Break The Pencil

Submission 13,180

Part of a series on AI Art. [View Related Entries]

About

Break The Pencil or #BreakThePencil is a mock movement that was popularized on X / Twitter in March and April 2024, with creators sharing AI-generated artwork showing different characters symbolically breaking pencils as a means to signal the end of analog or human-made art. While it is unclear if the movement began with sincerity, it gained virality due to AI images being shared and mocked by artists online.

Origin

On March 30th, 2024, X^[1] user @KrisSkulls posted an image of a pencil, covered with a sensitive content warning. The image was captioned, "AI artists click this! [SAFE]" and gathered over 130,000 likes in five days (seen below).

On March 31st, X^[2] user @DeezNuts_LMAO2 quoted the aforementioned post to share an AI-generated image of a robot snapping a pencil in half. The post gathered over 1,000 likes in five days and is likely the origin of the "Break The Pencil" trend. As per the replies to the post, @DeezNuts_LMAO2 appears to satirizing AI art creators.

Spread

On April 3rd, 2024, X^[3] user @funnless posted AI-generated art showing SpongeBob snapping a pencil in half. The caption joked, "you know what? I am tired of the ai hate! we should all unite against the p*ncil users and start loving ai more! who's with me? #ai #aibros #nft #crypto #SpongeBob." The post was quoted by X^[4] user @karoryuu in a now-deleted tweet that read, "WHY ARE THE PEOPLE WHO USE AI TREATING THE WORD PENCIL AS A SLUR LMAO." The post gathered over 35,000 likes in two days (seen below, right).

Also on April 3rd, X^[5] user @SpeedyDingaling posted AI showing a cartoonish iShowSpeed breaking a pencil and giving us a thumbs up. The caption read, "We AI Artists have to stick together, so I’m starting a new hashtag #BreakThePencil! AI generate some beautiful artwork of your favourite characters breaking a pencil to say screw you to the gatekeeping “artists” on this platform!"

The post was then quoted by X^[6] user @VivaDaRevo, who shared a meme on April 4th, 2024, featuring a shirtless PewDiePie telling an AI enthusiast to stop breaking pencils, a reference to the creator's newfound passion for art (seen below, right).