Skip to content
Blog Home Business Marketer Free AI Ebook: How to Use Generative AI for Commercial Work

Free AI Ebook: How to Use Generative AI for Commercial Work

When people ask, “What jobs will AI replace?” we respond with the concept that AI won’t replace jobs, but it will help creatives work better. Download our free AI ebook to learn how Shutterstock’s AI image generator can enhance your own creativity. 

Creative work is always evolving. One huge step in this evolution is generative AI, which creates brand new images based on a text caption. 

While AI may seem threatening to some professionals, it’s actually another tool to help them create. Think of it like a painter’s brush, a photographer’s camera, or a designer’s suite of photo editing software. Generative AI can be used by professionals to further enhance their work and open up a new realm of possibilities. It provides inspiration, speeds up processes, and opens new streams of revenue.

Artists and designers can now generate hundreds of new ideas in the previous amount of time it took to produce just a few. Marketers are able to test out several ideas at a time, seeing which concepts work and which don’t. Project managers can use it to speed up timelines.

Since everyone can benefit from AI, we’ve created a guide to show how to use it in real work. Download our free ebook here. Or explore the questions below to get a preview of its contents.



How Can I Start Using an AI Image Generator? 

Of course, you can start using Shutterstock’s AI Image Generator right away. But we recommend reading through some tips and tricks first. Approaching AI thoughtfully will help your creative work go further!

It all starts with an idea. AI can generate almost anything you can dream up! You just need to describe your idea with a little bit of text. Let’s look at how to write a more perfect AI text prompt. 

Here are a few tips to get started:

  • Word order matters! The first few words of the prompt will feature more prominently in the image. The more important an element, the earlier in the prompt it should be.
  • Be thoughtful about text placement. Take care when adding more details to your prompt. Be sure to add descriptive text to areas where it’ll make sense. Avoid adding descriptions to areas within your prompt that may confuse the AI. For example, writing a prompt that says, “a blue man on a stage” is a better prompt than “a man on a stage blue.”
  • Don’t forget to add missing elements. Be sure to include the parts of your image that failed to make it into your first round of images. 

There are so many more insights into prompt writing and using AI for creativity within the ebook. You can also learn more about Shutterstock’s intelligent style picker. With the click of a button, users can specify what medium they’d like to see reflected in AI images–photography, fine art (including watercolors, cartoons, and oil paintings), digital, and 3D. 


Vertical collage of AI-generated images of public and private transit

Can You Use Generative AI for Real Work? 

Yes, you can! There’s already so much you can do with AI-generated imagery. 

Use these images for inspiration, on projects like: 

  • Storyboarding a video 
  • Building mood boards
  • Creating and modifying UI concepts
  • Experimenting with new, different design styles

Or integrate them within your final project outputs, by:

  • Incorporating them into social graphics
  • Using them throughout your website
  • Creating assets to be used throughout branding
  • Crafting avatars, icons, and more.

Beyond creating new artwork, generative AI can also speed up workflows and enhance collaboration, both of which we detail in the ebook.


Whose Jobs Can AI Make Easier? 

Part of AI’s power is that it can generate hundreds of new ideas in the time it’d take a person to dream up just a few. Because we believe it’ll be used for inspiration, we expect this technology to speed up the front-end of creative processes, from idea generation to storyboarding. It’ll also supplement work within revisionary phases. 

Our ebook steps through a timeline that details how these AI-based enhancements would play out throughout a whole project lifecycle. This timeline shows how the following roles can all use AI within their own work.

In our book, you’ll be able to follow these personas: Designer, Project Manager, and Marketer.

How Can Designers, Marketers and Project Managers Start Using AI?

  • Designers and Artists 
    • Generate hundreds of creative concepts quickly . . . then select the very best ones to base your own visual work on.
    • Experiment more with photo compositions and layouts before taking actual photos. You can determine how to fill space, and use blank space, within photos before a shoot ever begins. You may come up with a fresh, new idea that your brand hadn’t ever embraced before.
  • Marketers
    • Test out several new ideas at a time. By generating images more quickly than ever, you can see which concepts work and which don’t.
    • See various iterations on the same concept. Shutterstock’s generative AI creates four different takes on the same image concept, all of which contain variations. This means you can nail down good ideas more quickly, through observing this variety. You can also generate more takes on a concept, without paying additional fees.
  • Project Managers
    • Get to work right away with your freshly generated images! All AI-generated images are ready-to-use for your business materials, productions, and campaigns. Just generate and start working with the image in your editing software of choice!
    • Shorten timelines with a super-speedy AI image generator. Project schedules can be completed more quickly . . . or they can have a little more breathing room.

There are so many other ways to incorporate AI into your workflows! From using it to inspire new ideas, to using its designs for social posts, generative AI can enhance any step of your creative process. Download our ebook to get a 360 degree look at how to get started with it.


Take your creativity even farther:

How to Legally Use Your Stock Photos Across Multiple Platforms

How to Legally Use Your Stock Photos Across Multiple Platforms

Learn the ins and outs of using stock content across multiple platforms and for multiple purposes. We interviewed one of Shutterstock’s experts in licensing legalities to learn more. 

The Complete Guide to Timing in Photography

The Complete Guide to Timing in Photography

Learn about the importance of timing in photography in order to optimize for light, exposure, color, and detail in your images.

PNG vs PDF vs JPG: Which File Format Should You Use?

PNG vs PDF vs JPG: Which File Format Should You Use?

With so many image formats, how do you know the difference between PNG vs JPG vs PDF (and more)? We’re here to guide you.

5 Folk-Inspired Color Palettes

5 Folk-Inspired Color Palettes

Consumers are drawn to the simplicity of the past, to designs that have a timeless character. Here are five palettes that speak to that trend.

Recently viewed

Share this post

Recently viewed