Cover Art & Image Gen

Yes, if you want to stop using free thumbnails or paying a designer for every drop. You'll ship real 4K album art, YouTube thumbnails, or promo images in under 20 minutes.

1. step 1 / 6

   Install Claude Code

   If you already have Claude Code, skip this. Otherwise open your Terminal app (Mac: Cmd+Space, type 'Terminal', enter) and paste:

   curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
   

   Type claude to confirm it works.

2. step 2 / 6

   Install the nano-banana-pro skill

   Click Generate install command in the Install box below. Copy the command. Paste it in Terminal. Hit enter. Skill lands in ~/.claude/skills/nano-banana-pro/.

3. step 3 / 6

   Get a Nano Banana Pro API key

   Go to kie.ai, sign up, grab your API key. Export it once:

   export KIE_API_KEY="sk-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
   

   Add that line to ~/.zshrc so it sticks.

4. step 4 / 6

   Draft at 1K — fast iteration

   In Claude Code, type:

   Use nano-banana-pro to draft a 1K image: [your idea]
   

   Example: a moody night shot of a lone guitarist under a single spotlight, blue haze, cinematic. 1K takes ~10 seconds per gen and costs pennies — iterate freely.

5. step 5 / 6

   Iterate — refine, not restart

   When you get close, edit the PREVIOUS image instead of regenerating from scratch. Ask:

   Edit that image: make the spotlight warmer, add fog on the floor
   

   The skill uses kie.ai's edit endpoint — same subject, tweaked. Keeps the composition.

6. step 6 / 6

   Ship at 4K

   Once the 1K is locked, bump the resolution:

   Generate the final at 4K, aspect ratio 1:1
   

   Use 1:1 for album covers, 16:9 for YouTube thumbs, 9:16 for IG story promos. File drops into your current folder.

• Want YOUR face in it? Paste your photo's URL as `--input-image` and say 'keep the subject identical, change the setting.' Face likeness holds across iterations.
• Want a specific vibe? Add reference words: 'shot on Kodak Portra 400', 'A24 color grade', '90s Japanese anime cel shading', 'album cover energy'. These hit harder than 'epic' or 'stunning'.
• Want a series? Generate one image at 1K, lock the look, then do 5-10 variations by changing only ONE variable (subject, background, lighting). Perfect for Instagram grids.
• Making thumbnails? Add text DIRECTLY: 'big bold text at top saying YOUR WORDS, TikTok-Sans style.' Nano Banana renders real text now — no Photoshop needed.

• `Error: No API key provided` when the skill runs.

  You forgot to export `KIE_API_KEY`. Run `export KIE_API_KEY="sk-xxx"` in the terminal BEFORE running Claude Code, or permanently add it to `~/.zshrc` and restart the terminal.

• The image doesn't match the reference face I uploaded.

  Your input image is too complex. Use a clean head-and-shoulders shot with even lighting, no sunglasses, no group photos. Animated/pixar-style references usually block photoreal output — stick to real photos.

• Iterations keep drifting further from what I want.

  You're stacking edits on edits. Start fresh: grab your best previous result, feed IT as the input image, and make one clean edit from there. Don't chain 5 edits in a row.

• 4K takes forever and costs too much.

  Stay at 1K until the prompt is PERFECT. Only jump to 4K for the final. 4K is ~5x the cost + 3x the wait. Most drafts live and die at 1K.

• Text in the image is garbled.

  Keep text short (under 4 words) and put it in quotes in your prompt. `big bold text saying "RAIN SZN"` works. Long phrases glitch — use Photoshop for subtitles, not Nano Banana.

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