Image for writing prompt: 145 Picture Prompts to Inspire Student Writing

How to write effective AI art prompts

Good prompts are the backbone of good outputs. This is true for ChatGPT and even more so for AI image generation tools. But while ChatGPT provides solid responses even with super basic prompts, AI art generators tend to require more attention to detail—and more attempts—before you get what you’re looking for.

AI art prompting is much more of an art than a science, but I’ve put together a starting point for you. I’ll start with the structure of a good AI art prompt, and then I’ll give you some starting words and expressions you can use to make images go from «ok…?» to «wow.»

• The structure of an AI art prompt

• Part 1: Image content

• Part 2: Art form, style, and artist references

• Part 3: Additional details

• Advanced AI prompt tools and strategies

• Where to find AI art prompt ideas

• Automate your image generation

Follow along: Want to turn your reading session into a crash course? Take a look at our list of AI art generators and pick your favorite. Each AI model works with prompts differently (and each attempt will be different, too), so you’ll see variations in your results.

The structure of an AI art prompt

I’ve seen a lot of unique AI image prompts over the past few months, but all of them share a set of common characteristics. Here’s the general structure, in order of writing:

[image content/subject, description of action, state, and mood], 

[art form, style, and artist references], 

[additional settings, such as lighting, colors, and framing]

As you add more elements to your prompt, be sure to separate them with commas. This will help the AI model interpret your prompt, and it will make it easier for you to remember what you’ve asked for.

How long should an AI art prompt be?

There aren’t hard limits on how long or short a prompt should be: Midjourney works well with 60-word prompts, while Stable Diffusion does best if you stay below 380 characters. And AI image generators can get confused if you give them too much to work with. But play around with it—you never know what you’ll find.

What style of language should you use in an AI art prompt?

Vivid details and concrete language produce more predictable results. Poetic or abstract wording can produce surprising results. Mix and match depending on your objectives.

As you become more experienced, you can play with the structure, length, and style of your image prompts, but first, let’s drill down into each of the main components.

Start with the image content

«A cat on the sofa.» Generated with Midjourney.

Start by stating the subject or content of the image. This part is self-explanatory, and entering it into an AI image generation app will produce predictable results. Do you want a picture of a city at sunset? A green forest at dawn?

In addition to the content, you can also describe:

• Actions that the subject is doing (e. g., looking up, playing, or running)

• How they’re doing these actions (e.g., joyfully, fearfully, or boldly)

• The mood of the image (e.g., ominous morning rain, dangerous sunset mountains, nostalgic coffee table)

The more details you provide, the better your chances of getting a more interesting result. But it depends a lot on the model you’re using, since each one interprets the input in a different way due to its training and configuration.

Include the art form, style, and artist references

Next up is guiding the AI model toward the overarching aesthetic. Is it a watercolor painting? A sculpture? A lo-fi image? When you add an art form to the subject of the image, you can already see a major shift in the end result. Here are a few common art forms to explore.

Photography

«A child playing on a sunny happy beach, their laughter as they build a simple sandcastle, emulate Nikon D6 high shutter speed action shot, soft yellow lighting. » Generated with Midjourney.

Photography will be a recurrent prompt you’ll use, especially if you’re going for realistic pictures. There’s a lot you can control here: you can state the framing, lighting conditions, and even the type of camera you’re «using,» down to the camera/lens brands and specifications.

Painting

«Impressionist oil painting of a cute robot.» Generated with DALL·E 2.

You can explore all sorts of angles here:

• Techniques (e.g., oil painting or watercolor)

• Art movements (e.g., impressionism or Fauvism)

• Artist names (e.g., Cézanne or Kahlo)

For unique results, try mixing techniques, movements, and artists together. (And if you’re publishing the images later, consider crediting the artists you used for inspiration.)

Illustration

«Illustration of dinosaurs drawn by a child, the illustrations are cute and heartwarming.» Generated with Midjourney.

Other illustration types to try: 

• Pencil drawing

• Charcoal sketch

• Cartoon

• Poster

Digital art

«Isolated convenience store in the middle of the desert at sunset, car parked outside, lo-fi, nostalgic. » Generated with Midjourney.

