AI Artist for Psychological Video

I’m a psychologist and UCLA instructor developing a series of short visual stories about people at important crossroads in their lives. The purpose is ambitious but human-sized: to help people see their lives more clearly and find pathways toward greater fulfillment, effectiveness, and meaning. Each five-minute episode introduces someone I have known, creatively reconstructed so nobody is identifiable. We meet them at a difficult crossroads—and leave before they decide what to do. The stories are psychologically nuanced. The images need to be too. I’m looking for an AI visual artist who can help us create a style that feels intimate, convincing, contemporary, and unmistakably our own. Most AI imagery I’ve seen has one of two problems: * it looks like stock photography with better cheekbones * or it looks “cinematic” in the sense that everyone is standing in a dark room staring sadly out a window We want neither. I have 2 approaches I am drawn to, although I am open to others. 1. The work of Greek artist Maria Mavropoulou’s Imagined Images. https://wepresent.wetransfer.com/stories/maria-mavropoulou-imagined-images 2.Go instead in the direction of candid documentary photography, imperfect framing, natural light, ordinary environments, and occasional collage or reconstructed-memory effects. But I’m not hiring someone merely to execute my current ideas. I want someone with enough taste and imagination to surprise me. The first story follows a successful writer in her early fifties. She built her career writing candidly about her own life. Her books, newsletter, and podcast made readers feel deeply understood. But she has also been secretly writing a strange, uncertain novel unlike anything her audience expects. She must choose between another successful book of essays—or becoming a beginner again and risking a year on the novel. The story ends before she decides. What I need initially This is a small, tightly scoped paid style-development project, not a four-figure branding engagement. The first phase would include: * a few distinct visual directions * a consistent look for the main character * several polished 16:9 sample frames * a concise style guide * a practical method for maintaining character consistency If the collaboration works, there may be ongoing work producing complete episodes. You may be a good fit if you: * have strong visual taste * can create human images that do not look conventionally AI-generated * understand subtle emotion without exaggerating it * can maintain one character across many scenes * know when an image feels candid and when it feels staged * use AI as part of an artistic process rather than treating the prompt as the finished work * have opinions Please send: 1. A short note explaining how you would approach this. 2. Two to five examples of relevant work. 3. The tools you use. 4. How you maintain character consistency. 5. Your proposed fee and timeline for this small initial phase. You may also include one optional 16:9 sample based on this scene: A successful writer in her early fifties is walking through a bright contemporary airport when a younger woman recognizes her and says that something she wrote gave words to a feeling she had never been able to express. The moment should feel caught, not staged—emotionally real, but not sentimental or glossy. You may instead send an existing example that demonstrates the same qualities. I do not expect serious unpaid custom work. I’ll invite a few finalists to complete a small paid test. Please do not send a generic proposal beginning with “Dear Hiring Manager.” I am hoping to find an interesting artist, not a highly efficient proposal-generating machine.