Very helpful, thanks!
Viewing post in 📝 Are text-based games outdated?
In general, there are a lot of volunteers now - they train their skills, or help as a gesture of goodwill. You can temporarily use AI-generated thumbnails (as I did, while the artist draws the content I need). So, if it's a prototype, I don't see anything wrong with it. Or just search on itch.io - there are many artists here. That's how I found a translator for my project, and she just asked me to include her in the credits