AI Illustration Prompt Tutorial: Create Six Popular Illustration Styles with PixPix

If you want to turn ordinary photos into the recently popular AI‑illustrated short videos, you don’t need to be able to draw or delve into complicated settings. Simply prepare a clear reference image, upload it to PixPix, and apply the corresponding style prompt—then quickly generate illustrations suitable for profile pictures, cover images, plogs, and short‑video content.

This tutorial will guide you through a complete process from scratch: preparing your reference image, generating an illustration in PixPix, copying six sets of popular AI‑illustration prompts, selecting the best results, and finally editing them into a roughly 20‑second vertical‑format tutorial video.

I. Start by Preparing Your Reference Image

The reference image determines whether the final result turns out stable. Beginners should first gather 3 to 6 everyday photos, such as portraits, café shots, street scenes, food pictures, travel photos, or seaside scenes.

When choosing images, keep these three principles in mind:

1. The subject must be clearly identifiable. It’s best if people, food, or buildings can be recognized at a glance.

2. Avoid overly cluttered backgrounds. Complex backgrounds can cause the AI to produce blurry edges.

3. Try to use images that are easy to crop for vertical screens. This will make video editing much simpler later on.

For portrait photos, avoid images where hands obscure the face, multiple people overlap, or lighting is too dim. For scene photos, choose shots with minimal signage and simple architectural perspectives.

II. Generate AI Illustrations on PixPix

After opening PixPix, go to the image generation or editing section. Upload your prepared reference image, then copy any one of the following prompt sets into the input box.

It’s recommended to test only one style at a time. Each style can generate 2 to 4 alternative images; ultimately, select the one with the most accurate subject, the clearest style, and the cleanest composition.

After generation, carefully check the following aspects:

· For portrait images: Are facial features, hands, poses, or clothing structures abnormal?

· For scene images: Are signs, architectural perspectives, or edge details unclear or distorted?

· For food images: Is the main subject preserved, and are decorative lines too dense?

· For cover images: Is there enough space at the top or center of the frame for a title?

III. Six Sets of Popular AI Illustration Prompts

1. Quirky, Cute, Graffiti‑Style Illustrations

Perfect for creating emoji‑like profile pictures, humorous covers, or contrasting lifestyle photos.

Quirky, cute graffiti illustrations resemble quick, spontaneous children’s drawings sketched with ordinary pencils or markers. The style is deliberately rough, with free‑flowing, messy lines, intentionally distorted proportions and perspective, and exaggerated, playful facial features. Colors are applied haphazardly, allowing for bold contrasts and uneven shades, while retaining visible brushstrokes and hand‑drawn traces, interspersed with scattered doodle lines and sketchy elements. Backgrounds remain simple, leaning toward a comic‑book aesthetic, resulting in an overall light, humorous, and slightly addictive vibe full of meme‑like charm—avoiding realism, excessive detail, or rigid order. Image proportions stay unchanged.

2. Instagram‑Style Hand‑Drawn Look

Ideal for coffee, food, plog posts, shop‑hopping, and everyday life photos.

Analyze the image content and add white hand‑drawn outlines and annotations around the main subject. Use a fine‑line, single‑stroke hand‑drawing style, outlining shapes with graffiti‑inspired strokes, complemented by arrows, dotted lines, arcs, and other marks—lines naturally slightly shaky. Include brief handwritten notes in Chinese, like casual daily memos: describe the taste and atmosphere of drinks, the flavor and satisfaction of food, the overall ambiance of the setting, along with a relatable concluding remark. Add subtle hand‑drawn accents such as hearts, stars, and small emoticons. Overall, present a Japanese‑style lifestyle record feel—low saturation, soft lighting, a gentle film‑like texture, natural whitespace in layout, and spaced‑out yet unobtrusive annotations—creating a sophisticated, relaxed Instagram Story vibe.

3. Healing‑style flat illustration

Suitable for portraits, shops, seaside scenes, and travel photos, with an emphasis on color blocks, grainy textures, and a relaxed feel.

The overall style is transformed into a healing‑style flat illustration, infused with childlike graffiti and stream‑of‑consciousness expression. The artwork features rich details, using large areas of highly saturated color blocks to create depth, complemented by textured graininess and hand‑drawn qualities. The composition leans toward abstract expression, with solid‑color backgrounds, free and relaxed lines, and a whimsical atmosphere reminiscent of children’s doodles, delivering imaginative visual storytelling.

4. colorwolk fridge magnet style

Ideal for turning portraits, pets, buildings, or travel photos into small icons, stickers, or cover art materials.

Extract the most representative subject from the photo and transform it into a minimalist character icon in fridge magnet style. Retain iconic outlines and key features, ensuring a clean, crisp design that conveys a sense of travel memorabilia. Add subtle three‑dimensional shadows and soft projections, border the edges with white or light‑colored outlines, appropriately simplify details, and keep the icon compact and refined while leaving ample negative space around it.

