The landscape of digital art has been revolutionized by artificial intelligence, with 2025 marking a pivotal year where AI tools have become indispensable parts of creative workflows. From generating stunning visuals in seconds to upscaling images with unprecedented detail, these tools are transforming how artists conceptualize, create, and refine their work. Here are ten AI-powered tools that every digital artist should explore this year.
Midjourney — The Artistic Powerhouse
Midjourney remains the gold standard for generating artistic, high-quality AI images in 2025. Operating through Discord or its web app, Midjourney excels at producing images that feel like genuine works of art, with exceptional texture, color, and composition quality. The platform offers extensive creative control through features like remixing, upscaling, and aspect ratio customization, allowing artists to generate four initial variations and refine their favorites.
What sets Midjourney apart is its ability to create visually striking illustrations across diverse styles—from hyperrealistic portraits to surreal fantasy landscapes. The platform's community aspect also provides inspiration, as users can explore what others are creating, though it's worth noting that images are public by default unless you opt for a paid plan.
Pricing: Plans start at $10/month for the Basic tier, with Standard at $30/month and Pro at $60/month.
Adobe Firefly — Professional Integration at Its Best
Adobe Firefly interface showcasing various AI-powered tools for generating and editing images and graphics.
Adobe Firefly has evolved into a cornerstone tool for professional digital artists, seamlessly integrating with Photoshop, Illustrator, and the broader Adobe Creative Cloud ecosystem. In 2025, Firefly has expanded significantly, introducing Firefly Image 4 and 4 Ultra models, along with groundbreaking video generation capabilities announced at Adobe Max London.
The Generative Fill feature in Photoshop has become particularly transformative, now offering multiple AI models including Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash Image and Black Forest Labs' FLUX.1 Kontext alongside Adobe's commercially safe Firefly models. This multi-model approach gives artists unprecedented flexibility—different projects require different aesthetics, and having multiple AI engines at your fingertips enables more diverse creative approaches.
Firefly's strength lies in its commercial safety—all training data comes from licensed content, making it ideal for professional work. The Generate Similar feature, introduced in Photoshop 2025, allows artists to take a Generative Fill result and generate variations of it, eliminating the frustration of random outputs.
Pricing: Available as part of Creative Cloud subscriptions, with standalone access starting at $4.99/month.
Runway ML — Video Generation and Editing Revolution
Runway ML has emerged as a leader in AI-driven video creation and editing, offering tools that bridge the gap between complex machine learning and intuitive creative design. The platform's Gen-3 Alpha and newly released Gen-4 models provide high-quality video generation with precise control over character movements and scene composition.
Key features include text-to-video and image-to-video capabilities that allow creators to generate cinematic footage from simple prompts or static images. The Multi-Motion Brush guides specific movements within scenes, while Act-One transforms video inputs into character performances. Runway's video-to-video feature enables complete aesthetic transformations—imagine converting normal street footage into a moving watercolor painting.
For digital artists, Runway's strength lies in its ability to handle the entire creative pipeline: from initial concept generation to final editing and compositing. The platform processes in the cloud, reducing hardware dependency, though processing times vary based on complexity.
Pricing: Free tier offers 125 one-time credits; Standard plan at $12/month includes 625 monthly credits; Pro at $28/month provides 2,250 credits; Unlimited at $76/month.
Krea AI — Real-Time Creation Meets Versatility
Krea AI has positioned itself as the premier platform for real-time image generation and all-in-one creative workflows. Its standout feature is the realtime canvas, which lets you see images evolve as you type or sketch, making iteration feel like live art direction rather than prompt roulette. In October 2025, Krea released Krea Realtime 14B, a 14-billion parameter model capable of real-time, long-form video generation at 11 fps on NVIDIA B200 GPUs.
Beyond generation, Krea stacks professional finishing tools: guided edits, in/out-painting, style transfer, and an Enhancer **that can upscale images and video up to **22K resolution—invaluable for campaign visuals that need to print cleanly. The platform also serves as a video generation hub, dispatching to popular generators like Hailuo, Pika, Runway, Luma, and more, allowing artists to storyboard stills into motion in one unified interface.
Krea's image upscaling capabilities include access to seven different models, including Topaz Photo and Topaz Gigapixel, all under a single subscription. This makes it particularly powerful for architecture visualization, restoring old film scans, or adding ultra-fine textures to portraits.
Pricing: Free plan available; Pro subscriptions start at approximately $15/month with access to all features.
