The Last 20%: Why AI Can't Finish My Art

Mocha Waterfall - Thank you for the title Maria Lehtman

I recently shared a painting I was working on. It was one of those pieces that felt 80% done. All the big parts were there—the colors, the shapes, the general mood. I planned to go back in, to add the final little touches, the details that I thought would make it perfect. I was getting ready to do that final 20% of work, the part that's all about polishing and refining.

But then something unexpected happened. You saw it, and you liked it just the way it was.

Your comments and messages made me see the painting with fresh eyes. I went back to my studio, and I looked at it not as a project still in progress, but as a finished piece. And you know what? It looked complete. All the things I planned to add—more layers, sharper lines, tiny details—they would have taken something away. They would have covered up the raw energy and the simple truth of the painting.

This got me thinking about AI.

AI is incredibly good at getting a piece of art to that 80% point. You can give it a few words or a photo, and it will give you something that looks polished and complete, all in a few seconds. But that's where its magic stops. It can't feel the messy, human part of the process—the doubt, the sudden moments of clarity, or the simple joy of an unfinished brushstroke.

That last 20% isn't about making a picture look "perfect." It's about what a real artist brings to the work—the gut feeling, the emotion, the simple, honest mistakes. In a way, you helped me realize that the true final step of my painting was deciding to stop.

To not add anything more. To trust my initial instincts and the raw moment of creation.

The last 20% isn't something you can rush or ask a machine to do for you. It's where the art truly becomes yours.

For me, this time, it was realizing that the honest, incomplete version was the real masterpiece.

Happy Weekend!

Stay Creative!