In the context of illustration, I don't think there is any way to use AI in any stage and feel proud of the outcome. I love craft. Deeply. I have devoted 1000's of hours to it. And I am just OK. Maybe in a decade, and another 10,000 hours I can resemble something great. And the work necessary to get there will have been worth it. And only after I've worked to gain the ability to draw at the level I want, will I be able to tell the stories I had spent that decade developing on the page. Using gen AI in place of your inner filter (muse) is robbing you of the experience of making something you didn't know you had in you. And making it in a way only you can. I have recently taken some Character Design for gaming classes and I got insight on how Gen AI is used. Generally, even there, they are not using it to prototype. They are using tools that can take context and create character turnarounds (orthographics). In that regard, knowing how tedious that can be, and knowing that you just need to get your complete idea to the sculptor ASAP. And you'll need to adjust whatever that output is...it starts to make sense. But again, ONLY in a capitalistic context. I have seen other artists doing interesting collage, developing strangely beautiful images (aesthetically). But again. These people, in my opinion, are robbing themselves of the joy of toiling. And art isn't JUST about aesthetics. In fact I would argue they are opposing forces. Aesthetics are crowd-sourced, pre approved and often memetic (trendy). Aesthetics fit frameworks. Aesthetics are definable. Art at it's core should be experienced, felt and most of all it should have stakes. Welp that's a wall of text.