My Favorite AI Stock Photo Site for Selling + Concepting Ideas
How do you sell weird the ideas that live in your brain?
Or did you not know that all creative work is selling, and whether you’re selling to a potential client, or a team of stakeholders who you want to buy into your direction or idea, that counts as selling?
The most abundant creatives on the planet all have one thing in common: They know how to sell.
One way that I teach the creatives on my team to sell ideas, is by concepting and visualling mocking up almost everything.
Have an idea for an event backdrop? Concept it.
Lighting for a photoshoot? Concept it.
SWAG or merch idea? Yes. Show it. CONCEPT it.
(Creatives are allowed to use the word “concept” as a verb so don’t @ me.)
I have to address the AI generated elephant in the room…
Should generative AI replace photographers?
Heck NO.
I fully believe that if you need product photography or actual headshots of your team, that you need to hire a photographer to get the best results. (Need a good one? Hit me up. I have a list.)
But there are LOTS of creative projects, workflows, and deliverables that do not necessitate the need for a photoshoot every time.
Think about it, if you’re a brand designer who had to do a photoshoot every time they needed to present concepts to a client, you’d be cooked.
We used to have stock photo site or free sites like Unsplash (which I still use) for this, but now, some of the best AI image generators are starting to curate sites that feature some of the best AI generated imagery…and some of them are FREE!
Now, I don’t really call image generators artists because most of what you find is junk. However, some of the stuff these creatives are able to bring to life truly can be considered art.
Check out @Prettydios on Instagram and tell me that’s not art.
I was really bummed when Visual Electric got acquired because I used that a lot, so a few weeks ago I started looking for another AI image stock site that featured AI generated imagery that I could use in concepting and moodboarding and I stumbled across Lummi.ai.
There are other sites for sure, but so far Lummi has been my favorite to use for explorations, mood boards, and concepting ideas.
If you have good taste, and can find artists whose style you can actually curate a unique concept around, then it doesn’t matter if you used AI to communicate and sell your idea.
Concepts Are What Sell Ideas
Choose tools and resources that give you everything you need to sell, pitch, and explain the wild ideas that live inside your brain.
Maybe even use this crazy image I found of a dude wearing light glasses with a cool grain texture/weird exposure warp.
Grainy black-and-white portrait of a man with glowing glasses, blurred features, and a dark, abstract background.
You’re welcome!
Help me #savethecreatives by sharing this article with the other creatives in your life, and remember that learning to sell is a cheat code skill…and you can use your creative powers to do it.
BT
