Navigate Leonardo AI: A Quick Guide to Stunning Image Creation

Your essential guide to getting started with Leonardo AI and creating commercial-ready images.


AI image generation has taken the creative world by storm for better or worse. Few platforms have managed to deliver the versatility, ease of use, and innovation that Leonardo AI offers. As someone who has explored these types of tools, I found myself diving headfirst into what it has to offer.

Leonardo is an evolving powerhouse suite of tools that gives creators the freedom to experiment, innovate, and own their results. I’ve seen it go from cool to use to so outstanding that I've stepped away from other AI image generation platforms.

Like many, I started with the free forever tier, 150 credits per day with each generation starting at 1 credit per image. Other platforms required money up front and one prominent platform was strictly on Discord. No one was giving me the opportunity to figure things out in my own space except Leonardo.

When I started using it, I was impressed with what free users could do. On top of that, this platform explicitly states that the images the ones who prompted the images have full rights and can use them for personal and commercial purposes.



I spent months playing with it and culling the community images and Discord server for insight and how to's. I finally figured it out enough that I could create highly realistic images that I could use for storytelling and as stock photos.

Since then, Leonardo has exploded by adding some amazing features.

Getting Started with Leonardo AI: Signing Up and Layout Overview

Signing up

So let's start with the basics of how to use the platform, whether you're an individual or a business.


You head to the Leonardo site where you’ll see the options to Sign up and log in, 


Layout

Once you’ve verified your account, you’re automatically sent to the home page:


Once you're logged in, this is the default interface.


You have the main features at the top, Screenshot image, guides on how certain features on how to use certain features in the middle, not the screen-side image,

Exploring Community Images for Inspiration and Prompts


When you scroll down you’ll see a bunch of images. These are some of the most popular public images on the platform.


You can click on one and see who generated, the prompt used to create the image, and you even have the chance to use the prompt to try it for yourself by choosing Remix. The prompt details will show up in your image generation console along with other settings.

Note that if the original render was paid or used their own base image, your console can’t recreate those settings.



Exploring community images gives you the chance to play with prompting and create your own style. It’s a great resource for learning while doing.

A Look at Leonardo AI's Image Creation Models: Phoenix, Flux, and More





Here are the different models that are available, including Kino, Vision, Phoenix and Flux,

Flux is its own powerhouse that’s being used by a few other platforms and Leonardo has added it into its suite.

Phoenix is Leonardo's own model and it is amazing.

Before Phoenix, Leonardo had made leaps with Alchemy and Absolute Reality. But getting it to adhere to your prompt and to produce legible text was still a challenge. With Phoenix, It adheres much better than the other models and generating text is far easier to do.


My experience with Phoenix shows me that it gets the text right 80%+ of the time, but you want to limit it to fewer than 10 words. I speak more about this in my video about the different ways to generate text in Leonardo:


Legacy Mode


Now if you look at the top, you'll see a toggle button that says Legacy Mode. 


This switch allows users to go between the older interface, the legacy, and this newer one, which I call Phoenix mode.

The settings in the newer interface don’t carry over into legacy or vice versa, so you'll have to redo them if necessary.


I discuss the difference between Legacy and Phoenix mode in my course, Leonardo AI Essentials for Business.


Here's a rough excerpt: 



While I can go into details about every aspect of the interface, the truth is, things may change quickly. In fact, during the creation of my course, Leonardo introduced Phoenix and I had to adjust the curriculum.

It’s that quick.

The best way to learn how to use Leonardo is to use Leonardo.

Get your hands dirty, prompt with just one word, and see what happens then change models, adjust the sizes, and just play.

If you want to get a head start with tips I've learned from using Leonardo check out my video on 12 tips to use Leonardo AI like a pro.

 


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  1. Are Leonardo AI images copyright-free? Yes, Leonardo AI explicitly states that users have full rights to the images they create, making them suitable for both personal and commercial purposes.

  2. What is the difference between Legacy Mode and Phoenix Mode in Leonardo AI?

    Legacy Mode provides the classic interface, while Phoenix Mode includes newer, advanced features for better adherence to prompts and easier text generation.

  3. Can I use Leonardo AI for business branding and stock images? Absolutely! Leonardo AI is an excellent tool for creating high-quality, realistic images for storytelling, branding, and stock purposes.

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