Topaz Gigapixel AI — The Upscaling Champion
Comparison of traditional scaling, Photoshop Super Resolution, and Topaz Gigapixel AI upscaling on a bird image.
Topaz Gigapixel AI remains the industry-leading image upscaler, specializing in maximizing detail and accuracy when enlarging images. Since launching as the first commercially available AI image upscaler in 2019, the models have evolved to be better than ever, now offering upscaling up to 16x with exceptional quality.
What distinguishes Gigapixel from competitors is its focus on creating the right pixels, not just more pixels. The tool features nine AI-powered models that handle different scenarios: the "Recover" and "Redefine" models fix fine details like skin texture and fabric, while a dedicated face recovery mode enhances and enlarges human faces with photorealistic results. This makes it ideal for photographers working with low-resolution source files, AI artists upscaling generated images, or anyone needing to crop deeply into images without quality loss.
Topaz offers both local rendering (files never leave your computer—perfect for confidential work) and cloud rendering for faster processing with the latest AI models, all unlimited. The software runs as a standalone application or as a plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom, and other major editing tools.
Pricing: One-time purchase of $99.99 includes one year of updates; Commercial Pro plan at $499; fully functional free trial available (no exports).
ComfyUI — The Advanced Node-Based Powerhouse
ComfyUI has become the go-to platform for advanced users who want complete control over their AI image and video generation workflows. Unlike traditional linear interfaces, ComfyUI uses a **node-based visual workflow **where users connect functional blocks to create custom generation pipelines. This approach offers unprecedented flexibility—you can branch, remix, and adjust every part of your workflow at any time.
The platform is 100% free and open-source, with no subscriptions or hidden costs. One of ComfyUI's most powerful features is its reusable workflows—exported images, videos, and 3D files carry metadata, so anyone can drag and drop them into ComfyUI to instantly rebuild the full workflow. This makes sharing and learning incredibly efficient within the community.
In 2025, ComfyUI has become easier to use than ever, with a desktop application, integrated ComfyUI Manager, and a browse template section featuring auto-downloaders for required models. The platform supports Stable Diffusion, Flux, SDXL, video generation, and more, with a vast library of custom nodes allowing endless extensibility.
ComfyUI runs locally with fast performance, ideal for artists who want full privacy and control. However, it does have a steeper learning curve compared to simpler tools, making it best suited for technically inclined artists or those willing to invest time in mastering its capabilities.
Pricing: Completely free and open-source.
Remove.bg — Instant Background Removal
Person with short dark hair and floral dress on a transparent background after background removal.
Remove.bg **has established itself as the quintessential tool for **automatic background removal, processing images in as little as five seconds with just one click. The platform uses advanced AI-powered image segmentation to automatically detect the primary subject and erase the background, delivering transparent PNG files ready for any new backdrop or design project.
Beyond simple background removal, Remove.bg includes an AI background generator that creates custom backdrops instantly—no prompt writing required. This makes it invaluable for e-commerce product shots, professional headshots, car listings, or creating logos and graphics with transparent backgrounds. The platform's bulk editing capability processes up to 500 images per minute, while integrations with Figma, Photoshop, and Zapier embed background removal directly into existing workflows.
With both web-based access and a mobile app, Remove.bg enables background removal anytime, anywhere. While the free version provides excellent results, it does reduce image resolution; higher-resolution outputs require a paid subscription.
Pricing: Free version available with limitations; API access from $5/month; Pro plans for commercial use.
Descript — Text-Based Video Editing
Descript **has revolutionized video and audio editing by introducing a **text-based editing paradigm where you edit videos by editing their transcripts. Simply record or import footage, receive an instant transcript, then edit the video by cutting, rearranging, or modifying text—the video automatically adjusts to match.
The platform's AI capabilities extend far beyond transcription. Studio Sound uses regenerative AI to remove noise and enhance voices without expensive microphones or soundproofing. AI Eye Contact subtly adjusts your gaze to appear as if you're looking directly at the camera, even when reading a script. The AI Green Screen removes backgrounds without physical equipment.
Underlord, Descript's AI co-editor announced in August 2025, acts as a built-in assistant that can write, edit, design, and generate visuals or voiceovers based on plain-language instructions. Overdub enables voice cloning for correcting misspoken words or adding new sentences by simply typing them. The Remove Filler Words feature instantly cuts "ums," "uhs," and other verbal pauses, saving hours of manual editing.
Descript's automatic multicam feature switches between camera angles to follow the active speaker, creating dynamic edits with minimal effort. The platform also offers translation, automatic captions, and the ability to generate B-roll tailored to your content.
