A first time author has written his first novel - "epic science fiction" - and wants it to go on Apple Books as an e-book. He had an image he liked and wanted BriarsBooks to create a front cover from it because he didn't know how to.
The original image
His first instructions to me were that he wanted a "human" to make the cover because of the mounting backlash against AI-generated content in the sci-fi community. He preferred me to work from old photos of him in his "younger years" dressed as a combatant, but leave the face because it looked like him.
I explained that the work involved in re-creating his clothing to look like what he was wearing in his photos, and fitting them on his body using my software, might cost him anything from 5-10 times more than using AI.
He was was largely pacified when I explained that I did not generate the complete cover with AI but only used it to help me create portions of the cover image which were then merged into the cover by a "human".
The cover image he gave me was the wrong aspect ratio to fit AppleBooks' specs so the image had to be extended outwards to stop the muzzle of the gun and an elbow from being lopped off in the resize. Photoshop's generative expand came in handy
Initially he wanted the title to have fire in it. I created what he wanted using AI. He didn't like it but was ambivalent about what he did want.
The finished cover
We settled on 3D text of military grey steel, with rivets showing and a gradient reflecting the light. I created the 3D text in Photoshop and imported it into AI for embellishing.
Both the title and author's name were created separately using similar text prompts in AI, then imported into Photoshop for matching colour and tone.
Using curves and other tools I selectively lightened and highlighted areas of the image to make it pop.
Conclusion : This author was happy to discover that BriarsBooks used AI as an assistive tool only and that much more work was done by a "human hand". than by AI.