By AI Tool Briefing Team

How to Create AI Images: A Beginner's Guide for 2026

AI image generation has moved from novelty to necessity. Marketers, designers, content creators, and hobbyists use these tools daily to create visuals that would have required professional skills or expensive stock subscriptions just a few years ago.

If you’ve been curious but haven’t jumped in yet, this guide walks you through everything: choosing a tool, writing your first prompts, and improving your results.

Understanding How AI Image Generation Works

AI image generators work by learning patterns from millions of images. When you describe what you want, the AI assembles visual elements based on those learned patterns.

You don’t need to understand the technical details. What matters: the quality of your description (prompt) directly affects the quality of your results. Specific, detailed prompts produce better images than vague requests.

Choosing Your First Tool

Three main options dominate in 2026, each with distinct strengths:

Midjourney

Best for: Artistic, stylized images with strong aesthetics Access: Discord-based interface Cost: $10-60/month depending on plan

Midjourney produces stunning artistic images with minimal effort. Its default aesthetic tends toward beauty, making it forgiving for beginners. The Discord interface feels unusual at first but becomes natural quickly.

DALL-E (via ChatGPT)

Best for: Convenience, text in images, iterative editing Access: ChatGPT Plus subscription Cost: Included with $20/month ChatGPT Plus

DALL-E integrates seamlessly with ChatGPT, making it easy to refine images through conversation. It handles text in images better than competitors and allows editing specific regions of generated images.

Stable Diffusion

Best for: Complete control, no content restrictions, local generation Access: Various interfaces (Automatic1111, ComfyUI, cloud services) Cost: Free to run locally, or cloud services at various prices

Stable Diffusion offers the most flexibility but requires more setup. It’s ideal if you want to run generation locally, need maximum control, or want to avoid content restrictions.

For beginners: Start with DALL-E through ChatGPT (easiest) or Midjourney (best results).

Getting Started with Midjourney

Step 1: Join Discord

Download Discord if you don’t have it, then go to midjourney.com and click “Join the Beta.” This adds you to the Midjourney Discord server.

Step 2: Subscribe

Navigate to any #newbies channel and type /subscribe. Follow the link to choose a plan and payment.

Step 3: Generate Your First Image

In any bot channel, type:

/imagine a golden retriever puppy playing in autumn leaves, soft afternoon light

Press Enter and wait about 60 seconds. Midjourney generates four variations.

Step 4: Upscale or Vary

Below your images, you’ll see buttons:

  • U1, U2, U3, U4: Upscale that specific image
  • V1, V2, V3, V4: Create variations of that image
  • 🔄: Regenerate all four options

Click U on the image you like best to get a high-resolution version.

Getting Started with DALL-E

Step 1: Access ChatGPT Plus

Subscribe to ChatGPT Plus at chat.openai.com if you haven’t already.

Step 2: Request an Image

Simply ask ChatGPT to create an image: “Create an image of a cozy coffee shop interior with warm lighting, exposed brick walls, and plants by the window”

Step 3: Refine Through Conversation

Unlike other tools, you can refine naturally:

  • “Make it more minimalist”
  • “Add a person reading in the corner”
  • “Change the lighting to morning sunlight”
  • “Can you edit just the plant area to add more greenery?”

Writing Effective Prompts

The quality of your prompt determines the quality of your image. Here’s how to write better ones:

The Basic Structure

A good prompt includes:

  1. Subject: What’s the main focus?
  2. Details: Specific characteristics
  3. Setting: Where is this happening?
  4. Lighting: What kind of light?
  5. Style: Photorealistic? Illustrated? Painted?

Example Prompt Breakdown

Weak prompt: “A cat”

Strong prompt: “A fluffy orange tabby cat sleeping on a windowsill, afternoon sunlight streaming through sheer curtains, dust particles visible in the light, cozy apartment setting, photorealistic, shallow depth of field”

Subject Descriptions

Be specific about your subject:

  • Not “a woman” but “a woman in her 30s with curly red hair and freckles”
  • Not “a house” but “a Victorian-era cottage with blue shutters and climbing roses”
  • Not “a car” but “a vintage 1960s Porsche 911 in racing green”

Lighting Terms to Use

Lighting dramatically affects mood:

  • Golden hour: Warm, soft light before sunset
  • Blue hour: Cool, twilight atmosphere
  • Soft diffused light: Overcast, even lighting
  • Dramatic lighting: High contrast, strong shadows
  • Backlit: Subject illuminated from behind
  • Rim lighting: Light outlining the subject’s edges
  • Studio lighting: Clean, professional look

Style Keywords

Add these to guide the aesthetic:

  • Photorealistic: Looks like a photograph
  • Cinematic: Movie-like composition and color grading
  • Minimalist: Simple, clean, lots of negative space
  • Watercolor: Soft, painted texture
  • Digital art: Modern illustrated style
  • Oil painting: Classical painted look
  • Anime/manga: Japanese animation style
  • 3D render: Computer-generated look

Composition Terms

Guide how the image is framed:

  • Close-up: Tight shot of the subject
  • Wide shot: Subject small in a larger scene
  • Bird’s eye view: Looking down from above
  • Worm’s eye view: Looking up from below
  • Rule of thirds: Subject positioned off-center
  • Symmetrical composition: Balanced, centered

