Weekly Image Challenge - May 2026
Weekly open-prompt challenge from AI Video Bootcamp - members shared their favourite AI image of the week. 10 winners each earned free lifetime community access. 52 curated submissions.
The challenge
The Weekly Image Challenge is a recurring open-prompt competition inside the AI Video Bootcamp Skool community. Daniel Riley posts one question per week - in this round, simply “show me the favourite image you made in the last 7 days” - and selects 10 personal favourites. Each winner receives free lifetime access to the community.
Because the prompt is unrestricted, this challenge functions as a snapshot of what 20,000+ AI image creators are actually pushing on right now: photoreal portraits, AI influencer characters, editorial fashion, surreal advertising mock-ups, branded product shots, and brand-blended pop-culture mashups all sit side by side.
How it ran
Members dropped one image per person in the comments over seven days, racking up 2,800+ submissions and replies. Daniel curated 10 winners by personal pick rather than community vote. This page presents those 10 winners alongside 42 of the strongest non-winning entries from the comment thread - 52 images in total. Click any creator name to follow them on Skool.
Patterns in the strongest work
A few themes ran through the highest-engagement submissions. Photoreal character portraits with a distinctive lighting hook (cold blue glitter, warm golden lace, neon noir rim light) consistently drew attention. Branded product mockups - Prada, Heineken, an unnamed pink skincare line - benefited from the same codified-format effect as Daniels chaos challenge: AI models render real ad layouts confidently. Pop-culture mashups also dominated: Vader and Yoda at a Brazilian bar, Elon and Napoleon co-strategising at SpaceX, a Star Wars Glup Shitto poster, Avatar starting a podcast. And animal-in-the-wrong-place humour kept landing - cows in a fancy restaurant, a chimpanzee driving a Porsche through Dubai, a chimp in an AVB cap drinking espresso in London.
The split between photoreal and stylised was roughly even - both approaches won. The shared trait: a single sharp idea expressed with intentional lighting and composition.
A note on the open-prompt format
This challenge intentionally has no theme. The 52 images on this page span everything from selfies that fool the eye to fantasy battle posters, infographics, fashion editorial, dog portraits, and mock luxury ads. Read this archive as a cross-section of where AI image creation sits in mid-2026 inside a community of 20,000+ working creators.
Submissions
Inspired by the time-period mashup challenge
Avatar starts a podcast
Editorial photography - the body knew first
Sparkly nails and cobwebs
One contact lens in the ice
BLEEN (Blue + Green)
Aleksia, my AI character
Prada branding test
She is very expensive
Napoleon
Reference Based Pricing explainer
Chimpanzee at a London cafe wearing the AVB cap
My dog Ash, he loves tennis balls
Mermaid in the sun
Which side are you living?
Skull Granny for a womens biker apparel brand
Enjoying the ride
A vast bee empire ruled by a single queen
AI Higher Self - breaking the matrix
100 Things In Her Room seek-and-find
Even I cant tell it was AI
Veterans home Lancaster flypast
Rebo - A Glup Shitto Story
Anime and photorealism mixed
Weird-style film director
Jamaican version of The Matrix
Hephaestion battles the Minister of the Dark Gate
A dark cinematic demon
Crispy pork knuckle
Boxer with fictional Bennett Power Solutions sponsorship
Elon and Napoleon