How-To: Get Started with AI Image Generation
Type a description, get a picture. AI image generation has gone from research demo to everyday tool in two years. This guide gets you from "never tried it" to "producing usable images" without the trial and error.
What is AI image generation?
AI image generation is text-to-image: you describe what you want in words, a model (such as Midjourney, DALL-E, or Stable Diffusion) processes that description, and it produces a new image that matches as closely as it can. The model has learned patterns from millions of images and their captions, so it can synthesise new pictures that didn't exist before. Output quality depends heavily on how specific your description is — which is why getting the prompt right is the real skill.
Step 1. — Choose your tool
| Tool | Price | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midjourney | From $10/mo | Highest aesthetic quality, art and concept work | Runs through Discord (or the web app); short learning curve for prompts |
| DALL-E 3 (via ChatGPT) | Included in ChatGPT Plus | Easiest, conversational refining, integrated with text chat | Just describe what you want in plain English and iterate |
| Stable Diffusion | Free (open weights) | Full control, self-hosting, no per-image cost | Needs a decent GPU and some setup; steep at first |
| Microsoft Designer (Image Creator) | Free | Quick generations without a subscription | Powered by DALL-E; good free starting point |
If you've never tried any of them, start with Microsoft Designer or ChatGPT's image tool — both are free or cheap and remove friction. Move to Midjourney when you want sharper aesthetics, and to Stable Diffusion when you want full local control.
Step 2. — Write effective prompts
A good prompt is a stack of specifics. Aim for four layers: subject + style + composition + lighting, plus optional quality words.
Two prompts, same model, very different results:
Weak: "a photo of a person" Strong: "professional headshot of a woman in her 30s, soft window light, 85mm lens, shallow depth of field, sharp focus on the eyes, neutral off-white background, photorealistic"
The second prompt names a subject type, lens, lighting, focus, background, and aesthetic. The model doesn't have to fill in those blanks at random, so you get the picture you imagined.
Step 3. — Use style references
Named references give the model a precise visual target. Reference specific artists, photographers, art movements, or named aesthetics:
- •"in the style of Studio Ghibli"
- •"cyberpunk aesthetic, neon and rain"
- •" editorial fashion photography, harsh flash, 1990s film grain"
- •" watercolor sketch, loose line work, muted palette"
Be careful with living artists — many platforms restrict direct imitation of named contemporary creators, and it's good etiquette to credit the reference when you share the output.
Step 4. — Iterate and refine
Your first generation is a draft, not a finished image. Effective workflows loop:
- •Vary the prompt — change one element at a time (lighting, lens, palette) to see what moves the image.
- •Use the seed — most tools expose a seed value; lock it to make small prompt tweaks while keeping the composition stable.
- •Upscale and enhance — tools like Midjourney have built-in upscalers; for others, run the result through Topaz, Real-ESRGAN, or your image editor.
- •Vary and remix — take a near-good generation and ask for variations of it, not a fresh start.
Step 5. — Practical use cases
- •Marketing images for landing pages, ads, and decks when you don't have a shoot budget
- •Blog illustrations that match an article's tone without stock-photo blandness
- •Social media posts — quick visuals for posts that would otherwise go text-only
- •Concept art for product, game, or set design — visualising an idea before you commission a human illustrator
Step 6. — Ethics and licensing
- • AI images sit in unclear copyright territory in many jurisdictions — assume you don't have a clean exclusive copyright unless a tool's terms say otherwise.
- •Don't pass AI images off as handmade or as photographs you took. Disclose AI use, especially in editorial or marketing contexts.
- •Never generate realistic images of identifiable real people without consent — the deepfake risk is real and the ethics are clear.
- •Respect platform terms and the wishes of artists who've asked not to be used as style references.
Quick tips
- •Save prompts that worked. Your prompt library compounds — every good prompt is reusable.
- •Use negative prompts where supported ("--no text" in Midjourney) to remove things you don't want.
- •Set the aspect ratio explicitly (e.g.
--ar 16:9in Midjourney) — default ratios rarely match your target. - •Browse community prompt libraries (Midjourney's explore page, Civitai) to learn patterns and steal structures.
Need More Help?
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