Film stills

«Buildings on fire, old film still.» Generated with neural.love.

And more

There are plenty of other art forms you can explore. Some examples:

• Sculpture

• Collage

• Street art

• Textile art

• Installation art

• Ceramic art

• Lithography

Mix, match, and be amazed.

Add more details to your prompt

Do you like to tweak everything to the last detail? After adding the subject and art form, there are plenty of extras you can add to your prompt to further influence the end result.

Framing

Framing refers to how the subject or content is positioned in the image, and you can use it to influence image composition. 

It can be challenging to control the framing depending on how you write the first part of your prompt. For example, if you’re having trouble with close-ups, try stating the subject first and describing the background after. Here’s an example.

First, I tried using this prompt: Person standing inside a forest fire, strong determined attitude, close-up shot, realistic. Midjourney didn’t care much about «close-up shot»:

Then, I moved a few pieces around in the prompt: «Person with strong determined attitude, forest fire background, close-up shot, realistic.» Now that the prompt says the forest fire is in the background, it’s getting closer to what I wanted:

The expressions used for film directing and camerawork apply here, so you can use «wide shot,» «point-of-view,» or «dutch angle,» among others.

Want more control over image composition? Try AI outpainting to expand an image beyond its limits and then crop it in the exact way you want it.

Lighting

«Lonely evil bananas on a table, hard light chiaroscuro, realistic.» Generated with Midjourney.

Especially in photography, lighting is critical and can change the look and feel of an image. Consider tweaking your lighting prompts using «soft light,» «hard light,» or even «dramatic lighting.» You can also mention times of day, such as «morning,» «sunset,» or «golden hour.»

Color scheme

«A futuristic hopeful busy city, purple and green color scheme.» Generated with Midjourney.

While controlling lighting already introduces a level of color control, you can also play with color schemes to influence the color of objects, light, or the entire image look and feel.

Level of detail and realism

«A distant galaxy filled with tiny colorful stars, a blue, Earth-like planet in the foreground, realistic, colorful, 8k, trending on artstation.» Generated with Midjourney.

Prompts like «4k» or «8k» give the AI model the instruction to increase the level of detail in the image. (Keep in mind that it doesn’t increase the actual resolution of the image output.)

You can also use the «Unreal Engine» prompt to get the familiar feel of images rendered using that game engine. And if your photos aren’t looking believable enough, make sure to add «realistic» or «ultrarealistic» to your prompt.

Midjourney parameters

Midjourney (which you use via Discord) accepts a few extra parameters at the end of the prompt. Type a double hyphen or an em dash followed by the parameter name and the value. Here are a few useful ones:

• —chaos changes how varied the results will be, with 0 being the least varied and 100 the maximum. For example, —chaos 80 would be highly varied.

• —no handles negative prompts, meaning you can write what you don’t want to see in the image. For example, —no buildings will prevent the model from drawing buildings.

• —ar changes the aspect ratio of the image. For example, —ar 16:9 would render the image in the 16:9 aspect ratio.

Here’s the full list, but keep in mind that these are specific to Midjourney. If you’re using DALL·E 2, DreamStudio, or another tool, there will be a different set of parameters (and they’ll be presented differently too).

Advanced tools and strategies for AI art prompts

Now that we’ve gone through the basics, here are a few tools and suggestions to help you reach Legendary Imaginator status:

• Reverse engineer real images to find new prompts. CLIP Interrogator is an AI model hosted at Hugging Face that takes an image and gives you a text prompt based on its content. You can then use that result to build more detailed prompts and enter them into text-to-image models.

• Image-to-image. Text-to-image is just one option. You can also provide an image as inspiration and further tune it with text or model controls. Try it with Runway.

• AI outpainting. You can upload an image to an AI outpainting model, and it will expand it beyond the limits of the frame, creating a larger image. This is useful to get the exact framing you want or to create a larger image from a smaller detail. It works with non-AI-generated images too. Try it with neural.love.

• Fine-tune generation settings. Some models, like Stable Diffusion, let you adjust advanced generation settings. For example, by increasing or decreasing the number of steps, you can change how processed the final image should be. More steps usually lead to more detail.

