I Gifted My Mom an Apron of Her Art Using Adobe's AI Tools, and Here's How I Did It

My mom has been a master Chinese painter for over 40 years. I recently used AI to incorporate her art into physical gifts. If you want to achieve the same quality with a meaningful family photo, here's how you can utilize Adobe's new upscaling features to get the best results.

For this process, I used Adobe Firefly and Photoshop. Adobe Firefly is Adobe's generative AI application, and the company released a phone app this summer to help you create on the go. If you're a total newbie to Firefly, you can just ask the app for help along the way. Photoshop, which has long been the gold standard for image editing, recently added an AI upscaling feature that can improve scanned photos or images with the click of a button. Here's how I did it.

How I used Adobe AI features to make gifts

I started by using Adobe Firefly to visualize my mom’s art on various products, including aprons, scarves, and even dresses. Seeing mockup options helped me decide on an apron as the perfect first piece.

Next, I brought an image of an original painting into Photoshop and used the AI upscaling feature. Wearables require a much larger print size, and this step ensures every detail stays crisp and vibrant. I then uploaded the file to Printful, a print-on-demand platform. You can also use Printify or a different print-on-demand provider, as the process is nearly identical.

In just a few clicks, the apron was ready to print and ship directly, and it was such a pleasure to see my mom wear her own artwork. With technology and AI, we’ve been able to take her creations beyond the canvas and share them with people everywhere, making every gift feel personal, meaningful, and timeless. If you want to tinker with AI this holiday season, this is one way to get some practice and make a thoughtful gift for a loved one along the way.

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