Have you ever seen someone use the excuse that they use AI because they can’t draw? Well, that’s completely false! If someone wants to create something but can’t draw, they can always edit images together. Here’s a very simple how-to on drawing and photo editing to avoid using AI.

First, depending on what you’re drawing or editing, you want to find a base. A lot of the time, people who don’t normally do art will need something for reference. The best place to go for bases is Pinterest, and if you’re doing photo editing, you can also find the photo or photos you want to edit together on Pinterest as well.

Second, when drawing, you can always trace over the base to get a simple understanding of where things should go and what they should look like. What helps for me is to break everything up into simple shapes. For example, in faces, you trace over the eyes, nose, mouth, and eyebrows to figure out the basic shapes of those features. When editing, especially when editing two photos together, you should cut out one of the images. There are very simple ways to remove the backgrounds. For example, on an iPhone, you can hold down the picture to select the area you want to cut out and just copy it or save it, or you can use websites like Canva and Adobe.

Third, in drawing, you’re theoretically at a point where you can add details! There’s no specific way to add the details, just whatever you think would look best on your drawing. In photo editing, you can now put your photos together. Paste it in on a layer above the original and play with the placement until it looks good to you.

Last is coloring. For drawing, you don’t have to color if you don’t want to, but if you want to, you can. There really is no in-depth technique to coloring, especially with simple artwork, so whatever makes you feel happy, art is about expressing yourself after all! When editing a photo, the coloring matters a lot more. You want to match the colors so that your edit looks more realistic. Playing with the settings and filters in whatever program you used is definitely recommended.

Now, you should have something that resembles art or an edited photo without using generative AI. Make sure to have fun with these; the best way to learn how to get better is to practice and not put so much pressure on yourself.