How Magdiel Lopez turns creative possibility into momentum.
The Cuban-born artist and creative director makes vibrant artwork that combines photography and illustration, using Generative Fill in Photoshop to quickly experiment with custom textures and details.
I am a digital artist that focuses on creating surreal artwork that blends a little bit of photography, art, illustration and color to bring human storytelling.
Creativity shaped by resilience and personal experience
My life story also is a life story of limitations and having to overcome different things.
So it's something that really coexists with my creative work.
I feel like creativity is deeply human.
The role of AI should be a supporting role.
Using AI as a creative support tool
I don't want to delegate my creativity.
I want it to be something that helps me execute faster and live in that zone when I'm creating, and it’s keeping that momentum going for me.
I like how Generative Fill helps me with that.
I did remember feeling a little scared too, of like, what is the future going to be like and how can we be responsible about this?
But also I felt excited about what will I create with this.
It was incredible to see something that just take place in front of you, especially with my background of not having images.
The transformative impact of generative image creation
I'm from Havana, Cuba.
There wasn't any internet.
I couldn't get any images at all.
So being able to type something into a computer and get a result within seconds felt like magic to me.
Protecting creative momentum with Generative Fill
It's not so much about the speed.
It's about the momentum, because the speed and the pain of the creative process is something that I enjoy, and I feel like great ideas come from it, right?
Generative Fill helps me protect that momentum.
I'm always excited about the future.
Embracing the future of creativity for everyone
I feel like it’s hard not to be excited about a future where possibilities are endless.
And also there's opportunity for everybody to create.
Keep creating.
Keep being resilient and fearless.
Nobody holds the key to creativity, something open for everybody to enjoy and for everybody to really take advantage of.
“To be able to do something that translate what you have in your brain into something that you can see immediately is like magic.”
Introduction
My name is Magdiel Lopez and I am a digital artist and creative director based in Dallas, Texas.
I like to work in the digital medium, so I use a lot of like Photoshop, Illustrator to mix photography and illustration into one.
I want people to feel something when they see my work.
One cool thing about AI
Using AI to enhance creative control
is the possibility of controlling it as much as possible.
So in this case, I created a whole jacket — I literally sketched with shadows and everything, and then I'm able to use Generative Fill and texture this sketch the way I want the jacket to be.
So I'm able to ask, hey, make it a denim jacket with this texture.
So I open the new document and selected Generative Fill
Creating custom assets with Generative Fill
and then spoke to it, like, describing exactly what I wanted.
In this case, I want it to be big, fluffy, contrasty.
I want to have control as much as possible because I feel like that's how it helps my art.
Integrating AI-generated elements into compositions
After creating the clouds, it's really easy to make it a Smart Object.
Bring them into your composition.
Maintaining artistic vision and creative momentum
For myself as an artist, I want to understand what can help me execute better my vision.
I remember the first time I saw Generative Fill.
It felt like magic to me.
What I like about AI is that it's not so much about speed as it is about momentum.
Step 1: Add style and texture.
Magdiel often combines elements of photography with bold, graphic illustration. In this artwork, he used Generative Fill to add detail and texture to his sketch of a denim poncho.
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Step 2: Create atmospheric detail.
Try generating a custom image for your background. For this design, Magdiel opened up a separate document and created a prompt for the exact kind of cloud he had in mind, then selected one that matched his vision.
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Step 3: Turn it into a Smart Object.
He then turned the generative layer into a Smart Object and dragged and dropped it into his working file, using his favorite techniques to work the image into the composition.
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Step 4: Finesse and finalize.
Once Magdiel was satisfied, he added and adjusted more elements until it felt just right. “I want people to feel something when they see my work,” he says, “to mirror what they’re looking at with their own feelings.”
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