• Train your own AI image model. Tools like Leap AI let you train your own image model, so it can better match a unique look and feel you’re attempting to create, reducing the variance in outputs that you get from «public» image generation models.

• Edit images with AI. You can select parts of images and change them using a text prompt. Try it out in Canva or in Photoshop.

• Use ChatGPT to generate better text prompts. Yes, you can use AI to prompt AI. When you ask an AI chatbot to write prompts for you, you may be able to unlock new aesthetics, compositions, or subject combinations that you didn’t think were possible.

Where to find AI art prompt ideas

When writing your first prompts, it’s challenging to visualize the exact results you’re looking for. More than that, it may take multiple tries until you get something usable. That’s tough if you’re not using a free AI art generator and there’s a cost to the experimentation—credits fly out fast when you’re having fun.

The good news: you can lean on the past experience of other creators like you. If you use Discord, you can join OpenAI’s server and Midjourney’s server to keep up with the discussion on image generation (and, in the latter, use AI generation with the /imagine command). You can engage with the community, ask questions, and collaborate with others.

There are also lots of places to browse a collection of images and corresponding prompts. Here are some of my favorites:

• neural.love‘s public library (scroll down and click on the images to see the prompts) 

• Websites like Lexica for Stable Diffusion prompts.

• Midjourney’s Discord channels

You’ll get great hints on how each model interprets prompts, and you’ll draw inspiration as you read original descriptions and fresh detail combos.

AI art prompt examples

And just to make things easier on you, here are all the AI art prompts I mentioned in this article:

• A child playing on a sunny happy beach, their laughter as they build a simple sandcastle, emulate Nikon D6 high shutter speed action shot, soft yellow lighting.

• Impressionist oil painting of a cute robot.

• Illustration of dinosaurs drawn by a child, the illustrations are cute and heartwarming

• Isolated convenience store in the middle of the desert at sunset, car parked outside, lo-fi, nostalgic.

• Buildings on fire, old film still

• Person with strong determined attitude, forest fire background, close-up shot, realistic.

• Lonely evil bananas on a table, hard light chiaroscuro, realistic.

• A futuristic hopeful busy city, purple and green color scheme.

• A distant galaxy filled with tiny colorful stars, a blue, Earth-like planet in the foreground, realistic, colorful, 8k, trending on artstation.

Automate your art generation

Once you lock in on your prompting strategy, you can automate parts of your image generation workflows with Zapier. Here are a few workflows to give you some ideas, but you can connect apps like DALL·E, Leap AI, and Hugging Face to all the other apps you use at work.

Create images with DALL-E for new Airtable records

Create images with DALL-E for new Airtable records

Try it

• +2

Airtable, Filter by Zapier, OpenAI (GPT-3, DALL-E, Whisper)

Airtable + Filter by Zapier + OpenAI (GPT-3, DALL-E, Whisper)

Post new images generated in Leap AI to Slack channel messages

Post new images generated in Leap AI to Slack channel messages

Try it

Leap AI, Slack

Leap AI + Slack

Generate images based on Google Form responses and save them in Google Sheets

Generate images based on Google Form responses and save them in Google Sheets

Try it

Google Forms, OpenAI (GPT-3, DALL-E, Whisper), Google Sheets

Google Forms + OpenAI (GPT-3, DALL-E, Whisper) + Google Sheets

Zapier is a no-code automation tool that lets you connect your apps into automated workflows, so that every person and every business can move forward at growth speed. Learn more about how it works.

Writing the best AI image prompts

AI image generation is a lot of fun, and it’s getting better—and more accessible—at each turn. Make sure you think about the ethics of using AI-generated images, and explore every possibility.

It can take a few tries to get right. But as long as you have an experimentation mindset and keep iterating, you’ll be able to progressively reach better and better results with your AI art prompts.

Now, please excuse me while I go back to trying to put the Eiffel Tower on Mars.

Related reading:

• The best AI productivity tools

• AI at Zapier: 12 apps that will revolutionize the way you work

• Stable Diffusion vs. DALL·E 2: Which image generator is better?

