Lesson 1: Creating illustrations and videos for your stories with AI (M4-U4-L1)

What is Artificial Intelligence and how to create a good prompt to get the result you need

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to computer programmes that learn to analyse and process information in ways similar to how humans do.
AI can write texts, draw pictures, translate, make videos, and assist in learning.
It doesn’t understand the world as a human does, but it analyses huge amounts of data and offers results that best match your request (prompt).
AI works quickly, tirelessly, and can become a great partner in creating stories for your social media and blogs.

Important to remember:
AI has no emotions and does not always understand the context, so you remain the author and bear responsibility for the content you create with the help of artificial intelligence.

What is a PROMPT

A prompt is the description or task you write for AI to explain what exactly needs to be created.
It may be a request to generate a text, an image, a presentation, or a video.
AI reads your request and tries to produce a result that most closely matches your description.
That’s why a well-written prompt is 70% of success.

Important to remember:
You can always edit or refine your prompt if the result doesn’t satisfy you!

Swipe through the presentation to learn how to write good prompts!

How to Create a Good Prompt

Interactive task

Choose which prompt will give a better result in AI:

1. “Make a picture of people.”
2. “Group of elderly friends sitting in a café, smiling, digital illustration.”
3. “Draw faces.”

AI can create images, presentations, and much more based on your description (prompt).
Even if you have never used graphic design software before, these tools make the process simple and fast.
You can choose colours, fonts, and images to create visual content for your stories on social media and blogs.
Take a look at these safe and easy-to-use services with free features.

 Free AI tools for visual content

For illustrations and drawings

• Bing Image Creator (DALL-E 3) — free with a Microsoft account; generates images from text descriptions.
• Leonardo.ai — offers a free plan with a limited number of daily prompts and many ready-made styles and templates.
• Pixlr AI — a free image editor that allows you to enhance photos, add text, and change backgrounds.

For presentations and infographics

• gamma.app – has a free version that creates interactive presentations with automatic design.
  You just need to describe in one sentence what you need, and the service will generate a draft version that you can edit!
  You can also upload your own texts and turn them into presentations or even simple websites.
• tome.app – offers a free plan with a limited number of presentations; generates slides from your text request.
• Canva.com – free for creating presentations, posters, and infographics using templates and simple AI tools.
  The possibilities of this platform are explored in a separate lesson on our course.

Task

Choose any of the tools listed above and try to create your own illustration or presentation with its help.

Creating and editing videos with AI

AI can create a short video, even from just a few sentences in the prompt you write. You describe your idea — and the system selects images, music, and text to generate the video.
Such tools are convenient for visualising your stories or presentations.
Free plans on various AI platforms allow you to make short clips without using any special video editing software. Try it!

Free AI tools for creating videos:

• Lumen5 – the free version lets you create short videos from texts or articles, adding music and automatic visual design.
• Canva Video Editor / Magic Studio – offers free tools for creating videos from photos, video clips, subtitles, and music.
• Runway ML – includes a free plan with basic features such as editing, object removal, and creating short clips.
• Animoto – the free version allows you to make videos (with a watermark) through an easy-to-use interface, great for beginners.

Tips:

• For social media, make videos no longer than 1 minute.
• Always check that the images and music you use have an open licence.

Examples of good and bad prompts for creating videos

Bad prompt

“Make a video about nature.”
(Too general – AI doesn’t know what mood, duration, or actions to show.)

Good prompt

“Create a 45-second Facebook video showing a quiet forest at sunrise, with birds singing and calm background music.”

Bad prompt

“Make a video about old man.”
(No emotion, storyline, or context.)

Good prompt

“Create a short motivational video of an elderly man painting at home, smiling, with soft piano music and the text: ‘Creativity never gets old.’”