Krita AI Diffusion
AI as a brush, not a slot machine
What it is
A plugin that embeds generative AI into a real digital-painting workflow: selection-based inpainting, live painting where the AI reinterprets your canvas as you draw, ControlNet guidance from scribbles and poses, regional prompts via layers, and 4K upscaling — all on a local ComfyUI backend.
Why it's interesting
The best answer to what AI-assisted art should feel like: open diffusion models inside a professional FOSS painting app, where the artist keeps layer-level control and nothing leaves the machine.
Use cases
- Illustration with generative fill
- Concept-art iteration
- Sketch-to-render live painting
Who it's for
Illustrators, concept artists, Krita users
Setup
Easy. Krita 5.2+; the plugin auto-installs a managed ComfyUI backend; 6GB VRAM minimum locally, cloud option for weak hardware
Limitations & cautions
Local quality depends on what fits in your VRAM, and CPU mode is impractical.
Editorial takeaway
A preview of how creative software absorbs these models: not as a button that makes art, but as another tool that listens.