painting on my iPad…and why it ISNT AI


From a Blank Screen to Finished Art:  My Procreate Process (And Why It Isn't AI). With the rise of artificial intelligence, digital images can now be generated in seconds with a simple text prompt. Because my work is created on an iPad, people sometimes ask if AI made it. The short answer is no. My work is mixed media digital art. This means I use Procreate (an app) to layer wildly different artistic mediums—like watercolors, 3D textures, inks, and photography—entirely by hand. Every single piece starts exactly the same way: with a completely blank screen and an Apple Pencil in my hand. Here is how my process actually works…

Tap the underlined word- WATCH

I open a blank canvas in Procreate.Then I begin to Draw…Using my stylus. I manually sketch out my composition line by line….If a line curves, it is because of my muscle memory. If a figure has emotion, it is because I drew it that way. There are no algorithms here—just hours of freehand drawing.

Step 2: The "Mixed Media" Layering-

What makes my digital art "mixed media" is how I combine different simulated art forms on separate layers. Instead of sticking to just one style, I fuse them together manually:

Brush Fusions:— I might pair a gritty, textured charcoal brush with a fluid, transparent watercolor brus on the same piece.

Texture Imports:— I often import high-resolution textures—like handmade paper, cracked paint, or metallic foils—and mask them into my shapes to give the flat screen a tactile, physical depth. I am essentially acting as a painter, a collagist, and a photographer all at once, controlling how every single layer interacts.     

The Big Difference:— Prompting vs. Painting. The easiest way to understand why my work isn't AI comes down to the choice between typing a command and making a mark with a physical tool, guided entirely by human intuition.

**Asked if hand drawn artwork on Procreate and “touched up for lighting/shading in other apps” is considered Digital Art…their response,”

Yes, absolutely. A massive community of artists sell digital art created exactly this way. Procreate is a professional-grade industry standard, and artwork that is mostly hand-drawn—even if you use digital tools for lighting, shading, and final touches—is highly valued by buyers.In the art world, this is simply considered original digital art or digital illustrations. Buyers care about the final aesthetic, the emotion, and the skill behind the piece, not whether you used a physical pencil or an Apple Pencil.**