i have several friends who have done work for wotc illustrating magic cards. their names came up on the leaked list of artists used to train the AI. honestly, the friend i’m closest to doesn’t even want to discuss AI for very long because it makes him genuinely anxious about the future of his own employment. many are actively trying to get out of fantasy illustration and into fields where they believe it will be harder for them to be displaced by AI (there are other reasons for this, but this is still a reason)

so, yes, it does affect artists of all levels, as well as the aforementioned environmental impact