# @stevedmcdonald on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DRVaX0cAXYW
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/63359333-stevedmcdonald-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/52f78bb223.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-11-21T22:02:53.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Steve McDonald 🎨📚 (@stevedmcdonald) — https://gondola.cc/stevedmcdonald

## Caption

'The Apothecary of Custom Diffusion'

Heyo! I'm releasing all three of my AI image-crafting courses from the last two years as one discounted bundle for Black Friday....

...I’ve started thinking of custom diffusion models as magical illustrative elixirs. Each one is its own little bottle of visual potential, waiting to be uncorked at exactly the right moment. They can finish an image, reshape it, twist its mood, tint its emotion, refine its subject, nudge a style, or drop a whole new atmosphere over the scene. If you can imagine a purpose, you can probably train a model to do it.

I keep an entire shelf of them now: portrait tonics, botanical draughts, architectural infusions, color brews, texture serums, weather philters, timeframe distillations, mood tinctures, even odd little cloud concoctions. Every one of them trained with my own drawings, photos, palettes, scribbles, compositional notes, or whatever raw material feels right. Five hundred images in, a new elixir comes out.

And the fun part is how they stack and blend. You can chain models, layer them, mix their training sets, dial their strength, tease out likeness or looseness, and keep brewing until something clicks. It’s visual alchemy with no rules, just instincts and curiosity. Once you understand how to make these things and how to wield them, you end up with a cabinet of creative potions you can use forever, each one shaped by your own hand.

A personal apothecary of image-crafting magic.

Perfect for the course bundle release. Sign up in my bio. Use the course link. 

The professor is in. The corks are off.
Take a sip. Let’s make some worlds.

#illustration #artcourse #aiart #artistsoninstagram #aiartworkflow #diffusiontools #digitalillustration #creativeprocess #arteducation #worldbuilding #fantasticalrealism #surrealillustration #blackfridayart #artprints #christmasprints #hybridart #imagecrafting #illustratorslife #aiandart #visualstorytelling #imaginationtonic #oldschoolartist #newschooltools

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 1,833
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- **Comments:** 9

## Tags

aiandart, newschooltools, creativeprocess, digitalillustration, artistsoninstagram, oldschoolartist, diffusiontools, blackfridayart, christmasprints, illustratorslife, illustration, fantasticalrealism, visualstorytelling, artcourse, worldbuilding, hybridart, surrealillustration, aiartworkflow, aiart, imagecrafting, imaginationtonic, artprints, arteducation

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