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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Wang Kaixing, Kim Ki-hong, Lyu Yin
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DOI:10.17265/2328-2177/2026.08.004
Dongseo University, Busan, South Korea
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has reorganized contemporary visual production, and its capacity to synthesize images in the manner of almost any pictorial tradition raises pressing questions for classical art forms. This article examines how generative AI reconstructs the aesthetics of Chinese ink-wash animation (shuimo donghua), a tradition defined by expressive brushwork, a philosophy of empty space, and the pursuit of artistic conception (yijing) rather than optical realism. Adopting a conceptual-analytical method, the study integrates classical Chinese art theory, animation aesthetics, and theories of digital and computational creativity, testing the framework against a contrast between the hand-painted film Feeling from Mountain and Water (1988) and contemporary generative ink imagery. It argues that generative models do not merely imitate the surface of ink; they decompose, model, and recombine its elements, producing a distinct formation termed algorithmic ink aesthetics. Three transformations organize the analysis: from imitation to reconstruction, from embodied to algorithmic brushwork, and from singular authorship to distributed human–AI co-creation. The article also weighs the strongest counterargument—that meaning is made in reception—and considers the risks of cultural flattening, homogenization, and diminished human agency. It concludes that ink-wash animation survives through reinterpretation, and that algorithmic ink aesthetics suggests a possible new direction in the evolution of Chinese visual culture guided by cultural understanding.
generative artificial intelligence, Chinese ink-wash animation, digital aesthetics, algorithmic ink aesthetics, human–AI co-creation, yijing
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