As AI-generated imagery becomes more accessible, illustration classrooms face urgent questions about authorship, ethics, and creative agency. This presentation introduces a pedagogical framework that positions AI not as a threat, but as a tool—when used with intention and transparency. Through classroom research and professional practice, we examine how illustrators can maintain authorship while engaging AI in ideation and iteration phases. Our team—comprising educators, professional illustrators, and researchers—offers a comparative view: from students using AI alongside hand-drawn processes, to professionals training AI models with their own poetic or stylistic voice. We argue that agency can be preserved through two distinct approaches: limiting AI’s role in the workflow or shaping AI to reflect one’s own visual language. The session offers ethical and practical strategies for reframing AI in illustration pedagogy—not as shortcut, but as a site for reflection, authorship, and creative control.