Procreate
Some time ago, I fell into a period of anxiety and suddenly felt the urge to return to drawing as a way to decompress. Although I studied design in the past and practiced things like sketching, my background was ultimately more engineering-oriented rather than fine arts. Drawing human figures was something I had almost no foundation in, so the idea of creating a self-portrait felt completely beginner-level to me.
Later, while browsing online, I came across minimalist line-art illustrations. I found it interesting how just a few simple strokes could express something meaningful. It felt especially suitable for people without much drawing experience (like me—though after practicing, I realized that minimalist drawing is actually quite difficult). I decided to invest in Apple's Procreate app and even bought an Apple Pencil, officially starting a short period of learning and imitating simple line-art illustrations.
Drawing My Profile Photo
Coincidentally, I was working on this personal website and needed a profile photo. I ended up using a rather awkward self-portrait sketch from one of my earlier line-art practice sessions (shown below). Later, I realized that the black-and-white version looked a bit monotonous, and the brush strokes from my practice were quite messy.
Since AI image generation has become so advanced, I had a sudden idea: I let an AI help smooth out the brush strokes and add color. That said, AI can usually only provide a rough direction—the finer details still weren't quite right. So I made further adjustments in Photoshop, refining certain parts manually. The final result is the profile photo currently used on this website.
Still, the AI-generated image feels a bit too AI-like—lacking a sense of human warmth. AI also seems to love gradients, adding as many flashy effects as possible. It might be partly due to my prompts not being precise enough. When I have more time, I plan to revisit it and make further improvements.
Some Reflections
I've often used AI as an assistant for writing code, but this was my first time seriously trying AI-assisted design. It really made me realize how powerful AI has become in the design field. A lot of early-stage design work no longer requires specialized professionals, and overall efficiency has increased dramatically.
It truly feels like AI is replacing many roles, and the impact is huge. Sometimes it makes me wonder whether AI will eventually replace humans entirely 🫥.