AI-Assisted Creation: Brigitte Bardot Reimagined

Given the many tributes to Brigitte Bardot shared on Facebook, it inspired me to create my own. Not to reproduce what already existed, but to offer a more personal, AI-assisted creation, at the intersection of collective memory and contemporary illustration.

Starting from a black-and-white photograph uploaded into Photoshop Beta, I explored the potential of artificial intelligence as a creative tool to restore colour and artistic expression. I then refined several details manually in Photoshop, shaping a portrait of Brigitte Bardot that sits somewhere between remembrance and artistic creation.

When AI-Assisted Creation Becomes an Artistic Lever

Through this project, I show how AI-assisted creation integrates into my creative process without ever replacing my artistic choices. The steps below illustrate the dialogue between my own intervention and AI tools, from raw source material to the final image.

Step 1 – The Original Imprint

A black-and-white photograph serves as the starting point—raw and expressive, acting as an emotional anchor. The gaze already captures something timeless.

Step 2 – Neural Colourisation

The image is colourised with AI, laying the foundations for a face ready to be stylized.

Step 3 – Algorithmic Stylisation

The colour photograph is reinterpreted in a watercolor style. The grain becomes painterly, the shadows soften. The algorithm sketches the face and hair in a deliberately minimalist way.

Step 4 – Vintage Lighting

Each detail is refined by hand: increased contrast in the gaze, a darker upper lip, and the addition of drawn contours and sketch-like details. The human hand reclaims control of the style.

Step 5 – Manual Retouching

The shadows are tinted pink with Photoshop, and the lighting takes on a cinematic quality. The image evokes 1960s film posters, balancing glamour and nostalgia.

Step 6 – An Artistic Texture

The edges of the image are partially whitened, especially around the outer hairline, revealing sketch lines in a sanguine tone—a coloured pencil traditionally used by artists. This treatment allows the image to detach from realism and enter the Lemireart visual universe.

The Final Stroke

This portrait is part of a highly inspiring editorial illustration approach. It is my fourth tribute portrait of a deceased public figure created in 2025.

This type of work could naturally fit in a general-interest publication looking to mark a significant moment in a public figure’s life through a bold, non-conventional tribute image.

It is, however, essential to highlight the importance of usage rights for the source photograph, particularly when it comes from an image bank.

The portrait was completed in under an hour and a half, a fraction of the time a fully manual, digital illustration would normally require.

This animation highlights the creative process. It demonstrates how an illustrator can move beyond the capabilities of AI by combining multiple images and refining the result through targeted retouching.

Discover my visual universe and my illustrated portraits of public figures and cars by visiting my portfolio at lemireart.com/fr/mon-portfolio. Do you need an illustration for a publication or a professional document? Call me at 514 528-8908 to discuss your ideas and bring them to life.

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Alain Lemire, illustrator. With 12 years of experience and nearly 3,000 illustrations to my name, I create detailed renderings of cars and portraits of public figures. My style draws on watercolour and coloured pencil techniques, with a textured finish that brings each subject to life.