Try finding stock art offered for free use and using pixellation tools if this is a style you like; pixatool is one on itchio off the top of my head but I know there's a free equivalent. I will contact you when I find it again.
thanks for the tips, they have helped a lot; unfortunately in the next two weeks I probably won't be able to make this change, but I liked the stock art + pixellation idea.
these AI pixel art have improved, but I agree with you: they are still fake
i really, really appreciate you taking the time to listen and experiment. Editing preexisting images is its own art form and i hope you can enjoy poking into it-- I'm a big fan of traditional collage using old magazines n stuff!
Collage really interesting; but just with that pixel-AI-style, my views/downloads have improved considerably. thanks for the tip; when I get more time, I'll try some better done thumbs