Prompt tips
Tips about generating amazing artwork using an AI image generator
Last updated
Tips about generating amazing artwork using an AI image generator
Last updated
A prompt is a method of communicating with the AI DreamWorks image generator by using written text as input. Its primary function is to instruct the Artificial Intelligence (AI) model to generate images based on the given prompt. Guide the AI to understand how to create your picture by describing the image and what elements should appear in it.
Start with a Clear, Concise Problem Statement
A good Stable Diffusion prompt should begin with a clear, concise statement. Your prompt should clearly state the description of the image. Make sure it is specific enough that the model can generate a relevant and insightful response.
Avoid Biased Language
It's important to avoid biased language when writing Stable Diffusion prompts. Biased language can limit the artist's creativity and make the prompt feel restrictive. Instead, use neutral language that encourages exploration and experimentation.
Provide Context
Providing context is crucial when writing stunning Stable Diffusion prompts. The generator needs to understand the background and purpose of the prompt in order to create a meaningful piece of art. For example, a Stable Diffusion prompt could provide information about the historical or cultural significance of a particular theme.
Be As Specific as You Can
A good Stable Diffusion prompt needs to be detailed and specific. Compared to Midjourney, Stable Diffusion needs specific prompts for the best results. Therefore, you need to provide it with the exact thing that you need. Specific prompts can help guide its creativity and ensure that the resulting piece of art meets the desired goals. For example, a prompt could ask the artist to use a specific medium or style in the art work.
Test Your Prompts
Finally, it's important to test your prompts before using them to generate responses. This will ensure that they are clear, concise, and effective in generating the kind of response you're looking for.
This may seem very obvious, but it makes sense to take a moment to discuss the idea of specificity. In general, when creating prompts, it is always better to be as specific and detailed as possible.
For example, you could generate an image with a simple prompt like ”A dog”, as shown below. And while this image is fine, it may not match the breed, camera angle, or lighting you want. But if you tweak the prompt to be more specific with a more detailed description, the output changes. Consider this updated prompt and the image shown below.
Prompt: Playful Golden Retriever in a lush, green park. The dog is captured mid-jump, chasing after a frisbee. The camera used is a Nikon D850 DSLR with a 24–70mm f/2.8 lens. The lighting is natural, with the sun providing a warm, golden hue to the scene. The colors are vibrant and rich, with the green of the grass contrasting beautifully with the golden fur of the dog. The shot is taken from a low angle, emphasizing the dog’s energetic leap and joyful expression.
Notice the difference? The second image is noticeably more detailed and looks a lot better than the first one.
Acrylic Painting: Use this prompt for bright colors and realistic portraits where you can see often some brush strokes.
Ballpoint Pen: For drawings with blue or navy ink.
Black Paper: White art on black paper.
Bone Carving: When wood carving just isn’t enough.
Carving: These images look like they’ve been carved from wood.
Chalk: For art generated with this powdery medium.
Charcoal Drawing: Charcoal is a black, crumbly material made of carbon, resulting in a smudged, black and white style.
Colored Pencil: This medium offers a lot of control and precision in a softer style.
Detailed Painting: The colors seem a little brighter than the default style and it looks more painterly.
Drone Photography: Use this prompt for that birds-eye view.
Gouache: Gouache is similar to water colors except it’s opaque.
Impasto Oil Painting: Impasto is a technique that uses thick layers of oil paint on the canvas, resulting in lovely texture.
Ink Illustration: This medium has a heavy black and white contrast.
Markers: Use this prompt for bright colors and more of a cartoony style.
Oil on Canvas: Realistic art style with a more muted color palette.
Pen and Ink: Similar to ink illustration, except there are more varying shades and strokes.
Pencil Sketch: A soft black and white style.
Pointillism: A technique that uses tiny dots to create the painting.
Sewn: For doll-like characters and textured landscapes.
Spray Paint: Bright, drippy colors.
Stained Glass: Colored glass forming designs, often in church windows.
Tapestry: Ads some really interesting textures to the portraits for this prompt.
Vector Art: Vector art is a type of digital art using geometric shapes, points, lines, and curves.
Watercolor: For a splatter artwork using pastel tones.
Anime: Anime is a specific art style from Japan. The landscape does a bit better job of taking on the style; you might have to add “cartoon” or similar to get the portraits to take on a more cartoon look.
Art Nouveau: Art nouveau is a ornamental art style throughout Europe and the US from 1890 to 1910.
Artstation: a website for games, film, media, and entertainment artists to showcase their work.
Astral: Alien planets and star-themed characters.
Astrological: Similar to “astral,” but less sparkly.
Blender: Blender is a piece of software that artists use to create 3D graphics.
Cinematic: Use this prompt for a realistic look with cool lighting.
Comic Book: Vector art-style landscapes and superhero characters.
