Creating images with AI, Resources

The most essential rules for building a prompt for a quality image, on a single page: structure, style, lighting, ratio and models. Save it or print it.

One-page cheat-sheet

AI image, prompt rules

1Prompt structure

  • Subject, the main object (who/what)
  • Style, photorealistic, drawing, 3D...
  • Composition, angle, shot
  • Lighting + quality, at the end

2Style keywords

  • photorealistic, watercolor, oil paint
  • 3D render, anime, pixel-art
  • An artist/style name adds precision
  • Choose one main style

3Lighting and camera

  • golden hour, soft light, neon
  • bokeh, blurred background
  • wide-angle, close-up, aerial
  • 35mm, portrait lens

4Aspect ratios

  • 1:1, square (avatar, post)
  • 16:9, wide (banner, background)
  • 9:16, vertical (stories, phone)
  • 4:5, Instagram post

5Negative prompt

  • State what should not be there
  • For example: blurry, extra fingers, text
  • Reduces low-quality results
  • A separate field in many models

6Quality-boosting words

  • highly detailed, sharp focus
  • 8k, high resolution
  • professional photography
  • Don't overuse, in moderation

7Popular models

  • Midjourney, artistic, high quality
  • DALL·E, faithful to the prompt
  • Stable Diffusion, open, flexible
  • Leonardo / Firefly, free options

8Typical mistakes

  • A too long, contradictory prompt
  • Hands/fingers, text, may come out wrong
  • Too many subjects at once, confusion
  • Re-edit the result (iteration)