Editorial Collage

Editorial · Collage · Cut Paper

Download examples
Cover illustration
Portrait built from fragments
Wide feature opener
Detail of cut edges
Spread with type

Recipe

GPT Image

gpt-image-1

Updated 5 Aug 2026

Full sentences. Describe the scene, then the medium, then the flaws you want kept in.

The recipe is the style, not the picture. Put your own subject in and the prompt updates.

Prompt

An editorial collage illustration for a magazine feature about cities. Halftone printed photographic fragments of buildings and hands, scissor cut and torn edges with visible paper thickness and small shadows, flat cut paper shapes in ochre and deep blue for structure, a faint grid of ruled lines behind. One clean piece of black sans serif typography anchoring the composition. Scanned rather than rendered, slight paper texture throughout.

Use the examples as a reference

Download the examples

Send the example as an input image to the images.edits endpoint alongside the prompt, or attach it in ChatGPT. It follows composition closely, so describe your subject firmly or it will copy the example.

Recommended settings

Size
1024 x 1024
Quality
High
Background
Opaque
Output
PNG

Tips

  • 1Ask for visible paper thickness and small shadows. Flat collage looks like a filter.
  • 2Halftone the photographic pieces and leave the flat shapes clean for contrast.
  • 3Scanned rather than rendered is a useful instruction across many print styles.

Things to try

Black and white

photocopied fragments only, no colour at all

Punk zine

ransom note lettering and heavy photocopy contrast

Botanical

pressed plants and printed labels arranged on cream paper

Dada portrait

a face assembled from mismatched features at wrong scales

Digital collage

the same approach with clean vector shapes and no paper texture

Similar Styles