# @stevedmcdonald on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DHytujeu2w5
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/63359887-stevedmcdonald-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/fb0af599d3.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-03-29T17:56:03.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Steve McDonald 🎨📚 (@stevedmcdonald) — https://gondola.cc/stevedmcdonald

## Caption

'Trained to Draw, Built to Dream'

If yesterday’s post was about the right to build cities in the clouds, this one’s about the blueprints that make those cities believable. What you’re looking at here isn’t concept art, not exactly. It’s the output of diffusion models trained—carefully, intentionally, obsessively—to speak the language of my lines. These aren’t filters. They aren’t tricks. They’re the result of drawing a thousand times, scanning a thousand more, refining image sets, tweaking noise schedules, and finally watching something beautiful emerge: images that feel like they came from a draftsperson who grew up reading manga, Tintin, Asterix, Moebius, and architectural plans in equal measure.

The argument remains the same. Artistic tools evolve. Our hands evolve with them. And yes, these images are built on the bones of a thousand influences—but so is every cathedral, every panel in every comic you’ve ever loved, every subway map, every storyboard. There is no "from scratch." There’s just from somewhere—and how well you make it your own.

This is the moment to lean in, not flinch. Take the same care you would with a brush or pen and apply it to model training, dataset curation, and style iteration. That’s what this course is about. And there’s only a day and a half left to jump in before registration closes.

Fun Story:
When I was ten, I spent a summer drawing nothing but imaginary buildings on legal pads. I didn’t know the term “axonometric,” but I knew that if I tilted the roofline just right, I could fit a secret library inside. What I didn’t know then is that I was training my eye—and that decades later, I’d be training machines to see the same way. Some things change. Some things stay weirdly, wonderfully the same.

👉 Click the only link in my profile to join the fun. Less than 2 days left to buy the course.

#drawing #diffusiondrawing #worldbuilding #imagination #lessons #digitalillustration #aiart #midjourney #customdiffusionmodels #openart #digitalart #imagecrafting #teaching #art #adobe #topaz #welearn #worldbuilding #artbysteve #moodboards #onlinecourse

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 1,609
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## Tags

teaching, onlinecourse, midjourney, imagination, customdiffusionmodels, topaz, digitalillustration, adobe, welearn, moodboards, drawing, lessons, art, worldbuilding, openart, artbysteve, aiart, imagecrafting, digitalart, diffusiondrawing

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