How to create AI images and art
A useful image prompt starts with what you want to see. Describe a subject, choose a visual style, and refine the result until it fits your idea. This guide walks through that process in Hotpot, with prompts you can adapt for photographs, paintings, and illustrations.
Choose an image or art generator
Use the AI Image Generator for the full collection of styles, including photographic looks, anime, illustrations, and 3D images. Explore the AI Art Generator for a collection focused on painting, ink, and other artistic media. Choose a preset to start creating in that style.
Create an image from a text prompt
1. Describe the subject and setting
Open the generator and write what should appear in the image. Start with the main subject, then add a setting and a few details that matter. A bookshop is a starting point; a tiny bookshop on the moon, warm light spilling from its windows gives the generator more direction.
Specify the framing when it matters: a close-up, a wide landscape, a view from above, or a centered subject with empty space around it. If one part of the result matters most, make that clear instead of adding a long list of competing details.
2. Choose the look
Select a preset from the style collection, or use the Library to add your own style reference or save a written style. Describe the lighting and mood for a photograph, or the medium, texture, and palette for artwork.
Browse the full image style collection or the art style collection when you want to compare different looks before creating.
3. Create, compare, and refine
Choose the settings you want and create an image. Review the result, then change one thing at a time: the framing, lighting, palette, or a detail in the subject. Keeping the rest of the prompt stable makes it easier to understand what changed.
To work on an existing result, select it in the editor and describe the changes you want. To explore a different interpretation, revise the original prompt or choose another style and create a new version.
4. Review and download
Check the image at a useful viewing size before downloading it. Faces, hands, small objects, and lettering may need another attempt or an edit. Choose the result that fits your project and download it from the editor.
Example prompts to try
These are starting points you can adapt. Replace the subject, palette, or setting to make each prompt your own.
A photograph
A ceramic coffee cup beside a rainy window, soft morning light, close-up photograph, muted blue and warm brown tones, shallow depth of field.
Try a photographic preset in the AI Image Generator. Compare soft window light with direct sunlight while keeping the subject and framing the same.
A watercolor illustration
A fox sheltering beneath a giant mushroom, watercolor illustration, moss green and warm amber, loose brushwork, a quiet woodland scene.
Start with watercolor in the AI Art Generator collection. Then try ink or oil painting to see how the medium changes the scene.
A 3D scene
A tiny observatory on a floating island, stylized 3D scene, rounded shapes, lavender sky, warm light in the windows, wide composition.
Choose a 3D preset and experiment with the materials or lighting. For more visual directions, browse the AI Image Generator Gallery.
Use an image or style reference
A text prompt describes an idea; a style reference helps communicate a look. Add your own reference through the Library when you want to guide the style of a new creation. Use references you have permission to use.
If you already have an image and want to change its content, start with the AI Image Editor. To explore a different visual treatment of an existing picture, try AI Style Transfer.
Credits and using your images
See credit options for current pricing and review Hotpot’s terms for usage rights and restrictions. Leave room to review and refine an image before using it in your project.
Start with an idea
Create photos and images or explore paintings and illustrations. Choose a subject, try a style, and see where it takes you.