How to Get Better Results With Canva’s AI Image Generator

Canva’s AI tools do a great job on their own, but you can kick things up a notch by using the same tools to enhance your AI-generated images. Here are some top tips for improving your AI-generated Canva images.

1 Color Edit – Change the Colors of Your AI Images

When using Canva’s text-to-image generator, which can be found in the Elements tab, you have plenty of control over your generated image. Firstly, type a prompt into the text box, including colors if needed, and then you can choose an image style from around 20 different styles.

As with many AI generators, the results don’t always match your prompts. The results are often varied and colors are usually majorly affected, even when included in the prompt. Luckily, Canva’s Color Edit feature can fix the colors in your Canva-generated AI images.

Once generated, select your image to bring it to the Canva artboard. Then select the Edit Photo option above the artboard.

Edit Photo has many tools, but I just want to fix the colors in this image. Select Adjust, then scroll down to Color Edit. This feature shows a basic color palette generated by swatches from your selected image. While it might not show every color in your image, it presents the four main colors present.

To edit the colors, select the color swatch you wish to change. This brings up three sliders: Hue, Saturation, and Brightness.

The Hue slider effectively changes the color of parts of the image with your selected color swatch. It may also affect similar shades of the same color—for example, if the swatch is light green, it may also affect dark green areas of the image.

Saturation decides how vibrant the color will appear, so if you want a muted shade or more intense shade, you can use this slider. And Brightness affects the whites and blacks within the color, allowing you to change to a lighter or darker version of the chosen color.

While Color Edit isn’t perfect, it’s a quick and easy way to have more control over your AI-generated images. It works with better success on flat images with fewer colors and gradients, such as “playful”, “anime”, or “concept art” styles available with Canva’s text-to-image generator tool.

2 Magic Grab – Change the Composition of Your AI Images

Canva Pro users can use Canva’s background removal tool to erase the background of a subject. But what if you want to keep the background as well as the subject, and simply move them around a little?

For instances where your AI-generated image doesn’t nail the composition like you imagined, you can use Canva’s Magic Grab AI tool. Magic Grab is one of many Canva Pro features that make upgrading worth it.

Generate your image with Canva’s text-to-image generator in the Elements tab—or you can use one of the AI generators within Canva’s growing list of apps. This technique works best with photo-realistic images, so choose one of the photography styles below the text box. Bring your generated photo to the artboard by selecting it.

Select the image, choose Edit Photo to bring up the Magic Studio tools, and select Magic Grab. Magic Grab doesn’t allow you to choose which part of the image to select, but it will be the most prominent subject of the image—making this feature best for portrait or product images.

After you’ve selected the tool, the main subject will be outlined in a purple box to show it can be separately selected and moved like any element. You can drag, resize, or individually edit this element to fix your composition. You can also delete this new element, keeping the background from your AI-generated image.

You can also use Canva layers to add dimension to your image—add some text in a layer below the subject, or add a colored overlay to the background to allow your subject to pop. Magic Grab is great for turning a flat image into something with more dimension and better composition.

3 Grab Text – Rewrite AI-Generated Text in Your Images

When using an AI generator to create an image, any text that may appear in the image—such as signs, labels, or messages—usually appears as a non-distinctive language hybrid of unreadable text. Weird text is a major telltale of AI-generated images, but Canva’s Grab Text feature can help fix it.

After generating your Canva image, if there’s a prominent piece of text, you can use Canva’s Grab Text and Magic Write tools to turn the text from an unreadable and unidentifiable language into English or one of Canva’s other supported languages. Text Grab and Magic Write are Canva Pro tools, but both are available in the Canva Pro free trial if you want to test them out.

After bringing your image to the artboard, select your image, then Edit Photo. From the list of Magic Studio editing tools, select Grab Text. The Grab Text tool automatically identifies the most prominent text in the image, turning it from an embedded part of the image to an editable text box with a purple outline.

Double-click the text box and rewrite the text in English or your preferred language. The Grab Text tool retains the font or style of the generated text, but you can change the font, size, or color using Canva’s Text Tool above the artboard.

Here, you can also use Magic Write to generate original text, use any of the other Magic Write features, or apply your brand voice—this only works if you’ve set up the Canva Brand Kit on your account. But nothing is stopping you from writing without the use of AI. Either way, the Grab Text feature will instantly improve your AI-generated images.

With these tips, you can push your AI-generated Canva images to the next level. The ability to directly edit your AI images isn’t available in most software, so take advantage of these Canva features to enhance your images with minimal effort.