Image Generation: Prompt Language, References, Consistency

⚠️ Version note. Image tools change buttons, settings and model names constantly. The prompt structure and the ideas — references, seeds, iteration — carry across all of them. Last checked: 25 July 2026.

What you'll have at the end

• The five-part structure of an image prompt (it echoes AI-04)
• A reference image used to steer style, and a seed used to control variation
• A small image set that looks like it belongs together, built to a brief

Prerequisite

• AI-04 — The Anatomy of a Prompt. Image prompts are prompts: role isn't relevant, but subject, detail, style, and constraint all are.
• Access to any image generator (a standalone tool or one built into a chat AI).

Why your first images look random

Beginners type "a cat" and get a random cat, then "a cool cat" and get a different random cat, and conclude the tool is a slot machine. It isn't — it's just doing exactly what a vague prompt asks: anything. Control comes from saying more, on purpose, and from two levers most people never touch: references and seeds.