By Amanda Caswell

Ever since OpenAI updated ChatGPT’s image generator within ChatGPT-4o, each image trend has been more impressive than the next. I’ve tried many of them, but I have to say as parent, this one has got to be my favorite.

The activity of uploading my kids’ silly, funny, and sweet images and bringing creativity to life with ChatGPT has been a special one. Here’s how to use ChatGPT to turn children’s artwork (or your doodles) into lifelike creations.

Photograph the artwork

(Image credit: Future)

First, I snapped a quick photo of each drawing and artwork using my phone. No editing, no fancy lighting — just the raw masterpiece. Although I have ChatGPT Plus, I noticed that every time I uploaded the image to ChatGPT from my phone, it used DALL-E, the older image generator, to generate the image.

Because of this minor issue, after photographing the art, I emailed the images to myself and then uploaded them to ChatGPT on my desktop.

Upload the images to ChatGPT

(Image credit: Future)

Using ChatGPT, I uploaded each image one at a time with the following prompt: “Please create a realistic version of this [drawing, art], paying attention to the details to create a lifelike [object in drawing/art]”

Troubleshooting

(Image credit: Future)

I ran into a few issues when I first tried this experiment. A couple times the chatbot created almost the exact same picture without any realistic features or editing at all. When that happened I asked it to try again and included further details such as “Please regenerate this image and include the crown from the original drawing,”

If the chatbot says, “I can’t help with that” you may need to adjust your prompt to be more specific, “Make this into a plush-style toy version.”

That said, like kids’ art, AI can be delightfully unpredictable. One of my daughter’s stick figures came back looking like it belonged in a horror movie. If the result is too eerie, you can tell ChatGPT to tone it down. Try: “Make this more friendly and playful, like something from a kids' TV show.”

If image generation isn’t available

(Image credit: Future)

If you want to generate a lot of images regularly, it’s a good time to get ChatGPT Plus.

Sign up to get the BEST of Tom's Guide direct to your inbox.

Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

If you’re not seeing the image tools, make sure you’ve toggled to GPT-4 in the top menu, and that you’re uploading images via desktop if the mobile app isn’t working. It should work on mobile, but sometimes desktop works better.

Once you've generated your images you can use ChatGPT's new Image Library to keep everything organized.

Final Thoughts

This little project turned into something much more fun than I was expecting. It became a new way for my kids to see their own creativity reflected back. And yes, they’ve already asked me to turn every single drawing into a lifelike version.

I’m not even mad about it. It makes me want to turn some of my drawings into realistic looking images too. Have you tried this trend? Share your thoughts in the comments.