5. City Pop retro illustration

Perfect for street scenes, cityscapes, shops, and travel photos—creating images that evoke the aesthetic of 1980s Japanese animation.

City Pop retro illustration style blends the aesthetics of 1980s Japanese animation with flat vector graphics, constructing scenes through distinct color blocks. Featuring high‑saturation, bright, vintage hues, it creates a warm, nostalgic ambiance. Employing cinematic wide‑angle compositions, it portrays serene suburban Japanese landscapes, with clean, transparent visuals devoid of unnecessary text, accented only by handwritten English phrases that align with the theme. Vibrant colors, ultra‑high resolution at 8K, and unchanged aspect ratios.

6. Pop‑style vector illustration

Ideal for retro covers, character posters, and high‑contrast avatars, delivering maximum visual impact.

Retro vector flat illustration combines halftone dot printing with pop‑art flair, evoking the nostalgic print texture of 1950–1960s children’s picture books. It uses clear color blocks and dot patterns to shape the image, avoiding gradients and realistic lighting. Color schemes are vivid yet streamlined, with cute, simple forms, bold black outlines, and high contrast, retaining the irregularity and random brushstrokes characteristic of handmade work. Set against a white paper background with fine grainy texture, no text included.

IV. What if the generated results are unstable?

If the first generation doesn’t turn out well, don’t rush to switch tools. Start by reducing constraints in your prompt, keeping only the most essential style keywords.

For example, a quirky graffiti style can be simplified to:

Quirky, adorably ugly graffiti illustration: rough lines, childlike doodle vibe, exaggerated facial features, randomly splashed colors, simple background, and unchanged aspect ratio.

Once the basic style stabilizes, gradually add details such as “brushwork,” “colors,” “background,” and “texture.” A common mistake among beginners is cramming too many requirements into one prompt, making it impossible for the AI to balance both subject matter and style effectively.

V. How do you create prompt cards?

Don’t display the entire prompt on screen in short videos. Viewers won’t be able to read it all, and the visuals will look cluttered.

A better approach is to create prompt cards:

· Background: Apply Gaussian blur to the original or generated image.

· Top: Place a white‑background, black‑text label clearly stating the style name.

· Body: Keep only 2–3 key words.

· Duration: Limit each card to 1–2 seconds.

For example, a City Pop‑style card could read:

City Pop Retro Illustration
1980s Japanese Animation Aesthetics
Highly Saturated Retro Color Palettes
Cinematic Wide-Angle Composition

This way, viewers can quickly understand the content, and those who want to recreate it will be more inclined to save it.

VI. 20-Second Short Video Editing Script

It’s recommended to create the final video in a vertical format of 1080 x 1920. The structure can follow an “opening hook + six style showcases + closing compilation” approach.

Opening: Why are you only discovering these six AI illustration styles now? They’re perfect for collecting!

First segment: Quirky graffiti illustrations that transform ordinary photos into adorable, slightly goofy children’s doodles.
Second segment: Instagram‑style hand‑drawn aesthetics, adding hand‑painted borders and everyday captions to photos.
Third segment: Healing‑type illustrations, using highly saturated color blocks to create playful, childlike scenes.
Fourth segment: Fridge‑magnet‑style designs, turning people into small, travel‑memory‑inspired icons.
Fifth segment: City Pop style, transforming street scenes into 1980s Japanese anime vibes.
Sixth segment: Pop art–style illustrations, featuring bold black outlines over retro printed halftone patterns.

Closing: All six sets of prompt words have been organized—perfect for profile pictures, cover images, plogs, and short‑video content.

In terms of editing rhythm, aim for a noticeable visual change every 1 to 3 seconds. Use quick cuts, subtle zooms, horizontal pans, or collage transitions to keep the visuals constantly fresh and engaging.

VII. Which Content Platforms Are Suitable for Posting?

These AI illustration prompts can be used across many types of content:

• Profile Pictures: Quirky graffiti, fridge‑magnet style, pop art.

• Cover Images: City Pop, healing‑type, pop art.

• Plog Posts: Instagram‑style hand‑drawn, healing‑type.

• Store‑Visiting Photos: Instagram‑style hand‑drawn, City Pop.

• Short‑Video Material: All six styles can be compiled into a cohesive collection.

If you’re new to this, start by testing with one portrait and one scene photo. Portrait shots help assess whether the style preserves the subject, while scene photos evaluate whether the mood and composition remain stable.

Summary

When creating AI illustration tutorials with PixPix, the key isn’t making the prompts overly complex—it’s ensuring users can instantly grasp: what image to upload, which prompt to copy, what effects to expect, and how to edit it into a video afterward.

You can first test all six styles using a reference image, then arrange your favorite results sequentially into a vertical‑format video. As long as the opening hook is strong enough and the stylistic differences clear, this type of AI illustration tutorial makes excellent collectible content.