Concept art and storyboards for production

Studio use is real but narrower than the announcements suggest. Generated images turn up in mood boards, pitch material and exploratory passes, and artists report being asked to correct machine output rather than to draw first, which cuts billed hours before it cuts headcount. The Animation Guild contract ratified in December 2024 brings work made with these tools under the agreement and forbids using them to reduce pay or credit, but members obtained neither an opt out nor minimum staffing. No feature has yet been designed end to end from generated art, and the artist keeps the part that matters in a review: proposing what the film should look like and answering a director's note the next morning.