How to Generate AI Images

What You'll Learn

This guide covers everything you need to go from zero to confidently generating AI images. Whether you're a designer exploring new tools, a marketer building assets, or a hobbyist experimenting with creative AI — these fundamentals will get you producing quality results fast.

• How AI image generation actually works
• Which models are on the platform, and what each one costs
• Writing effective prompts for better results
• Choosing the right model for your needs
• The settings that shape every generation — aspect ratio, resolution, output count
• Editing an image you already have, and keeping a character consistent

Understanding AI Image Generation

AI image generation uses advanced machine learning models to create images from text descriptions. These models have been trained on millions of images and can understand complex visual concepts, artistic styles, and photographic techniques.

How It Works

The generation pipeline breaks down into four stages. First, text processing — the AI analyzes your written prompt to understand what you want. Second, concept mapping — it maps text concepts to visual elements from its training data. Third, image synthesis — the model generates pixels that match your description. Finally, refinement — multiple passes improve quality and coherence, producing the final output.

Understanding this pipeline helps you write better prompts. The more specific and structured your text input, the more precisely the model can map your intent to visual output — and the better your final image will be.

Models Overview

Available AI Models

Fauxto Labs doesn't build its own models. We aggregate the best ones from Google, OpenAI, Black Forest Labs, ByteDance, Alibaba Cloud and Recraft AI, and put all seventeen of them behind a single prompt box at /image-generator. Switching models is a dropdown, not a new account.

If you're not sure where to begin, don't overthink it: the generator opens on Nano Banana 2 (Google) by default, and it's the best all-rounder in the lineup. The table below breaks down every option so you know what else is there. The exact credit cost for your current settings is always shown on the page before you hit generate.

A Simple Starting Point

Seventeen options is a lot, so here is the short version. Stay on Nano Banana 2 while you learn — it's the default for a reason. When you're throwing away most of what you generate, drop to Z Image at 2 credits and burn through ideas cheaply. When a shot is going in front of a client or on a printed page, step up to Nano Banana Pro at 2K or 4K, or GPT Image 2 on High.

After that it's about matching a model to the job. Illustration and fantasy work suits Seedream 4.5 or Dreamina 3.1. Logos, icons and vector-style brand assets belong to Recraft 3 and its style picker. Text and signage inside an image is strongest on Nano Banana Pro, GPT Image 2 and Qwen Image 2 Pro. And if you want the FLUX look — crisp texture, natural light — FLUX 2 at 5 credits is the entry point, with FLUX 2 Pro at 8 for the premium version.

Core Skill

Writing Effective Prompts

The prompt is your primary tool for communicating with AI models. A well-crafted prompt can mean the difference between a mediocre image and a masterpiece. Structure matters just as much as vocabulary.

The formula is straightforward: combine a Subject, an Action or Pose, a Setting, and a Style or Mood. Layering these elements gives the model enough context to produce coherent, visually rich output every time.

Prompt Structure Formula

Examples by Skill Level

Beginner: "A cute cat sitting on a windowsill"

Intermediate: "A professional woman in a business suit giving a presentation in a modern conference room, confident pose, natural lighting"

Advanced: "Portrait of an elderly craftsman in his workshop, weathered hands holding antique tools, warm golden hour lighting streaming through dusty windows, cinematic depth of field, 85mm lens, highly detailed, photorealistic"

Notice how each tier adds more specificity. The advanced prompt controls subject, environment, lighting, lens simulation, and rendering intent — giving the model a complete blueprint to work from.

Go Further

Settings That Shape Every Generation

Beyond the prompt, four controls do most of the work. Aspect ratio gives you eleven choices — 1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 3:2, 2:3, 16:9, 9:16, 21:9, 9:21, 2:1 and 1:2 — so pick the shape of the final placement before you generate rather than cropping later. (The Nano Banana models are the one exception: they support every ratio except 9:21.)

Output count lets you request 1 to 4 images at once, which is the fastest way to explore a prompt — though FLUX 2 Pro, FLUX 2 Flex and Recraft 3 return a single image per run. Resolution or quality is where the price moves: the Nano Banana models charge by 1K, 2K or 4K, and the GPT Image models by Low, Medium or High. Finally, the Enhance button rewrites a thin prompt into a fuller one for you — a genuinely useful crutch while you're learning what detail is worth adding.

One practical limit: prompts cap out around 2,000 characters, and a counter warns you as you get close. That's far more room than you need — long prompts tend to dilute rather than sharpen.

Editing an Image You Already Have

Generating from a blank prompt box is only half of the workflow. Once you have an image — or a photo of your own — editing lives in the same tool: flip the mode toggle on the Image Generator, or go straight to /image-generator?mode=edit. Upload a picture (or open one from your Library), describe the change in plain language, and generate. You can attach up to 6 reference images, and ask for 1 to 4 versions of the edit at a time.

Edit mode opens on Nano Banana 2 too, and it handles most requests — backgrounds, weather, lighting, adding or removing people and objects. Reach for Nano Banana Pro when likeness matters, GPT Image 2 for multi-step instructions or changing text and signage, FLUX Edit for style transfers, and Seedream 4.5 when you're blending several reference images into one picture.

Keeping the Same Character Across Images

This is the single most common beginner question, and the answer is simpler than it used to be: you don't train anything. Fauxto Labs does not offer custom model or LoRA training. Instead, take one good image of your character and use it as the reference in edit mode with Nano Banana Pro, then describe the new pose, outfit or scene. It is the strongest model on the platform for holding a likeness, and Nano Banana 2 does a good job for less.

If what you actually want is a recurring social persona with a whole content set behind it, use Influencer Studio in The Lab, which is built around keeping one character consistent across many photos.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about AI image generation on Fauxto Labs.