who embrace them are making new, original work. Work that doesn’t copy or infringe but expands what’s possible.

For me, that means more books, deeper projects, more teaching, and more art. Not less. I’m not obsolete. I’m more alive in my practice than ever. But here’s the thing: you have to choose to come along. If you don’t, that’s completely your choice....but if you don't, then maybe this isn't the place for you. 

Just to be clear: I love good-quality conversations about these new tools...curious, thoughtful, even challenging ones. What I don’t like is anger, or ridicule, or insults. Not giving it, not receiving it. This is a positive and encouraging place for artists and image crafters, not an echo chamber for dissatisfaction or frustration.

These tools are landscapes...a magic forest, a new path, a place you’ve never been before but somehow recognize. They’re alive with possibility. If you let them, they’ll take you somewhere new.

So, I block out the noise (and a few people), step into that landscape, and keep moving forward. The view’s too good to waste time looking backwards.

#artbysteve #illustration #aiart #digitalillustration #imagemagic #customdiffusion #digitalpainting #digitalillustration #artcourse #printdrop #landscape #dreamart #pathways #newtools #oldartist

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 6,261
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- **Comments:** 48

## Tags

newtools, illustration, printdrop, digitalpainting, artcourse, pathways, imagemagic, digitalillustration, oldartist, customdiffusion, artbysteve, aiart, landscape, dreamart

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