I sent out my Black Friday offers, and receiving responses like this made my day: "Ula, thank you for the offer. I’ve just placed an order! The two I have from you are on my walls and admired so much!" A note to fellow artists: your buyers are often your biggest supporters—keep connections.

Friday evening. A buzz from the production studio I work with: their client rejected AI-generated images for tomorrow’s Western shoot. They needed four illustrations. By morning. I glanced at my beer, sighed, and grabbed my iPad. Annoying, but deeply satisfying to know my art was chosen over AI.