Pricing: Free plan available; Standard plan at $12/month; Pro at $28/month.
ElevenLabs — Lifelike AI Voice Generation
ElevenLabs **has become the industry standard for creating ultra-realistic AI voices, offering text-to-speech capabilities that are virtually indistinguishable from human speech. The platform supports over **32 languages with sub-100ms latency, making it ideal for real-time applications.
The Voice Cloning feature allows you to create a replica of your own voice using just a few minutes of audio, perfect for automating video voiceovers, ad reads, podcasts, and more while maintaining your unique vocal characteristics. The cloning process captures tone, inflection, and emotional range, with training now near-instantaneous compared to hours in previous versions.
Voice Design enables creators to generate completely custom voices from text prompts—describe any voice you can imagine (age, accent, emotion, pacing), and ElevenLabs will create it. This opens infinite possibilities for character voices, audiobooks, video games, and multimedia projects.
The platform's Conversational AI capabilities provide real-time voice and chat interactions with natural, expressive dialogue, powering customer support, gaming NPCs, learning simulations, and more. ElevenLabs integrates seamlessly via API, making it easy to embed high-quality voice synthesis into websites, apps, or creative workflows.
Pricing: Free plan with limited characters; paid plans start around $5/month for personal use; enterprise plans available.
Magnific AI — Creative Upscaling and Enhancement
Before and after comparison of image quality enhancement using Magnific AI upscale technology.
Magnific AI **stands out as a high-end upscaling tool specifically designed with **AI-generated art in mind. While traditional upscalers interpolate existing pixels, Magnific uses latent diffusion models to slightly reimagine images, adding intricate details that weren't in the original. This makes it exceptional for enhancing AI-generated portraits, digital paintings, or concept art that need extra resolution and depth.
The platform offers incredible control through parameters like "Creativity", which determines how many new details (or "hallucinations") the AI generates. Different engines target illustrations, photos, or balanced outputs, with adjustments for HDR, fractality, and other stylistic elements. In summer 2025, Magnific introduced Precision mode for upscaling real-life photography without AI hallucinations, available for 2x upscaling.
Magnific can upscale images up to 100 megapixels, enabling transformations of low-resolution AI art into stunning high-resolution pieces suitable for large-format prints. While it excels with painterly textures and intricate patterns, it can struggle with very small faces and requires experimentation with various settings to achieve optimal results.
The tool's complexity is both a strength and a limitation—the abundance of settings offers tremendous flexibility for experienced users but can be overwhelming for beginners.
Pricing: No free trial; subscriptions start at $39/month.
Comparative Analysis
Comparison of monthly subscription prices for AI tools for digital artists (2025)
10 AI tools organized by primary use case category for digital artists
The pricing landscape for AI tools in 2025 ranges from completely free options like ComfyUI to premium services like Magnific AI at $39/month. The tools organize into five primary categories: Image Generation & Enhancement (Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, Krea AI), Image Processing (Topaz Gigapixel, Magnific AI, Remove.bg), Video & Animation (Runway ML, Descript), Audio (ElevenLabs), and Advanced Workflow (ComfyUI).
For artists on a budget, ComfyUI and Remove.bg offer powerful free options, while mid-range tools like Adobe Firefly ($4.99/month), ElevenLabs ($5/month), and Midjourney ($10/month) provide professional capabilities at accessible prices. Premium tools like Magnific AI and Topaz Gigapixel cater to professionals requiring maximum quality and specialized features.
The Future of AI in Digital Art
Digital animation editing interface showing a forest scene with a white-haired character and timeline with audio and scene tracks.
These tools represent the cutting edge of what's possible when artificial intelligence meets creative expression. In 2025, the focus has shifted from simply generating images to providing artists with comprehensive creative suites that handle everything from initial concept to final polish. Key trends include local AI generation for privacy and control, real-time feedback **for faster iteration, **multi-model flexibility for diverse aesthetics, and professional-grade finishing tools integrated into unified platforms.
The most successful artists in 2025 aren't those who replace their skills with AI, but those who strategically integrate these tools into their workflows—using AI for rapid ideation, tedious tasks like background removal or upscaling, and exploring creative directions that would be impractical manually. Whether you're a concept artist, photographer, animator, or multimedia designer, these ten tools offer transformative capabilities that can elevate your creative practice to new heights.
The democratization of these powerful technologies means that high-quality creative output is more accessible than ever, but the human touch—your unique vision, aesthetic judgment, and creative direction—remains irreplaceable.
Top comments (0)