PROMPT GUIDE

The Complete Pre-Posting Checklist for AI Art

It's a shame when a great image loses half its appeal to a missed error or a badly cropped thumbnail. Go through the five sections of this article from top to bottom and your final pre-posting check takes just five minutes.

Last updated: 2026-07-10 approx. 2 min read

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1. Error check (hands, eyes, outlines)

Right after generating, your brain tends to look only for the good parts. Zoom in once and check mechanically, in order of where errors are most likely. If you don't trust your own eye, load the image into AI Critique Lite on this site so you can review it with the checkpoints organized for you.

Hands and fingers: count, joint bends, left and right hands swapped
Eyes: size, color and highlights consistent on both sides
Outlines: hair melting into the background, ear and jaw lines
Other: mismatched accessories on each side, broken clothing structure, random text

2. Brightness and saturation (the "too dark on a phone" problem)

Even if it looks good on a big PC monitor, on a small phone screen in bright outdoor light it easily becomes "a dark image where you can't see anything." Assume social media is viewed almost entirely on phones, and err on the brighter side.

Send it to your phone once and check it on the actual device (the most reliable way)
For night scenes, make sure there are enough light sources (city lights, moonlight, etc.)
Check that the face isn't crushed by shadow and that the eye highlights are visible

3. Thumbnail cropping (each platform's crop)

On social media timelines, images aren't shown at their uploaded size; each service crops them to its own aspect ratio. To check whether the face or the key part falls outside the thumbnail, load the image into Crop Simulator and it overlays each platform's crop area.

Tall illustrations often get heavily cropped top and bottom. Keep the face toward the center
Whether the face is visible in the thumbnail makes a big difference to how often people tap
In multi-image posts, the first image is everything. Put your strongest image first

4. Organize and record your prompt

"How did I make that image again...?" happens to everyone. Before posting, record the prompt, negative prompt, seed and model name together as a set. If you organize prompts you'll reuse with Prompt Optimizer to remove duplicate and contradicting tags, they become assets you can use as-is next time.

What to record: prompt / negative prompt / seed / model name / size
Delete any tags that weren't doing anything at this point
For images you want to turn into a series, split the prompt into a "fixed part" and a "swappable part" and make it a template

5. Prepare tags and caption

Balance your hashtags: big general tags + genre tags + style tags
Check and follow each platform's rules for labeling AI-generated content
Even adding a single line about the scene in the caption changes the response
Match your posting time to when your target audience is on their phones

Rinka's tips

An efficient check has three stages: zoom in for errors, zoom out for overall impression, then check on a real phone
When in doubt, sleep on it. Looking again the next morning, you'll be surprised how many errors and dark spots you notice
Bookmark this article and run through it from the top before every post

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

I spend so long checking that I never post.

Perfectionism is the enemy of posting. We recommend setting a personal rule: if three things pass, no errors in the face and hands, it looks bright on a phone, and the face is visible in the thumbnail, then post it.

I noticed an error after posting. Should I delete it?

If it's a small error, there's no need to rush to delete it. If it's getting a good response, leave it up; spending your energy on preventing the same error in your next image is more constructive.

Should I share my prompts publicly?

Either is fine. Sharing them makes it easier to connect with people who share your interests, while keeping them private helps preserve the uniqueness of your style. We recommend picking a policy and sticking to it.