AI + Me: How I Brought Welcome to Bloomsburg to Life

Michele
Jul 17
4 min read

Updated: Jul 20

Purchase Welcome to Bloomsburg and Pieces and Parts on Amazon.

Welcome to Bloomsburg: How I Used AI to Bring My Book to Life

Hi, I'm Michele Gerber - writer, producer, digital media professor, and now, an AI-powered children's book creator.

How I Created Welcome to Bloomsburg Using AI Illustrations - YouTube Video

My latest book, Welcome to Bloomsburg, was born from a mix of imagination, curiosity, and tech-savvy tools. This time around, I used artificial intelligence to help me animate / illustrate the pages. I’m excited to share how I did it - and how it might inspire your next creative project too.

Welcome to Bloomsburg Cover Art — Welcome to Bloomsburg Cover (Back, Front)

The Idea

Like all good stories, it started with a thought - a concept I couldn’t shake: What if a child’s curiosity could change the world? That idea stayed with me for months while I worked on the words. I revised and reshaped the story until the flow felt just right.

Writing a book — The Idea, keep writing your book until you feel good about it.

Enter AI

Once the story was locked, I dove into the world of AI. I'd spent the last year learning everything I could about AI, and Adobe FireFly. In October 2024, I attended the Adobe Max Conference in Miami and found even more inspiration. I was going to put the AI image generator to the test.

Adobe Firefly became my character generator. At first? Total chaos. My early results were rough. But the more I refined my prompts and visual references, the better the AI understood what I needed.

My Layouts

Canva Pro handled my layouts. It’s where the book truly came together. I created three master templates:

Full Spreads (two pages side-by-side)

Single Pages (for my final 32-page layout)

Cover Design (sized to KDP specs)

Cover Art - Welcome to Bloomsburg — Welcome to Bloomsburg - Cover (Back, Front)

KDP Template - Cover — KDP Cover Template

I worked in spreads first - dynamic visuals, stylized text - then exported everything and dropped them into my single-page layout.

Here's a pro tips:

I always add a blank first page so thumbnails line up properly in Canva. Just remember to only use the #2 image for your 1st interior page.

On the spread pages, I like to use the center guideline because that will be the centerfold of the image. You will not want any important information getting lost in this crease.

Center Line - Spread, Bloomsburg — Bloomsburg inside cover spread

A Machine With Meaning

One of my favorite visuals in the book is a big, intricate machine. There’s a line in the story:

"The town was orderly, like a machine.

It was the same everyday. A well-oiled routine."

I wanted something that looked like a machine but could display an image - almost like a broadcast system. That let me sneak in a television (my film and digital media heart couldn’t resist). When the AI finally delivered the right one, it clicked. I made a few tweaks and fell in love.

From Screen to Print

Once everything was exported as high-res PDFs, I uploaded my files to Amazon KDP. I ordered a proof, reviewed it, tweaked the design, and repeated that cycle until it was exactly how I imagined.

I now have all my templates saved for future books. That workflow has made a huge difference - and I'm already dreaming up what's next.

From Paintbrush to Prompt

My last children’s book was entirely hand-drawn and hand-painted with watercolor. I even hand-painted the backgrounds before layering them digitally in InDesign. When I pulled those original paintings out for this video, I felt a jolt of love and nostalgia. There's still magic in traditional methods - but I’m grateful to have both skill sets in my creative toolbox.

Pieces and Parts, Handmade, Hand Painted. — Pieces and Parts Willa, Peacock Feathers

Final Thoughts

Welcome to Bloomsburg is more than a book - it’s proof that AI can be a partner in creativity, not a replacement for it. It’s the story of how one child’s curiosity changes everything - and it’s also the story of how mine did too.

To purchase a copies of my books click the Amazon links below. If you have questions or need to reach out please contact me, I'd love to connect.

Purchase Welcome to Bloomsburg and Pieces and Parts on Amazon.