Concept Art: Concept art is a style of art used to convey an idea, scene, or character for use in films, video games, or other media.
CryEngine: CryEngine is a particular software used to design video games.
Dark Fantasy: This is a subgenre of fantasy that includes disturbing or frightening themes.
DeviantArt: DeviantArt is a website artists use to share their work.
Dieselpunk: Dieselpunk is a subgenre of science fiction that combines diesel-based and retro-futuristic technology.
Dreamy: Use this prompt for pastel colors and misty landscapes.
Elaborate: This prompt adds a lot of steampunk-style ornaments to characters and creates landscapes that look like they’re from other worlds.
Epic Composition: Interesting scenes and character stances. Vast, fantasy-style landscapes.
Ethereal: Similar to “Dreamy,” but more eerie.
Extraterrestrial: Aliens
Fantasy: This will give your landscapes an otherworldly look and your characters will often look medieval or elvish.
Gradient: Often uses a pink, yellow, and red color palette.
Graphic Novel: This gives landscapes a vector art style, but characters vary. (edited)
Heat Haze: For characters and landscapes experiencing a hot atmosphere.
Hyperrealistic: You can still tell its art, but a realistic style. Similar to “photorealistic.”
Impressionism: A style of painting from 1860s France, characterized by shifting light and colour, and often vague brushstrokes.
Magic: Similar to the “fantasy” prompt for landscapes, but the characters tend to look more like witches or wizards.
Monochrome: Realistic black and white scenes.
Muted: Results in a faded colour palette.
Octane: Octane Render is a piece of software that enables artist to generate images from a model.
Ominous: Well, that’s ominous.
Ornate: This tends to add headdresses and jewelry to characters and architecture to landscapes.
Photorealistic: You can still tell its art, but a realistic style. Similar to “hyperrealistic.”
Pixel Art: A style of digital art using square pixels, often associated with 8-bit and 16-bit era computers.
Rich Color: Deep, often red-dominated color palette.
Sense of Awe: Tends to generate interesting lighting and realistic characters as well as mountainous landscapes.
Sharp Focus: This prompt seems to blur some parts of the image and focus on others.
Solarpunk: a subgenre of science fiction that combines solar-based and retro-futuristic technology.
Steampunk: a subgenre of science fiction that combines steam-based and retro-futuristic technology.
Synthwave: reflects unique designs that blend retro 80s vibes with a touch of the futuristic
Tenebroso: Results in dark, gloomy, and eerie images.
Ultra Detailed: Realistic scenes and characters.
Underwater: Characters don’t necessarily look like they are swimming, but the aesthetic is aquatic. (edited)
Unreal Engine: Unreal Engine is a specific piece of software that artists use to create photorealistic visuals.
Vast: Not sure what this prompt does to characters, but it tends to create sparse, distant landscapes, often with mountains in the background.
Vibrant: Bright-colored hair and clothes on characters; pink , blue, and orange-heavy palette on landscapes
Backlighting: Backlighting is when the main light source is positioned behind the primary subject.
Beautiful Lighting: It’s random what lighting you’ll get from this prompt, but it’s generally a softer light and always pretty.
Bioluminescence: Bioluminescence is light emitting from living organisms.
Blue Hour: Blue-hued light when the sun is mostly below the horizon.
Cinematic Lighting: Cinematic lighting is supposed to evoke a feeling, often lighting the subject to be slightly more bright than the background.
Crepuscular Rays: Crepuscular rays are sunbeams from the sun just below the horizon.
Dappled Light: Patches of light and shade.
Dawn: Often adds pinks and purples to sky colors. Softer lighting than the “dusk” prompt.
Dramatic Lighting: Heavy contrast between light and shadows.
Dusk: Brighter lighting than the “dawn” prompt.
Fluorescent: Neon, glowing colors.
Golden Hour: Golden hues from the period right after sunrise or before sunset.
Lens Flare: When a bright light enters the camera lens.
Midnight: Dark, eerie lighting, often purple or blue-hued.
Moody Lighting: Dark, soft lighting.
Overcast: When grey clouds cover the sun.
Rim Lighting: Light is often behind the subject, outlining them.
Shimmering Light: Soft, golden light.
Sunbeams: Slightly yellower compared to the “crepuscular rays” prompt.
Torchlit: Illuminated by a torch or flame. The landscapes tend to have a glowing point of sunlight.
Twilight Hour: Lighting from right before sunrise and after sunset.
The order of your prompt will affect the outcome; words placed early will generally have a stronger effect. If you use longer prompts, words later in the prompt will generally have a weaker effect. You can often improve your prompts by changing the order of your words or adjusting the words used in your prompt.
Changing and tweaking the placement of words is a beneficial practice to improve writing prompts.
When crafting your prompt, think about what you actually want to achieve.
