@deepvesper You are welcome. I think that when joining a website the most important thing is reading rules of what can be posted and what not. Here not even photos are allowed to be posted in your personal gallery, only in your blogs. I don't know that tool you mentioned (ControlNet Canny). But you can even make art from scratch that is inspired by an AI piece like these two which are really beautiful:
https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/cardbordtoaster/maiden-of-flames-craiyon
https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/nwilly/hermin
To answer your question about sketches, yes you can post them in your gallery but remember to uncheck the mark on "This is not a sketch, include in the Art Portal." wen you are about to upload a piece because the Art Portal, whether you are scouted or not, is for finished works. Sketches can be also uploaded in blogs too if you want to show sneak peek or WIPs.
ShangXian
Hi, welcome to NG, I hope you will have a nice experience here.
I am glad that you are honest about AI backgrounds and as art guideline rules state if you are primarily showcasing your character art but use an AI-generated background you are fine. In these cases, please note any elements where AI was used so that it is clear to users and moderators. This way you can avoid being your art flagged improperly with the risk of having your works taken down.
Besides this, have fun and again welcome to this creative family!
deepvesper
Thank you, Shang! Been trying to leave X for the longest time, sad I can't post most of my work. I don't know where the line is. ControlNet Canny tools only do painting, which is what I do in X. The pieces posted here are painted by hand, with photoshop and clip studio having more and more tools I hope the line can move ever so slightly towards allowing mixed media to use more tools. Weird tangent If I post a sketch, its like next to my polished works!?