An artist blended hand drawing and AI into a tribute to the teachers who shaped
A hand-drawn eye, phoenix and lotus, reworked with AI and recoloured by hand, honouring the instructors behind one person's growth.
This artist turned gratitude into something you can see. Starting from their own hand-drawn lines, they brought in AI-generated enhancements and finished with personal touches in the colouring. The result is a set of vivid variations on one design, made as a thank-you to the teachers who changed them.
Before
This artist has long worked with traditional hand-drawn techniques: fine ink lines, mandala-like patterns, careful detail. Along the way, a group of instructors profoundly influenced their personal development journey. They wanted a way to say what those teachings had meant.
“This completed artwork stands as a heartfelt tribute to the instructors who have profoundly influenced my personal development journey.”
In their own words
The turning point
In the program, they chose to bring AI into a craft that had always been done by hand. Rather than replacing their drawing, they used AI-generated enhancements on top of it, then returned to the piece to colour it themselves. The tribute became the place where old skills and new tools met.
After
They completed an artwork built around a central eye, a rising phoenix, a lotus and a compass star, shown in several versions: hand-coloured on paper, and digitally reworked in glowing blues and in fiery red and ice. Each version carries the same hand-drawn structure, so their own line stays at the heart of it.
What it lets people do
The piece gives the artist's gratitude a visible form that others can look at and feel. It also shows other makers one way to use AI as a partner to hand-drawn work rather than a replacement for it.
What they learned
They found that blending traditional technique, AI and personal touches can capture something as intangible as the transformative power of teaching. Their own hand still finishes the work, and that is where the meaning lives.
“By blending my traditional hand-drawn techniques, AI-generated enhancements, and personal touches in the final coloring, I have created a piece that captures the transformative power of their teachings and celebrates their unique contributions to growth and mindfulness.”
In their own words
See the work
Tribute artwork to transformative teachers was built during AI Mastery.
Read the full submission
Written 18 January 2025 Submitted by the storyteller
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