Creating an infinite loop with Heidi Peel

Illustration created by Heidi Peel using Adobe Firefly

Generative AI is bringing a new chapter of possibilities, amplifying creativity and intelligence without replacing the beauty and power of human imagination.

Designer Heidi Peel often works with musicians, tasked with creating illustrations that convey the hidden meaning and emotions behind their work.

We recently spoke with Heidi about using generative AI as a creative partner to open doors to opportunities previously unimagined.

The creator's role in guiding Generative AI

Like all creative tools, it takes a human to operate generative AI. For Heidi, embracing generative AI in the design process isn’t about relinquishing control, but about “working with it as a partner in the creative process,” she says.

When reflecting on leveraging generative AI for the first time, Heidi says she “was sitting there like ‘do my project for me’, and it wasn’t going to do that. I had to sit there and think about what specific prompts I could give it.”

Creators need to be the architects of their own vision, contemplating what it is that they want to accomplish and use generative AI as the support to get them there.

Adding the human touch

AI expands the realm of creative possibility, but even as the technology grows more advanced, it cannot replicate the unique elements that human emotions bring to creativity.

According to Heidi, this is where creators assume an irreplaceable role. Artists are the conduits through which depth, emotion and meaning are embedded in work, and Generative AI becomes the powerful tool that helps turn that emotion and imagination into something physical.

Using Generative AI to create an infinite loop

Heidi’s journey as an artist has often found her illustrating the hidden emotions and meanings that musicians have embedded in their music. Using Generative AI, Heidi joined our Takeover Tomorrow campaign along with Victor and Elena to reinforce the power of music with visual storytelling.

Many creators know the feeling of going around in circles, feeling stuck or facing writer's block. Inspired by a track by music group Please Wait, Heidi used Adobe Firefly to create an animated illustration that captures the feeling of being trapped in an endless loop and breaking free.

“I thought it would be cool to have an infinite loop that came from this virtual world and went into the real world, and then back into the virtual world, on a loop back and forth,” she says.

“Leveraging Generative AI was a bit of a process. I had to sit and think about what it feels like to be in an infinite loop, what elements and colours that that represented to me. Then I started giving it really specific prompts,” says Heidi.

Using Generative AI as her creative partner, Heidi seamlessly married music with illustration to create a visual that communicates and connects with viewers on a deeper level.

There is so much to learn from this year’s Adobe MAX. Hear more from Heidi and learn about how creators are dreaming bigger with generative AI.