As a writer, I like to create visuals of my characters. I enjoy seeing them, and it helps me as a writer too. At first I engaged in a private game of casting, using photos of contemporary actors and performers, to envision my characters. For example, Parsifal the Elf Clown was deeply inspired by Puddles, the Sad Clown with the Golden Voice. Parsifal’s daughter, Breadcrumb, was inspired by Angela Mae, a clown bellydancer who performed with the punk clown band, Gooferman. I kept charts of the images, and often changed them if I saw a person closer to my own conception.

Human Hermits & Elven Mentors

These are the most up to date images of my main human and Elf characters, as of July 26, 2026. What you see below are the humans paired with their Elven mentors.

Using HeroForge Avatars to Create Character Visuals

Yes, the above images are created by AI. But years ago I began using HeroForge to create 2-D and 3-D avatar versions of everyone in my books, playing with individual and group images. I even paid to create a few small figures, but these types of custom avatars are expensive! You can see examples, below.

Using Generative AI to Create Character Visuals

Then came AI imaging. Yes, I have a love/hate relationship with this tool. I have written extensively about the impacts of AI on human relationships, and somewhat less extensively about environmental impacts, deployment dangers, copyright infringement, and other industry harms. I never use it for writing. But I have often used AI to create illustrations for articles in publications that require them, along with my written work, but don’t give me a budget for artwork (and artists).

However, I just started using AI as a tool for visualizing my characters. I am now able to take my HeroForge images, load them into Ideogram.ai, and turn them into more realistic versions. You can compare the difference in the pictures above and below.

A Note About My Use of A.I.

I’m quite aware of the backlash against using AI. As a writer, I despise the competition as well as the copyright infringement and outright theft of creative work. I understand the artists as well. Therefore, I have not used AI to create the images and designs used in my new covers.

However, it is helpful to me to use various technologies to create visuals of my characters, which I use to enrich my sense of their appearance and personality, as well as in decorating this website. I use VistaCreate (not the AI features), HeroForge, and Ideogram.ai, as well as my own imagination.