An A.I. Guide for Beginners...
Writing effective prompts: The more detail you provide, the better. This holds true for images as well as written content. If you are having difficulty writing a good prompt, you can even ask A.I. to write a prompt for you.
In the following example, I asked Copilot A.I. to write a prompt describing a Norman-Rockwell style, all-American town. This was the result…
Prompt: An idyllic All‑American small town rendered in the warm, nostalgic style of Norman Rockwell. A charming main street lined with brick storefronts, a classic diner with chrome trim, a barbershop with a striped pole, and a white-steepled church in the distance. Families stroll along the sidewalks, children ride bicycles, and neighbors chat on benches. Soft golden afternoon light casts long, gentle shadows, giving everything a warm, sentimental glow. The scene is filled with subtle storytelling details — a boy carrying a baseball glove, a mailman waving to a shopkeeper, a dog resting by a fire hydrant. Painterly brushstrokes, rich Americana color palette, expressive faces, and Rockwell-style realism with a touch of idealized charm. Highly detailed, heartwarming, nostalgic, vibrant, and full of life.
I then used this prompt to create an image using CoPilot…
Editing and getting things right: Often, the text or image will not be exactly as you envisioned. In the “All-American town” image above, the street is obviously too narrow.
Can you widen the street and keep everything else the same?
Sometimes it can take multiple attempts to get an image exactly as you want it. When I was making the background artwork for Franklyn Woods’ concert at my cafe, the guitar was oddly shaped. It took me about 8 or 9 tries before I got what I wanted – describing a “symmetrical guitar” in the prompt finally did the trick.
If you would like to alter a photo, you can upload it and ask your A.I. program to make changes. In the example below, I asked Copilot to “render the image in there.com style.”
In the image above, I was flying above a buggy-bash arena and wanted to enhance the photo. First, I asked Copilot to remove the “flying figure”(me) from the image. No issues there. Next, I asked Copilot to add sparks to the colliding buggies, which also came out well.
I uploaded a second image in the same thread and asked Copilot to remove the speech bubbles, which was done with no issues. Notice, however, the odd artifact of an upside-down burning buggy by the seating area. If I were going to remove it, I would probably just start a new chat so nothing would be “remembered” from the previous image.
Always make sure to fact check your written content. When creating material for my blog via A.I., I occasionally come across factual errors. My game-day guide for a 2025 Steelers-Chargers matchup mistakenly listed Najee Harris on Pittsburgh’s roster instead of the Chargers.
While assembling a quiz with questions about my hometown, the A.I. program asked about the name of the minor-league baseball team in my city. The only problem is that such a team does not exist. After I pointed this out, it corrected the question to ask about the minor-league hockey team in my town.
Always be aware of Copyright restrictions – When I first started creating NFL images for my blog to promote game-watch parties, I had no issues. Now, however, Copilot will block attempts to create any official NFL images. You can still use team names in your images, just not official logos. If you saw my Superbowl party, there was a wide range of images promoting the game without running afoul of such restrictions. It just forces you to be a bit more creative.
Recommended A.I. sites – for a lot of my blog content, I have been using Microsoft’s Copilot and another program named Perchance A.I. I like Copilot because the image quality is generally very good, although it will only let you make a certain number of pictures per day. In my opinion, Copilot also seems to generate better sports-related (written) content than other A.I. programs.
I like Perchance A.I. for image creation because it lets you choose from a number of different styles, and you are also able to make unrestricted content if you choose to do so.
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