Pablo Delcan, a leading conceptual editorial illustrator, has launched an innovative art project that explores the blurred boundaries between human creativity and artificial intelligence. His new book, "Prompt-Brush 1.0: The First Non-AI Generative Art Model," challenges the growing dominance of AI image generators by reversing the traditional creative process and positioning himself as a "human AI model."
The project began when Delcan confronted a troubling realization about his own work. For over a decade, his career had involved receiving manuscripts and drafts for books, newspapers, and magazine articles, then transforming text into imagery. "It's a process not so different from the one AI models use to generate images from prompts," Delcan writes in his book's foreword. This similarity prompted him to question what distinguishes human artistic creation from machine-generated content.
Instead of competing against AI technology, Delcan decided to mimic it. He solicited prompts through social media and transformed them into simple, quick drawings. Drawing inspiration from his son Rio's sketches, Delcan aimed to understand the fundamental differences between human and machine-made art, particularly regarding complexity and emotional depth. What initially began as a one or two-day experiment evolved into a major undertaking as thousands of people submitted prompts through his website, Prompt-Brush.com.
Delcan's artistic development was shaped by significant mentors in his career. Carin Goldberg, his former employer and later colleague at the School of Visual Arts, taught him about process, beauty, and design thinking. Peter Mendelsund, who hired him at Pantheon Books, helped him embrace playfulness and abandon overcomplicated approaches to creating quality work. These influences contributed to what many consider his intelligent conceptual illustration voice.
The inspiration for "Prompt-Brush" came during a year when Delcan frequently illustrated articles about AI's dangers and ethical implications. A pivotal moment occurred when The Washington Post requested that he modify his illustrations to appear more AI-generated. This request sparked the opposite question: how could he create work that felt distinctly human? Rather than serving as critique or activism, the project became a genuine experiment in exploring human creativity within AI's formal framework.
Delcan acknowledges both benefits and drawbacks of generative AI technology. On the negative side, he notes that AI has diminished the visual impact of his previous work style, particularly highly realistic photoshoots of fabricated objects and conceptual sculptures, which AI can now easily replicate. He also expresses concern about content oversaturation, questioning how society will distinguish between artificial and authentic content when AI makes creating "anything" effortlessly possible.
However, Delcan has been an early AI adopter since 2021, experimenting with printing large AI-generated portraits and painting over them, using AI to help program video games for his children, and creating custom drawing software with AI coding assistance. He views AI as a tool for expanding his creative capabilities while helping him evolve and determine what kind of work he wants to create in an AI-dominated future.
Drawing inspiration from the 2017 documentary "AlphaGo," where DeepMind's AI defeated a Go master through unprecedented moves, Delcan seeks to understand how AI can improve his artistic practice. Go player Lee Sedol credited his AI defeat with making him a better player, and Delcan pursues a similar transformation. He believes the answer isn't necessarily using more AI in his process, but rather creating work that responds authentically to this new technological context.
To maintain similarity with AI processes, Delcan completes most drawings in under a minute, with complex ones taking up to two minutes. He has illustrated approximately 1,700 prompts so far and continues drawing daily, though over 7,800 prompts remain in his Excel file awaiting completion. The book's design intentionally resembles sleek technology packaging that an AI company might use to promote their latest model, creating contrast with the decidedly human artwork inside.
Among his favorite prompts are "purpose," "resilience," "anxiety," and "forgiveness"—words that required him to draw from personal experience rather than universal imagery. He particularly appreciates these challenging prompts because different people would interpret them uniquely based on their own experiences. His fifth favorite prompt, "chair," appeals to him simply because he enjoys drawing furniture.
Regarding future plans, Delcan created a chatbot named Echo for the book's conclusion. When asked about a sequel, Echo suggested ending the project at version 1.0 while inviting him to let the next phase surprise him. Currently, no sequel is planned as Delcan focuses on completing the existing prompt backlog.
Delcan views his relationship with AI as necessarily complex, suggesting that coexisting with the technology might require simultaneously being "at war" with it. He emphasizes the importance of understanding AI's potential to effectively push back against its influence while remaining excited and empowered by its capabilities.
For artists and aspiring creators, Delcan positions his handbook as a method for finding one's voice through simple experimentation. He encourages readers to view this technological moment as cathartic—an opportunity to reinvent themselves and their industry, rediscover their purpose, and recognize why human contributions remain irreplaceable. His ultimate goal is empowering readers to feel optimistic about human creativity's future, arguing that despite widespread anxiety about AI, this moment presents unprecedented opportunities for authentic human work to flourish.
