This was my entry for the Doctor Strange fan art contest. Normally I don't do these but for Doctor Strange I couldn't resist. I thought this was a unique chance to try out some new techniques. My goal from the beginning was to create a professional poster resolution image for this. So, I used an AI called conjure to generate a handful of images to manually blend together for the background, I painted custom sections as needed. One of the biggest downsides to AI image generation is that the resolution isn't great due to time and processing constraints. Upscaling is an option but naturally that has a ceiling. The AI images are pretty vague and directionless so the subject has to be created manually. Thanks to the AI assist on the background, I had way more time to focus on what was really important. The Characters. To hit the resolution and image quality mark it was key to balance when to use the AI, when to paint manually and when to use actual images.

There has been alot of discussion and fear mongering about AI image generation replacing artists. I have always been of the mindset that it acts more like an assist than a replacement. The fact of the matter is that time is a huge aspect in creating art, and if a computer can save an artist time then they can go even farther artistically. So I really feel like AI is just like any other software or plugin just with a broader spookier name. Hope everyone enjoyed this and is just as excited for the movie as I am!