AI Image & Video Creation - Santa Barbara Workshop

AI Foundation: Tools for Image & Video Creation

A 2-hour hands-on playground to explore, compare & create with today’s leading visual AI tools.

When:

October 9, 2025, 1 -3 pm

Where:

SBCAST - The Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science & Technology 513 Garden St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, United States

Studio F

Parking in the SB City lots 10 or 11

Purchase Tickets right here: $89, Students with Student ID: $49

What to expect

This is not a lecture. It’s a guided creative session where we'll dive into the wild world of image and video AI. We’ll experiment freely, and compare tools in real time, so you leave with a toolkit you trust and ideas you’re excited to build on.

You’ll create your own moodboards, image variations, and short video snippets, and most importantly, you’ll learn how to translate your imagination into prompting and actual outputs with the help of AI.

What we’ll do

• Explore how different tools “think” visually – and how to get the best out of each
• Learn Prompting - the videographer lingo and vocabulary you need to get great results
• Work with your own ideas (no need to come with anything polished, we’ll start where you are). We use mistakes as a porthole to creativity and do extensive ideation and prototyping.
• Compare strengths and styles across platforms: fast, fun, and side-by-side
• Use quick prompts, remix techniques, and visual storytelling hacks
• Share and discuss! What worked, what surprised you, and where you want to take it next

The tools we’ll use

You need to have at least one AI Image creation tool (ChatGPT for example), but there is no need to purchase additional tools.
✨ Midjourney – poetic prompts, aesthetics
✨ Runway – text-to-video and talking avatars
✨ DALL·E – fast and flexible for quirky concepts
✨ ChatGPT – your creative co-pilot for prompts & ideas

✨ Weavy – creative workflows for branding, commercials
✨ Adobe Firefly – pro polish, design-focused
✨ Ideogram – surprising style combinations & typography

✨ Flux – surprising light and environment changes
✨ Miro – as a workshop facilitation tool and to post you moodboard

We’ll also talk about workflows: when to use what, and how to mix tools for more control and better results.

Who is it for?

Designers, creatives, students, marketers, branders, start-ups, entrepreneurs, and visual thinkers who want to understand the landscape and start making with intention and confidence. No need for prior AI experience, just bring curiosity and your laptop.

You’ll leave with:

• A set of images and/or videos you’ve made
• A personal AI tool comparison map
• A handful of prompts and techniques to reuse
• Clarity on what tools work best for you
• Ideas to explore further, maybe even your next project spark
• Resources with links to free workshops, articles, and further discoveries

What to bring

• Your laptop with at least one Image AI Tool installed
• Bring your energy! Enthusiasm, critical thinking, and a willingness to make mistakes and experiment.
• That half-formed idea, visual theme, or creative itch you’ve been meaning to explore

Format & duration

2 hours
In-person, exploratory, make mistakes, interactive. One Break included. Think: co-creation meets skill-building.

Price

$ 89

Limited to 15-20 participants, get your ticket now!

For a student discount ticket, email student ID to Ulrike@vivadesign.com and paypal $59

Your Take-Away

Whether you’re starting with AI or expanding your AI visual toolkit, you’ll walk away with much more than just cool outputs. Here's what you'll get:

1. Your own mini-portfolio: A collection of images and short video clips you’ve created during the session. Visual experiments from different tools to compare and build on and a creative prompt bank you can reuse, remix, or refine

2. A curated resource pack

After the workshop, you’ll get access to a shared folder with:

• PDFs and links on AI ethics and responsible use in design
• A compact Tool Comparison Guide to help you decide what fits your style/workflow
• A set of prompt templates & structure examples (for visual storytelling, moodboarding, conceptual development)
• Video tutorials and walkthroughs for deeper dives into the tools we tried (Midjourney, Runway, Firefly, DALL·E, Ideogram...)
• Further reading list: handpicked articles, essays & case studies on creative AI

See you there!