You don't just paint a better version of the generated images, you look at a bunch of generated images, and get a better idea of what you want to paint from that.
Say you know you want to do a portrait of a woman in armor, you can generate a dozen of those in around a minute on a 3090, look at the generated armors, the faces (usually all sorts of screwed up), and the composition. Its just a way to kickstart the creation process.
Yes, I get that but if everyone’s doing it it becomes a race to the bottom sort of thing… I hope I am wrong and things turn out in a completely different direction that I can’t see now
You say 'look at the generated armors' etc. but this does not mention what you use to look with: the artist's eye.
People so quickly assume that access to these tools will make everyone an artist, but the raw output is so lacking in a voice and intentionality. If you supply the voice and intentionality through your iterative process and a hybrid visual/text language playing the generator like a violin… you're playing the generator like a violin.
Your artistic skills have been translated to a wholly new set of vocabularies, and it's your eye that is tested most. Can you see/imagine better than the next guy?
Say you know you want to do a portrait of a woman in armor, you can generate a dozen of those in around a minute on a 3090, look at the generated armors, the faces (usually all sorts of screwed up), and the composition. Its just a way to kickstart the creation process.