The Use of AI With my Illustrations
As an illustrator, I was initially somewhat reserved about using artificial intelligence with my artwork. I wondered whether it was appropriate for an artist to use AI at all. In some ways, it felt almost taboo, and I did not want technology to replace the personal creativity, drawing skills, ideas, and artistic experience that I have developed over the years.
After giving it more thought, however, I began to see AI differently. I realized that it could simply be another tool—one that could help me work more efficiently and allow me to spend more time on what matters most to me: sharing the message of Jesus Christ with others.
My purpose in creating these illustrated stories is not to demonstrate what AI can do. My purpose is to communicate the Gospel and biblical truths through visual storytelling. If technology can help me develop scenes more quickly, explore an idea, make adjustments, or complete a story that might otherwise take considerably longer, I am willing to use it as part of my creative process.
I still bring my own ideas, direction, artistic judgment, storytelling, and illustration experience to the work. I decide what the characters should look like, how a scene should be composed, what emotions need to be communicated, what should be changed, and, most importantly, what message the finished story should convey. AI assists me in carrying out some of those ideas; it does not determine the purpose or message behind them.
For the sake of transparency, I want viewers to know that AI is used as an assisting tool in some of the illustrated stories I post on YouTube. I may combine my own artwork, drawings, concepts, designs, editing, and creative direction with AI-assisted imagery as I develop these stories.
I do not want the technology to become the focus. It is simply one of the tools available to me as an illustrator. The pencil, brush, computer, camera, editing software, and now AI can all serve a purpose. What matters to me is what I am using those tools to accomplish.
Ultimately, my desire is simple: to use the abilities and resources God has given me to point people toward Jesus Christ. If AI helps me work faster and enables me to create and share more Christ-centered stories, then I believe it can be useful—provided that I use it responsibly, honestly, and without pretending that AI-assisted work is something it is not.
The tool may change, but the purpose remains the same: Keep Trusting Christ.