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How to Write AI Image Prompts That Actually Work

A good prompt is not long or magical. It simply tells the model what to draw, in what style, and how it should look. This guide gives you a formula you can reuse for any image.

The formula: subject + style + lighting + details

Subject: what is in the image. Be concrete: 'a sleepy orange cat curled up on a cloud' beats 'a cute cat'.

Style: how it should look. Photography, watercolor, flat vector, 3D render, line art, retro poster.

Lighting and mood: golden hour, studio lighting, neon, soft pastel, dramatic shadows.

Details: background, composition and format. 'White background', 'close-up', 'centered', 'thick white border'.

Adding text to images

Put the exact text in quotes, for example: a birthday card with the text 'Happy Birthday Emma'. Keep it short. One to four words works best.

If a word comes out wrong, regenerate. With a real-time generator that costs you a fraction of a second.

Keywords that work for specific image types

Stickers: 'sticker', 'thick white border', 'white background', 'flat vector style'.

Coloring pages: 'coloring page', 'thick black outlines', 'no shading', 'white background'.

Tattoo designs: 'tattoo design', 'black ink', plus a style such as fine line, blackwork or traditional.

Posters and thumbnails: 'bold typography', 'high contrast', 'cinematic lighting'.

Iterate instead of perfecting

The fastest way to a great image is many small changes. Start with a short prompt, look at the result, then add one detail at a time.

Picnow generates while you type, so you see every change instantly. That makes it easy to learn which words actually change the image.

Try it yourself: images in under 0.5 seconds

Start generating

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