Leonardo AI Master User Guide: From Prompt to Cinematic Production

Leonardo AI Master User Guide | Create Cinematic Visuals & Motion Content

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION

Understanding Leonardo AI — A Professional Tool for Creative Visual Generation

Leonardo AI is a creator-first visual generation platform optimized for precision, style fidelity, and project-ready asset control. It combines text-to-image generation, real-time sketch prompting, and video animation (motion) — making it ideal for artists, storytellers, marketers, and brand builders seeking cinematic or stylized results.

Originally launched to support concept artists and illustrators, Leonardo AI now powers workflows in:

  • Motion video and social content

  • Game and metaverse asset design

  • Music visualizers and cover art

  • Brand and merchandise design

  • Rapid prototyping and storyboarding

In 2024, Leonardo AI was acquired by Canva, expanding access and integration with one of the world's top content design platforms. This signals a commitment to professional-grade outputs while simplifying the UI for creators of all experience levels.

Leonardo AI offers a free tier (daily generation limits) and Pro subscriptions that unlock speed boosts, private outputs, model training (LoRA), and full commercial usage.

Who Should Use This Tool?

Leonardo AI is purpose-built for:

  • Visual Storytellers — creating scenes, symbols, and emotional design for reels, blogs, or trailers

  • Music Artists — generating motion visuals, posters, cover art, and branded loops

  • Brand Builders — crafting consistent theme-driven visuals across campaigns and products

  • Game Developers — producing environments, props, and layered concept sketches

  • Content Creators — designing Pinterest pins, YouTube thumbnails, digital merch, or shortform hooks

Whether you’re launching a visual-first brand or adding visual power to your AI stack, Leonardo AI bridges concept and execution.

What Makes Leonardo AI Unique?

Capability Leonardo AI Midjourney DALL·E Runway
Modular Prompts ✅ Blend tags + freestyle ❌ ❌ ✅ Partial
Realtime Sketch Canvas ✅ Draw + text ❌ ❌ ❌
Video Animation (Motion Tool) ✅ Native ❌ ❌ ✅
Style Templates (Elements) ✅ Curated and editable ❌ ❌ ✅ Partial
Project Foldering ✅ Full tagging + folders ❌ ❌ ✅ Limited
LoRA Support (Custom Style) ✅ Trainable ❌ ❌ ✅ (Basic)
Transparent Backgrounds ✅ Export PNGs ❌ ❌ ✅

Leonardo AI Core Tools & Workspaces

Once logged into https://app.leonardo.ai, you can access:

  1. Create Tab (Text-to-Image)
    Enter prompts with optional style tags, elements, and generation settings. Ideal for still frames, image sets, and visual experiments.

  2. Flow State Mode
    Generates horizontal strips of related images. Limited to one tag per category but great for fast exploration.

  3. Realtime Canvas
    Draw shapes or characters, then pair with prompts. Adjust prompt influence and sketch strength. Perfect for pre-vis, stylized illustrations, or UI/UX frames.

  4. Motion Tool
    Animate an image with gentle panning, zooming, or atmospheric motion. Choose direction, strength (1–10), frame count, and export format (MP4).

  5. Elements Library
    Preset stylistic bundles (e.g. “Mystical Glow,” “Grunge Concept Art,” “Spiritual Dreamscape”). Ensure consistent visual tone across scenes or assets.

  6. Project Library
    Browse and rename generations, organize by folder, download batches, or re-enter prompts. (Note: Images inside Leonardo folders currently cannot be renamed directly — rename post-download.)

  7. Background Remover / Transparent Export
    Enable transparent PNG exports for sticker packs, apparel mockups, or clean UI layers.

Recent Press + Product Milestones

  • Canva Acquisition (July 2024) – Leonardo AI joins Canva’s product suite, streamlining brand storytelling through visuals.
    BusinessWire: Canva Acquires Leonardo.AI

  • Leonardo for Teams (Q3 2024) – Team folders, permission settings, and collaborative real-time image generation

  • Ethical Visual AI Framework (Oct 2024) – Partnered with University of Technology Sydney to develop safety standards for generative visuals.
    The Australian

  • 2025 Roadmap includes:

    • Advanced prompt token weighting

    • Auto-tagged visual generation logs

    • LoRA Trainer UI for public use

    • Canva-style smart templates using Leonardo imagery

First-Time Setup Checklist

  1. Create Your Leonardo AI Account
    Visit https://app.leonardo.ai and sign up with your email or Google account.

  2. Familiarize with the Workspace
    Use the tabs: Create, Canvas, Motion, History, Library

  3. Test a Prompt in Create Tab
    Example:

    “Spiritual prophet walking through golden desert, ember haze lighting, cinematic depth, concept art, dramatic shadow”

  4. Try Flow State Mode
    Use the same prompt to explore image variations.

  5. Animate With Motion Tool
    Choose 72 frames, subtle movement (scale 5–6), and export.

  6. Save Visuals to Local Folders
    Example format:

    projectname_scene01_v1.jpg
    projectname_motion01.mp4

Beginner Pro Tips

  • Prompt Like a Director: Subject + Action + Setting + Tone + Tags

    “Prophet running through storm toward glowing temple, foggy mood, low angle, chiaroscuro lighting”

  • Use Aspect Ratios Intentionally:

    • 16:9 = cinematic / widescreen (YouTube, trailers)

    • 9:16 = TikTok / Reels / Pinterest

  • Maintain a Prompt Log:
    Track top-performing visuals in a Google Sheet, Notion, or Airtable doc.

  • Use Consistent Elements:
    For brand visuals or narrative cohesion, reuse style bundles.

  • Export as Transparent PNGs:
    Great for layering in merch, marketing, or UI designs.

Final CTA: Build Visual Systems That Convert

Start building with purpose — not just playing with AI.

This is your system. Make it work.