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How to use generative AI in your art practice.
Create new images, refine preexisting ones, hone technical drawings, brand graphics, concept art, and more. Learn how to use generative AI as a brainstorming tool and a down-to-the-detail editor, and explore ways that AI is changing the art world.
Start making AI art.
If you’re ready to begin experimenting with generative AI in your art practice, it’s simple to get started. You can use Adobe Firefly for all kinds of projects from generating new images, editing preexisting ones, creating text effects, recoloring artwork, and more. Learn more about how to make AI art and hone your craft. And read on to learn about some key use cases for generative AI in the creative arts.
Get to know the ever-evolving world of generative AI art.
From fantastically realized futuristic landscapes to meticulous architectural designs, generative AI art takes many forms — and there are many use cases, too. From brainstorming to creating fully realized works of art, AI art has a place in nearly every creative practice. But it’s oversimplifying to describe AI art as just the result — it’s a complex process of creation that requires a unique combination of technology and human imagination.
Before getting into the details of creating different projects, it’s good to have a base level understanding of how AI art works. AI art begins with input chosen by you — it could be a written text prompt describing the content you want to see or other media, like an image.
The generative AI technology then uses that description to create new content from patterns in large datasets. For instance, you can use the AI art generator Adobe Firefly to create new images, text effects, color palettes, and more, with just a few simple words.
The world of generative AI is fascinating and evolving. Discover more about what AI art is and how to make it.
Prompt: A cityscape from the future where buildings are living plants and there are flying glass cars. A view from great height.
How is AI changing art?
Any time a new mode of creation shakes up the way people make art — be it the printing press or digital modes of creation like drawing and painting on a tablet — the art world begins a cycle of investigation, experimentation, and rediscovery. While the tools may change, it’s the artist’s creativity and intent that is their most important asset. As you explore the best use cases for AI art, it’s helpful to understand how other artists are using this revolutionary new medium. Artwork created with generative AI technology has appeared at major museums like the Museum of Modern Art in New York, been auctioned at Sotheby’s, and become the focal point of gallery shows worldwide.
Artists are using generative AI to remix their own artworks and display them in new — even unrecognizable — ways, as an assistant that creates artwork alongside them, and to explore themes around technology and the nature of artmaking.
Anyone who wants to try making AI art can use easily accessible tools like Adobe Firefly to hone their skill and create works that are truly personal to them.
How does generative AI expand creativity?
New technology is an invitation to rethink the way people make art. Generative AI, for example, is a powerful tool for exploration as well as a means to an end. Many artists use generative AI to push the boundaries of how they create and modify artworks in surprising ways. For instance, an artist may talk with a generative AI chatbot about their artmaking to spark new ideas, or experiment with different painting techniques styles using an AI painting generator. A common misconception about generative AI art is that it is always simple, easy, and quickly done. Many artists spend a great deal of time thinking about the implications of AI generated art, experimenting with the technologies, and honing specific skillsets to produce results that require hours of practice and thought.
These are techniques anyone can apply to their art practice or even use to push past creative blocks. Think of generative AI as an assistant that helps you explore new ideas and examine your artmaking from a new perspective. If you treat generative AI like a tool for exploration, it can open new doors for you creatively and enable you to make personalized art that audiences connect with emotionally.
Explore the top three AI art use cases.
1. Concept art use cases.
Character and world building
Creating new characters and environments is the foundation for video game, animation, and comics projects. Using highly descriptive prompts with an AI character generator to create initial ideas can help establish the visual language of everything from characters to background art and objects.
Brand graphics
Generative AI can be extremely useful for graphic design projects, which also often begin with rough concepts of finished designs. Designers can use AI art to determine direction and generate options for clients when working on brand projects. For instance, you can use Text to Vector Graphic in Adobe Illustrator to quickly generate a variety of logo concepts. You can use generative AI art to craft storyboards and pitch decks, as well as assist in product prototyping and visualization.
Technical designs
You can use generative AI art to help create concepts for architectural, fashion, and informational graphics. Use descriptive prompts to kickstart fashion illustration and product projects or to stress test new ideas when beginning an architectural design. Or use text to image to draft visual components for infographics.
