If you commission art, please refrain from using genAI to generate ref images. Because at the end of the day, any usage of exploitative AI directly supports the plagiaristic AI companies and their exploitation/theft of creative labor.
There are so many ethical options you can use to create refs.
Some alternative resources for creating character refs:
Hero Forge (free)
Picrew character creators (free)
Dress-up & doll maker games (free)
Photos, photo collages & mood boards (free)
Self-drawn doodles (free)
RPG character creators (Dragon's Dogma 2, BG3 etc)
Character image packs by creatives
My absolute favourite references clients give me are stickfigures and random doodles
It really doesn't have to be drawn 100% flawless, just some "here's an eye and the scar is a bit like this" is perfect for example
Yup this! Simple stick figures and doodles are often very informative. And it is so much better than receiving an A/I image with a wonky/inaccurate design or an A/I-generated character that is very close to being a rip-off of a character from an existing IP for example