Prompt Examples by Use Case

Marketing and Business

Product photography style: “Professional product photo of a minimalist white ceramic coffee mug, steam rising from hot coffee, clean white background, soft studio lighting, commercial photography, 4K”

Lifestyle image: “Young professional working on laptop at modern coworking space, natural light from large windows, plants in background, candid moment, authentic lifestyle photography”

Social Media Content

Instagram-worthy scene: “Aesthetic flat lay of morning routine items: coffee, journal, succulent, wireless earbuds on marble surface, morning sunlight, minimal composition, lifestyle blogger style”

Story background: “Abstract gradient background, soft pink to orange, smooth color transition, minimal, mobile wallpaper style”

Blog and Article Images

Concept illustration: “Visual metaphor for business growth: small plant growing through cracked concrete, morning light, hope and resilience concept, editorial photography style”

Header image: “Modern office workspace with laptop, notebook, and coffee, clean desk aesthetic, tech and productivity theme, soft natural lighting, blog header format”

Creative Projects

Fantasy scene: “Ancient library with floating books and magical glowing orbs, dust particles in golden light beams, fantasy concept art, detailed environment design, mystical atmosphere”

Portrait: “Character portrait of an elderly fisherman with weathered face and kind eyes, dramatic side lighting, fishing boat in background, Nat Geo documentary style, photorealistic”

Common Mistakes and Fixes

Problem: Images Look Generic

Fix: Add unexpected or specific details

  • Instead of “beautiful sunset,” try “sunset with unusual purple and orange clouds over a lighthouse, seagulls in flight, photographer’s silhouette in foreground”

Problem: Wrong Style

Fix: Add explicit style descriptors at the end

  • Add: “in the style of [artist], [medium], [era]”
  • Example: “in the style of a Wes Anderson film, pastel color palette, symmetrical composition”

Problem: Weird Faces or Hands

Fix: Avoid complex hand poses, or use negative prompts

  • Specify “hands behind back” or “hands in pockets”
  • In tools that support it, use negative prompts: “—no deformed hands”

Problem: Text Looks Wrong

Fix: DALL-E handles text best; for others, keep text minimal or add it in post-processing using Canva or Photoshop

Problem: Not Getting What You Described

Fix: Front-load important elements; simplify the prompt; break complex scenes into pieces

Advanced Techniques

Using Image References (Midjourney)

Upload an image and use it as a style or content reference:

/imagine [paste image URL] a modern version of this style, featuring a sunset beach scene --iw 0.5

The --iw parameter controls how much influence the reference has.

Aspect Ratios

Specify dimensions for your use case:

  • Instagram square: --ar 1:1
  • Portrait/story: --ar 9:16
  • Landscape/YouTube: --ar 16:9
  • Wide cinematic: --ar 21:9

Negative Prompts

Tell the AI what to avoid:

  • Midjourney: --no text, watermark, blur
  • Stable Diffusion: Put in negative prompt field
  • DALL-E: Include “without” in your description

Seed Numbers (Midjourney)

Save a seed to recreate similar images:

  • Find your image’s seed: React with ✉️ to get details
  • Reuse the seed: --seed 12345

Post-Processing Tips

AI images often benefit from light editing:

  1. Crop and straighten: Improve composition
  2. Adjust exposure: Fine-tune brightness and contrast
  3. Color correction: Enhance or shift colors
  4. Sharpening: Add crispness to final image
  5. Add text: Use Canva or Photoshop for reliable text

Free tools like Canva or Photopea work well for basic adjustments.

Building a Prompt Library

Keep prompts that work well:

  1. Screenshot or save successful image + prompt combinations
  2. Organize by category: Products, people, abstract, etc.
  3. Note what worked: Which specific words created which effects
  4. Iterate and improve: Update your templates as you learn

Before using AI images professionally:

  • Check the tool’s terms: Each platform has different commercial use policies
  • Avoid trademarked content: Don’t generate logos or characters you don’t own
  • Artist name usage: Referencing living artists’ styles raises ethical questions
  • Disclose when required: Some contexts require noting AI generation
  • Your business terms: Understand what rights you have to images you generate

Most commercial-friendly: Images from paid Midjourney plans, DALL-E (with ChatGPT Plus), and Stable Diffusion (which you can run yourself).

Your First Week Practice Plan

Day 1: Create 5 images using basic prompts—just subject and style

Day 2: Add lighting terms to each prompt and compare results

Day 3: Practice composition terms (close-up, wide shot, etc.)

Day 4: Generate images for a specific use case (social post, blog header)

Day 5: Experiment with style references and aspect ratios

Day 6: Try the same prompt across different tools and compare

Day 7: Build your first prompt template for a recurring need

The Bottom Line

AI image generation rewards experimentation. The tools are forgiving—you can generate unlimited attempts until you get what you want.

Start simple: subject + setting + lighting + style. Build complexity as you learn what works. Save your successful prompts. And remember that even professionals iterate many times before getting the perfect image.

Your prompt-writing skills will improve quickly with practice. Within a week or two, you’ll be generating images that would have taken hours of searching through stock libraries or thousands of dollars in custom photography.

The only way to learn is to start generating. Pick a tool, write a prompt, and see what happens.