Picture Prompts for Young Writers

Picture Prompts For Young Writers

Who doesn’t enjoy an interesting picture? I have used picture prompts as story-starters to encourage writers of all ages, grade 2 through community college, as well as adult writing classes. Emergent writers need inspiration and confidence. For those who are strong visual thinkers, images can serve to inspire and guide a story, be it fiction or nonfiction.

Below are a wide variety of images that were carefully selected to help this process along!

---

Images:

• Prompt 01-Cape Lookout Lighthouse and wild horse
• Prompt 02-Lighthouse Ice Cream Cone
• Prompt 03-Banana Peel Lighthouse
• Prompt 04-Lighthouse Keeper & Chickens
• Prompt 05-Lightning at Fastnet Lighthouse
• Prompt 06-Helter Skelter Lighthouse, England
• Prompt 07-Cartoon Lightkeeper
• Prompt 08-Trinidad Head Lighthouse and Keeper
• Prompt 09-Dog at Lighthouse
• Prompt 10-Shabby Lighthouse
• Prompt 11-Screwpile lighthouse off Florida Keys
• Prompt 12-La Jument Lighthouse and big wave
• Prompt 13-Roker Lighthouse and big wave
• Prompt 14-Horse lighthouse, Japan
• Prompt 15-Lighthouse shaped birthday cake
• Prompt 16-horses & cows at lighthouse
• Prompt 17-Schouwen Lighthouse, Holland
• Prompt 18-abandoned and rundown lighthouse
• Prompt 19-ghostly lighthouse
• Prompt 20-Alexandria Lighthouse, Ancient Egypt
• Prompt 21-wave hitting lighthouse
• Prompt 22-Amelia Island Lighthouse & keeper
• Prompt 23-birds drawn to lighthouse beacon
• Prompt 24-moving Bean Rock Lighthouse
• Prompt 25-boy imitating lighthouse
• Prompt 26-leaning lighthouse
• Prompt 27-sea monster & lighthouse
• Prompt 28-mermaid & lighthouse
• Prompt 29-woman holding up lighthouse
• Prompt 30-sea monster & lighthouse
• Prompt 31-man holds up lighthouse
• Prompt 32-Flamborough Lighthouse foghorns
• Prompt 33-dinosaur or sea serpent & lighthouse
• Prompt 34-ice covered lighthouse
• Prompt 35-lightkeeper with large light bulb
• Prompt 36-lighthouse themed socks
• Prompt 37-foggy, scary lighthouse at Umpqua River
• Prompt 38-Old Point Loma Lighthouse

Images:

• Prompt 39-donkey with Greek lighthouse
• Prompt 40-squid & lighthouse
• Prompt 41-sea creature hugging lighthouse
• Prompt 42-lonely island lighthouse
• Prompt 43-seagull & lighthouse
• Prompt 44-woman pretending to wear lighthouse as a hat
• Prompt 45-feet on lighthouse stairs
• Prompt 46-ghost of lighthouse keeper
• Prompt 47-whale at lighthouse
• Prompt 48-lighthouse on fire
• Prompt 49-orcas passing lighthouse
• Prompt 50-love lighthouse
• Prompt 51-snowy lighthouse on island
• Prompt 52-large marine creature & lighthouse
• Prompt 53-birds around lighthouse lantern
• Prompt 54-lighthouse, house, and covered way to fogbell house
• Prompt 55-mermaid & lighthouse
• Prompt 56-grafitti lighthouse
• Prompt 57-lighthouse & keepers
• Prompt 58-cat that lives at lighthouse
• Prompt 59-ship passing lighthouse
• Prompt 60-Viking nearing lighthouse
• Prompt 61-woman from the past at lighthouse
• Prompt 62-lightning strikes Welsh lighthouse
• Prompt 63-lighthouse as a rocket
• Prompt 64-lightbulb and powerline at lighthouse
• Prompt 65-girl on boat passing lighthouse
• Prompt 66-lighthouse, woman and mermaid
• Prompt 67-lighthouse sitting in the sea with nearby boat
• Prompt 68-cute dog at lighthouse
• Prompt 69- bad day at Portland Head Lighthouse
• Prompt 70-dolphins swimming to lighthouse
• Prompt 71-lighthouse on outermost rock (1)
• Prompt 72-lighthouse inside snow globe
• Prompt 73-lighthouse made of lights
• Prompt 74-double lighthouses
• Prompt 75-large hole in lighthouse

