# @stevedmcdonald on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DOSJc2GjJci
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/63359502-stevedmcdonald-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/79264dd7b2.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-09-07T02:03:07.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Steve McDonald 🎨📚 (@stevedmcdonald) — https://gondola.cc/stevedmcdonald

## Caption

'The Echo Child'

Everyone keeps asking for process pics…the tricky part is my process keeps changing. Every new tool rewrites the rules (hello, Nano-Banana). While building my next course, I’ve been doing full walk-throughs with multiple steps, so I figured I’d share part of one with you. Partly to show the fun behind the scenes, and partly to give you a taste of what the course feels like.

This is the kind of stuff we’ll dive into together: characters, landscapes, architecture, whole worlds. The course drops on Sept 17 - sign-up link’s in my profile.

Swipe through the steps:

After the red-lined intro sketch:

1. My input character sketch. Could be loose, depending on your skill and models you plan on using. 
2. A second sketch, for the background instruction, this one’s years old, some of you may remember it. Algoma. 
3. First AI merge. Placement, scale, all still in my control. Added some tattoos to annoy the Puritans. 
4. The first colored result, steered by my own color palette + style model.
5. A custom portrait model, for refining face + vibe.
6. A sketch mask overlay, to pull it back to linework.
7. Variations…color, mood, lighting. Loads of options. 
8. First Final. But maybe I find the background is too boring. 
9. A new background, rebuilt with one of my crazier botanical models. Same original background input sketch. 
10. Second Final composite: AI + Photoshop + Topaz + texture mask.

See the next post for the third and final version and my favorite after looping the whole process a few times. Looping. Fun. 

From rough lines to polished illustration, every stage is about guiding, nudging, shaping. The AI doesn’t “decide”…I do. And that’s the heart of what I’ll teach: how to take your sketches, ideas, and worlds, and bring them alive with these new tools. Your way. 

This is just one example, imagine building entire worlds like this.

Sign up before Sept 17. Let’s make something new together. Link is in my profile. 

#imagecrafting #illustration #artoftheday #digitalart #aicreativity #artistsoninstagram #artcommunity #stevemcdonald #processart #worldbuilding

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## Tags

illustration, artcommunity, processart, artoftheday, aicreativity, worldbuilding, artistsoninstagram, imagecrafting, stevemcdonald, digitalart

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