How to Generate Images With AI From a Text Prompt
June 9, 2026 · 7 min read
AI image generation has become a daily tool for marketers, creators, and small businesses — thumbnails, ad creative, blog headers, product concept art. This guide covers the practical workflow: how to write prompts that work, which model to pick, and how to get a usable image fast.
What AI image generators are good for
- Marketing visuals — ad creative, social posts, banners.
- Blog and content art — headers, illustrations, concept images.
- Product and brand concepts — mockups, packaging ideas, mood boards.
- Backgrounds and textures — landscapes, abstract patterns, scenes.
Step 1 — Structure the prompt
A reliable image prompt has these layers:
- Subject — the main thing in the image.
- Setting / context — where it is, what surrounds it.
- Style — photographic, illustration, 3D render, watercolor, flat vector.
- Lighting and mood — soft daylight, dramatic shadow, golden hour.
- Composition — close-up, wide shot, top-down, centered.
Weak: “a coffee shop.”
Strong: “Cozy corner coffee shop interior, warm afternoon light through large windows, photographic, shallow depth of field, inviting mood.”
Step 2 — Choose a model
In 2026 the common image models, each with a personality:
- Nano Banana Pro — strong all-rounder, supports high resolutions (up to 4K+). A good default.
- Seedream — leans artistic and stylized; great for illustration and concept art.
- GPT Image — strong at following complex, detailed instructions and text-in-image.
- Grok Image — fast, good for quick iterations.
Pick by job: photographic realism → Nano Banana Pro; stylized art → Seedream; instruction-heavy → GPT Image.
Step 3 — Set aspect ratio and resolution
- Aspect ratio — decide by destination: 1:1 for social feed, 16:9 for blog headers and thumbnails, 9:16 for stories. Generate at the target ratio rather than cropping later.
- Resolution — generate at draft resolution while iterating on the prompt, then re-run the winner at full resolution.
Step 4 — Generate variations and pick
AI image generation is probabilistic — the same prompt gives different images each run. Generate a small batch, pick the best, then refine the prompt one element at a time. Don't rewrite the whole prompt between attempts; you won't learn what changed.
Common mistakes
- Overstuffing the prompt. Ten competing ideas produce a muddy image. One clear concept per generation.
- Skipping style words. Without “photographic” or “illustration,” the model guesses — often wrong.
- Expecting perfect text. AI models still struggle with long text inside images. Add important text afterward in a design tool.
- Generating at the wrong ratio. Cropping a 1:1 image to 16:9 throws away pixels and ruins composition.
Try it
Our Image Generator runs Nano Banana Pro, Seedream, GPT Image and more behind one form. Pick a model, a ratio, write your prompt, and get images back in about a minute. Credits are pay-as-you-go.