Most people hit the same wall the first time they generate an image: there’s a clear picture in their head, but they only type a few words into the tool — “a cat”, “a nice cover”. The result is bland, and they conclude “AI art is overrated.”
The problem isn’t the image tool; it’s the thin prompt. A good image prompt usually spells out subject, action, setting, lighting, style, camera angle and quality — far more than most people think to include. The smart move is to not draw first, but ask a chatbot (DeepSeek, Doubao) to act as your translator: describe what you want in plain words, let it expand that into a detailed prompt, then copy it into Jimeng to generate. It’s a free prompt advisor.
When to use it
When you want an avatar, cover, poster or illustration — you have a rough picture in mind but don’t know how to describe it, or your results never match what you imagined — let a chatbot flesh out the prompt first.
How to do it
- Open DeepSeek or Doubao and describe in plain words what you want: the use, subject, style, mood, rough layout — as much as comes to mind
- Paste the prompt below and have it expand your idea into a detailed, ready-to-use image prompt
- Copy that prompt and paste it into Jimeng (or another image tool) to generate
- If the image is off, go back and tweak: “too dark, brighten it”, “make the background indoors” — have it rewrite the prompt, then regenerate
Weak vs strong
On the left, four words leave the tool guessing — nine in ten won’t match. On the right, subject, action, setting, lighting, style, camera and quality are all filled in — and that whole paragraph is exactly what a chatbot expanded for you from “a cat.”
Copy-paste prompt
You are an AI image-prompt expert. I want to make an image, used as a【avatar / cover / poster…】, and roughly I want:【plain-words description: subject, style, mood, layout, colour — whatever comes to mind】. Please expand it into a detailed image prompt that fills in subject, action, setting, lighting, style, camera angle and quality, written as one flowing paragraph I can paste straight into an image tool.
Worked examples
You get：It hands you a full description like “glowing neural-network lines floating over a deep-blue gradient, geometric light points, landscape layout with space left for a title, futuristic tech style, high definition” — paste it into Jimeng and you get a usable cover.
Level up
- Ask for three styles at once: add “give me three style versions (realistic / illustration / minimal)” and pick the best paragraph to draw
- Learn in reverse: after a good result, ask the chatbot to “explain why this prompt works” — you’ll gradually learn to write them yourself
- Get an English version: some overseas tools prefer English, so add “give me an English version too” and keep both
Common mistakes
- Asking it to expand from one word — the less direction you give, the more it has to invent; at least state the use and rough style
- Drawing without reading the result — skim it first and fix anything wrong (colour, the person’s gender) before generating, to avoid re-rolls
- Expecting one prompt to nail it — image tools need a few tries; the prompt just lifts your hit rate from very low to decent
FAQ
Why not just type in the image tool — why route through a chatbot first?
Will the chatbot’s prompt work in any image tool?
Pro tip：Remember the division of labour: the chatbot turns your idea into a prompt, the image tool turns the prompt into a picture. Whichever step is stuck, go back to that tool to fix it.