2. Creative assistant use cases.
Inspiration and brainstorming
One of the key ways generative AI can assist in the creative process is by facilitating brainstorming and inspiration. Using prompts to quickly create images related to an initial idea can help spark ideas around everything from style to color. Generative AI can be used to create reference images for analog art, or to iterate on your own artwork so that you can see it presented in new and surprising ways.
Efficiency
Use generative AI to automate tasks that take away time spent creating. Quickly generate multiple variations of an initial design by tweaking one or two words in the prompt and use those to assemble presentations for clients. Add objects and people to architectural, interior, and landscape concepts. Create backgrounds for your product imagery rather than spending time producing your own photoshoots.
Image refinement
Generative AI is a powerful way to fine-tune imagery. Tools like Generative Fill can be used to quickly and dramatically alter images by adding and removing content. Create new content tailored to a prompt, or simply expand and fill images with content that blends into the existing image. Retouching images with generative AI renders multi-step processes near instant and saves time on searching stock imagery databases. It also allows for wild experimentation; play with your photos and see where it leads you.
- Define the style.
Include references to art styles in prompts like "impressionist landscape painting" or "cubist portrait.”
- Describe the composition.
Use descriptive text to define the desired composition like "a close-up portrait with subject on the right third.”
- Adjust the lighting.
Specify lighting such as "dramatic chiaroscuro lighting" or "soft golden hour lighting.”
- Control the details.
Request more or less detail in areas by using prompts like "intricately detailed clothing, softly blurred background.”
- Craft color palettes.
Define colors directly by using descriptions like "muted tones of olive green and burgundy" or name a specific palette.
- Describe themes.
Include descriptive themes like "solarpunk future cityscape" or "whimsical fairy forest.”
- Create mood and atmosphere.
Use emotive descriptors like "serene, tranquil, dreamlike" or "unsettling, creepy, sinister.”
- Generate objects and characters.
Specify inclusion of objects like "statues, fountains, vines" or characters like "a powerful sorceress.”
- Revise the results.
Tweak prompts to refine outputs by using commands like "brighter, more fantastical, intricate details.”
Original prompt: A red spotted mushroom growing in a forest surrounded by moss and grass.
3. AI art use cases in museums, music, and beyond.
AI art on display
It’s now common to encounter AI art in traditional art spaces. One of the most high-profile artists working with AI today is Refik Anadol, who exhibits creations worldwide, including in Los Angeles where his “living paintings” use algorithms to transform publicly available datasets of the Californian landscape into pulsing, abstract displays on massive screens. Viewers get to experience their local environment in an entirely unique way. In 2019, the artist Anna Ridler created a series of digital tulips with the help of AI, which “wilted” (deleted themselves) shortly after being sold. The multimedia artist Ellie Pritts manipulates AI generated images with vintage digital mediums to create glitchy, psychedelic videos. AI art is new and buzzy — but it also enables artists to play with the way viewers interact with and consume art.
Art restoration
AI is helping art restoration specialists restore and revive lost masterpieces. In the 18th century, parts of Rembrandt’s painting “The Night Watch” were cut away. In 2021, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam used artificial intelligence to recreate the missing parts of the painting and debuted a complete, restored version of the work to the public for the first time since 1715. The uses of artificial intelligence in art restoration are only beginning to be explored.
Music, fashion, and beyond
Artworks made with the assistance of generative AI have proliferated across genres. A team of scientists and musicians were able to use artificial intelligence to complete Beethoven’s unfinished 10th symphony in 2021. AI assisted articles have appeared in the pages of Harper’s Magazine and The New Yorker. In 2023, scientist Christine Dierk debuted a digital dress designed with the help of AI at the annual Adobe MAX conference. The sleeveless sheath displayed patterns that changed and shifted, highlighting how AI can be used in the fashion world. As the power and accessibility of artificial intelligence grows, so will applications throughout all creative mediums.
Research scientist Christine Dierk shows off an interactive dress created with Adobe Firefly at Adobe MAX 2023.
Beyond brushes: The future of generative AI as a new artistic medium.
Generative AI is a powerful and exciting new medium for creative expression and should be treated like any object in an artists’ toolbox: an implement for human expression guided by the imagination of the creator.
Adobe is committed to making creator-first AI tools that inspire artists and augment creative expression. Try Adobe Firefly today and see where your imagination leads you.