Like many traditional digital artists and photographers, I’ve watched AI completely reshape the creative landscape. But instead of fighting it or letting a computer do all the work, I’ve spent months testing a more hands-on method. I treat AI like a traditional studio assistant or apprentice. Throughout art history, masters employed apprentices to paint their initial concepts and that's what I use AI for. I find an art lesson is worth a thousand prompts and I design the concept based on art and color theory handed down through the centuries. AI provides an extra pair of hands to paint the concept, then I finish up the painting in Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter, tempering the cookie-cutter AI look and replacing it with a painterly touch. 
The real magic happens when you bring that raw digital canvas into Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter. By layering on your own brushstrokes, refining textures and fixing digital artifacts by hand, you make the art truly your own. 

Learn how to use AI with Photoshop and Corel Painter to make AI a piece of the creative puzzle, not the final solution.
The Art-First AI Compendium shows you the steps from coming up with a concept to collaborating with AI and finalizing the art in Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter.