The Rundown: In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use Nano Banana (Gemini 2.5 Flash Image) to generate and edit any image. I’ve been playing around with Nano Banana this week, and honestly, it’s one of the most fun and practical AI tools I’ve tested. People aren’t exaggerating when they say they’re going bananas for it.

🧰 Who is this useful for:

• Small business owners who want marketing materials without hiring a full agency
• Designers who need quick mockups
• Students or teachers turning notes into neat visuals
• Creators who just want to have fun experimenting with ideas

STEP 1: What is Nano Banana and how to access it

Nano Banana is known as “Gemini 2.5 Flash Image” model from Gemini. It’s an amazing ai image editor. There are two ways to access Nano Banana:

• Gemini App – Head over to gemini.google.com. Go to chat, click on “Tools,” and toggle on “Create Images” (that’s the Gemini 2.5 Flash Image Model).

• Google AI Studio – aistudio.google.com. This is where developers can tinker with various AI models and tools, but you can still run prompts here. Personally, I prefer Gemini app - it feels less technical and more user-friendly.

STEP 2: Toggle on “create images” and give your first prompt in the text box

For my first test, I uploaded an image of a baby rocker I bought for my newborn. I wanted to see how Nano Banana could place it in real-life ad environments. I used the prompt:

”Create ads to fit various environments with the attached image. Think of using it in a subway or in a train or by a bus stop.”

The results blew me away in terms of how well the product image got integrated into that environment.

Don’t just stick to generic prompts. Ask it to adapt slogans or change environments - that’s when the model gets creative. Below it created an ad in a luxury magazine:

STEP 3: From creative ads to turning sketches into colorful animations

Here we are turning a black and white drawing into a colorful animation picture.

It kept the exact same character structure, but added color.

Then you can take the workflow further by turning your image into a short, animated video with sound, using VEO.

Simply toggle on “Create videos with Veo” in “Tools”

The resulting video took about 2 minutes to create.

Pro Tip: If you’re a small business or indie creator, use Nano Banana to mock up campaigns before spending real money. It’s currently the best AI image editing models, and it costs only about 4c per image generation through the API. It's a cost-effective way to test new concepts with your audience on social media to see what clicks.