Who Are You?

/əˈpäTHəˌkrəfə/ Apothcrypha is the hidden apothecary that we find in the everyday. Its the quest to finding our healing where we didnt think to look; in the ancient, the practical, the lost and forgotten.

My name is Coral Hine. I am a graphic designer, web designer, art director, content creator, AI art sculptor, digital artist & classically trained photographer. (among other things)

I like hats, okay? 🙄

My family and I came down with COVID-19 in Nov 2020. We all survived, but were all damaged in some way. As the virus continued to sweep through our community, I watched as friends and neighbors lost loved ones from post covid related complications. I was one of the ones who never fully recovered and continue to suffer from mysterious, fleeting, long-term, debilitating clusters of intertwined symptoms that cant be tested for and has no cure. People like me became known as "Covid Long Haulers". I was initially diagnosed with "Suspected Post Covid Syndrome" in March of 2021 which is now known mostly as "Long Covid"

While this may be where this story started, its certainly not where it will end.

Update Jan 2026: Okay medicine... Here I come.

Authentic AI is the intelligence layer inside Apothcrypha. It’s a way of working with artificial intelligence that treats it as a cognitive prosthetic rather than a replacement mind.

Apothcrypha has always lived at the intersection of anatomy, lived experience, pattern, and meaning. Authentic AI emerged from that same terrain. It was forged under constraint.

When cognitive bandwidth narrowed through illness, neurological disruption, and long COVID, pattern recognition became survival. Systems had to be cleaner. Inputs had to matter. Output had to carry weight. If the powers that be were forcing me into using Ai, I wanted my outputs to be next level. I didnt want outputs that specifically wrote the way I was taught not to in school. AI wasn’t used to “do more,” but to restore continuity of thought, to hold complex structures steady when the nervous system could not.

Over time, something became clear:
Most people use AI as a generator. I use it as a stabilizer.

Authentic AI is a system that teaches AI how to think with you—your voice, your logic, your constraints, your ethics. It is built on signal discipline, architectural clarity, and deep respect for human cognition. The goal isn’t scale for its own sake; it’s coherence. Longevity. Trust.

This is why it belongs inside Apothcrypha.

Apothcrypha isn’t a brand that produces content—it produces understanding. Anatomical art. Illness narratives. Sacred systems. Authentic AI extends that mission into the digital and semantic layer of the web. It allows creators, educators, and brands to bring their work into the next iteration of the internet without flattening it.

Authentic AI is built by someone who had to rely on pattern when cognition was fragile. Someone who knows the cost of noise & treats intelligence—human or artificial—as something to steward, not exploit.

This system exists because it had to.
Now it exists because others need it too.

Apothcrypha originally was meant for my botanical journey, but people are suffering, I mean really suffering, inside and out, sometimes it feels like a fate worse than death, or just the slowest death imaginable. I have been where they are and it's dark and lonely, more isolating than you could fathom, but since I began trying to understand what was going on in my body, I have been able to take back control of my life.

I hope no other person has to go through what I went through, and I hope one day we all can be completely well, I want to help as many people as I can, so I found myself often typing similar things to people when they came down with covid, or on long covid support groups-- but I only have so much energy, and I have to budget wisely. This virus went on way longer than it was supposed to have, and we have new Long Haulers everyday.

I dont have all the answers, but I do have some great information, observations, stories, and an eye for design.

While I regain my energy, I figured I would consolidate all my insights into someplace I could point to when I have an answer because Long Covid is a highly involved, convoluted mess. I already owned my domain for my botanical journey, so Apothcrypha become a multifaceted entity.

Now that I have regained my mind, I am moving forward with shaping all Apothcrypha was always meant to become.

Updated 1/15/26
Currently, for work I do a lot of renders in Google Gemini's Nano Banana, it's very strong, but can be stubborn, I still often use ChatGPT/Sora, and for sections of larger personal pieces -- See the header sections of other pages. Although it pays attention well, something can feel flat and missing in it. I'm learning how to communicate with it differently, so stay tuned. I use Adobe Photoshop's Firefly to expand images.

I developed my original art sculpting technique using Starry AI which is built on Stable Diffusion. This genuinely feels most like an art form to me in how it communicates.

I have used A LOT of AI art apps out there, most are built on the same systems as one another, but for more artistic expression, I prefer both Stable Diffusion & the Starry AI app. Starry is unique in that it offers both the latest and older models. Every model has strengths and weaknesses and is valuable for sculpting purposes.

Starry also has some top notch customer support that have helped me on numerous occasions.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Apothcrypha Recommended

Download Starry AI app on the Apple App Store here | Download Starry AI app on Google Play

For general AI, I use most often default to ChatGPT for the more creative types of, though I have Gemini do most of my research because... Google, lately I have also been defaulting to Gemini for my SEO & Web Builder. It may be a false assosciation but it feels like a product by google might know better how to rank on google.

My own brother doesn't like my artwork. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but are you listening now?
It's all a metaphor, really. The Ai is a very inaccurate & distorted reflection much like our bodies are now a distorted reflection of what it they were before this virus ravaged our systems. Things just aren't right inside

So much of Covid is tied to dysregulation. It feels like nothing is working right... because nothing is working right.

I had no energy to create via other means. I had no voice. This is my cry for help for everyone who no longer recognizes the body they live in after a covid infection and feels helpless to do anything about it.

It's incredibly isolating & feels like a slow, painful death.

Please help them.

At least 3 full blown infections, the first in Oct/Nov of 2020. But because I live in a place that politicized the virus I've been exposed on every wave since. I do not test positive for covid anymore. When I get an exposure I get fatigued, feverISH, achey, etc and then get better and it flares up symptoms, brain fog & COVID rage but I never test positive.

I did get the first 3 shots because I heard it would help the Long Covid symptoms, it did at first, but on the third I got just as sick or sicker with the vaccine as I do with an exposure to the virus now, so I don't bother subjecting myself to it anymore.

I was terrified of getting the virus again for a long time because it nearly killed me, but I am not afraid of it anymore because I have made my body a hostile environment for it to live in.

For anyone who may suggest that the vaccine created the problem. I had it before the vaccine and there are several people that never got the vaccine who were infected at the same time as I & also continue to struggle with these symptoms, I maintain contact with most of them.

Yes! I find it helps to keep my mind ordered. Whats funny though, I genuinely tried to not duplicate it because its kind of extra nerdy... plus I didnt get an artists' message from him three years in a row now... Pffft! 🙄

If you don't work for it, you wont get it.. I took my time and incredibly scarce energy to create this to help you.

Now it's up to you. Read it yourself & learn about Living with Long Covid