Imo, there are too many good artists and not enough of a market.
The problem with the market is that they don’t want to pay what artists want. For every one person who wants a bespoke painting is about 30 people who are okay with mediocre and probably couldn’t tell the difference between someone who spent weeks versus a few hours on a painting.
I’m not saying artists don’t deserve to get paid. There are just not enough people willing to pay what they want. Is AI stealing their jobs? Probably. But they weren’t getting those jobs in the first place.
A few years ago, I was looking for an art student who would be willing to paint a very simple beach painting for me. Nothing fancy and really I probably could have done it on my own. There was an art school nearby and I went to a showcase and asked around. For an 8x10 canvas, it was going to be $1k minimum.
That’s insane. I wasn’t asking for detail. Just something with a sky, ocean, and sand. I found something similar to what I was looking for at a yard sale for $5.
I was willing to pay up to $300 with the possibility of doing more commissions down the road.
During the pandemic, I ended up taking some painting classes and learned to do the simple painting on my own for the price of a good bottle of wine.