How to Generate AI Art: A Beginner's Guide That Skips the Hype

You've seen AI art everywhere — on Twitter, on product pages, in ads that look suspiciously too good. You want to make your own. But every tutorial starts with 20 minutes of explaining how diffusion models work, and you just want to make a cool picture.

Let's skip to the part that matters.

Step 1: Pick a Tool (Takes 30 Seconds)

You have three main categories:

Web-based generators — Open a browser, type a prompt, get an image. No installation. This is where most people should start. Myjourney, DALL-E, and Ideogram all work this way.

Discord-based — MidJourney (the original, different from Myjourney) runs through Discord. You type commands in a chat channel. The results are excellent but the interface is weird if you're not already a Discord user.

Local installation — Stable Diffusion with ComfyUI or Automatic1111. Free, unlimited, fully customizable. But you need a decent GPU (8GB+ VRAM minimum, 12GB+ recommended) and comfort with technical setup. Not a beginner move.

For this tutorial, I'm using web-based tools because they work for everyone.

Step 2: Write Your First Prompt

A prompt is just a description of what you want. That's it. No special syntax required.

Start simple:

a golden retriever wearing sunglasses at the beach

That's a valid prompt. It will produce an image. The image will probably look pretty good.

Now let's make it better.

Step 3: Add Details That Matter

The difference between a mediocre prompt and a great one usually comes down to three things:

Subject clarity. "A dog" gives the AI too many options. "A golden retriever puppy, 3 months old, fluffy" narrows it down. More specific = more predictable results.

Lighting and mood. "Golden hour sunlight" versus "overcast sky" versus "neon lights at night" completely changes the feel. Lighting is the single biggest lever for controlling the mood of your image.

Composition hint. "Close-up portrait" versus "wide landscape shot" versus "overhead flat lay" tells the AI how to frame the scene.

So our improved prompt:

close-up portrait of a golden retriever puppy wearing oversized sunglasses, sandy beach background, golden hour sunlight, shallow depth of field, warm tones

That will produce a dramatically better image than "a dog at the beach."

Step 4: Understand What Models Are Good At

Different AI models have different strengths. And in 2026, you often get to choose which model generates your image.

Flux — Currently the best all-rounder. Great at photorealistic images, good at illustration, handles text in images better than most. This is the default on many platforms including Myjourney.

DALL-E 3 — Excellent at following complex prompts with multiple elements. If your prompt describes a specific scene with several objects in particular positions, DALL-E 3 handles spatial relationships well.

Stable Diffusion 3.5 — The open-source champion. Quality has caught up significantly. Best if you want to run things locally or need maximum customization.

MidJourney v6 — Still produces the most aesthetically pleasing images by default. It has strong opinions about style, which is either a feature or a limitation depending on what you want.

Don't overthink model selection when you're starting out. Use whatever's default. Switch models when you have a specific reason to.

Step 5: Iterate (This Is Where the Magic Happens)

Your first generation probably won't be perfect. That's normal. Even experienced users rarely nail it on the first try.

The workflow looks like this:

1. Generate with your initial prompt
2. Look at what you got — what's right, what's wrong?
3. Adjust your prompt to fix what's wrong
4. Generate again
5. Repeat until you're happy

Common adjustments:

• Too dark? Add "bright, well-lit, high key lighting"
• Wrong style? Add "photorealistic" or "digital illustration" or "watercolor painting"
• Weird composition? Specify "centered subject" or "rule of thirds" or "symmetrical"
• Hands look wrong? Yeah, that still happens. Try "hands behind back" or "hands in pockets" or just crop. Seriously.

Each iteration on Myjourney costs about $0.03. So 10 attempts to get the perfect image costs $0.30. Less than a gumball.

Common Beginner Mistakes

Writing a novel as a prompt. Longer isn't better. After about 40-50 words, most models start ignoring parts of your prompt. Keep it focused.

Using AI jargon you don't understand. "4K, 8K, ultra HD, octane render, unreal engine" — these terms get copy-pasted from prompt guides and sometimes help, sometimes don't, and sometimes actively hurt. Use plain English descriptions of what you actually want.

Expecting perfection. AI art is a tool, not a magic wand. You'll generate 10 images to find 2 great ones. That's the process. Professional AI artists do the same thing.

Ignoring negative prompts. If a model supports negative prompts (things you don't want), use them. "No text, no watermark, no extra fingers" sounds silly but works.

Styles to Try

Not sure what to make? Here are prompts that tend to produce impressive results:

Cinematic portrait:

portrait of an elderly fisherman, weathered face, deep wrinkles, blue eyes, dramatic side lighting, dark background, shot on 85mm lens

Fantasy landscape:

ancient temple overgrown with vines and moss, shafts of light through the canopy, mist in the foreground, fantasy art style, rich greens and golds

Product mockup:

minimalist perfume bottle on a marble surface, soft studio lighting, magazine advertisement style, clean composition

Abstract art:

flowing liquid metal in iridescent colors, abstract shapes, macro photography style, black background

Retro poster:

1970s sci-fi movie poster, astronaut on alien planet, two moons in sky, vintage grain, bold typography reading "THE LAST FRONTIER"

Copy any of these into Myjourney's generator and see what happens. Then modify them. Make them yours.

What About Copyright?

The short answer: it's complicated and evolving.

In the US, the Copyright Office has ruled that AI-generated images without significant human creative input cannot be copyrighted. But images where you've made substantial creative choices — through detailed prompting, curation, and editing — may qualify.

For most personal and commercial use, this doesn't matter much. You can use AI art on your website, in social media, in presentations. Where it gets tricky is trying to register copyright protection for purely AI-generated work.

When in doubt, add human creative input. Edit the image, composite multiple generations, paint over elements. The more human involvement, the clearer the copyright picture.

The $5 Challenge

Here's a fun way to get started: give yourself $5 and see what you can create.

On Myjourney's pay-per-use pricing, $5 gets you roughly 150 standard images. That's enough to:

• Try 20 different prompt styles
• Iterate 5-7 times on your favorites
• Generate final versions in higher quality
• Still have credit left over

By the end, you'll understand prompting better than any tutorial can teach. The learning happens in the doing.

Next Steps

Once you're comfortable with basic generation:

• Learn about AI upscaling to get print-ready resolution
• Try text-to-video for animated content
• Experiment with style mixing — combine two artists or two eras in one prompt
• Use AI art as a starting point, then edit in Photoshop or Figma

AI art generation is a skill. Not a complicated one. But a real one that improves with practice. Browse the community gallery for inspiration.

Start with a simple prompt. Generate your first image. See what happens. Then do it again, but better. That's the whole process.