Best text hints for creating photorealistic images

Creating photorealistic images is one of the most difficult tasks for a neural network. It is difficult not only because the neuron loves to draw people with more than five fingers, but also because there is a huge amount of detail in such pictures. However, with the right text prompts, Midjourney can produce excellent photorealistic images. In this article, we’ll take a look at the best text cues you can use to create colorful landscapes, portraits, or still lifes that are hard to distinguish from photographs.

How to generate a photorealistic image in Midjorney

In order to generate an image in Midjourney in the style of a photographer you like, follow these steps:

1. Register on the Midjourney website and access the image generation platform.

2. To create an image in the style of a specific photographer, you must specify the photographer’s name or nickname in the request and include a description of the desired scene or object. For example, if you want to create a Henri Cartier-Bresson style photo of a man jumping over a puddle in Paris, you could write: «Henri Cartier-Bresson style photo of a man jumping over a puddle in Paris».

Important: if you want to generate an image in the style of some photographer, be sure to use the keyword » in the style of by » in your tooltip

3. Send a text request and wait for the result. The process may take several minutes.

4. After the image is generated, you can increase the resolution of the image (Upscale) or make its variations (Vary).

Genres of photography

Photography is a broad field of art that includes many different genres.

Landscape photography — This genre is dedicated to capturing the beauty of nature, including mountains, forests, waterfalls and other natural landscapes. Text hints for this genre: «Reflections», «Mountainscapes», «Seascapes».

Tooltip: Generate a photorealistic image of a majestic mountain range at sunrise, with the sun just peeking over the horizon and casting long shadows across the landscape

Portrait photography — this genre is associated with the reflection of a person’s personality through photography. Suggestions for this genre: «Natural Light», «Studio Portraits», «Candid Moments», «Environmental Portraits».

Hint: Generate a photorealistic image of a young couple, posed intimately against a moody and dramatic background, with soft, diffused lighting that accentuates their features. Hints: Urban Landscapes, City Life, Crowd Scenes, Public Spaces.

Hint: Generate a photorealistic image of a bustling city street at night, with streaks of light from passing cars and neon signs illuminating the scene, capturing the energy and excitement of the city

Wildlife photography is a genre dedicated to capturing wild animals in their natural habitat. Hints: «Birds in Flight», «Predator and Prey», «Underwater Creatures», «Big wild cats».

Tooltip: Generate a photorealistic image of a pack of wild wolves running through a snowy forest, with their breath visible in the cold air and the trees bending under the weight of freshly fallen snow

Night photography — a genre dedicated to shooting the night sky and city night landscapes. Hints: «Lit cityscapes», «Starry skies», «Moonlit landscapes», «Night time portraits», «Long exposures».

Tip: Generate a photorealistic image of a star-filled sky above a rugged and barren desert landscape, with the Milky Way galaxy visible in all its glory

Sports photography — This genre is dedicated to capturing sports events. Suggestions for this genre: Action Shots, Athletes in Motion, Dramatic Lighting, Team Celebrations.

Hint: Generate a photorealistic image of a high-speed action shot of a professional athlete in mid-air, performing a gravity-defying move on the court or field

Fashion photography — This genre is all about shooting clothes and accessories. Hints: «High Fashion», «Editorial», «Runway Shots», «Lookbooks».

Tooltip: Generate a photorealistic image of a high-fashion model posing in a stylish and avant-garde outfit against a minimalist background, with dramatic lighting that highlights the texture and detail of the clothing

Documentary photography is a genre devoted to shooting real political and social events. Genre hints: Environmental Issues, Social Justice, Humanitarian Crises, Political Protests.

Tip: Generate a photorealistic image of a poignant and emotional moment in the life of a marginalized community, with raw and unfiltered emotion captured in every detail

Underwater — This genre is dedicated to capturing the life of underwater creatures. Hints: Coral Reefs, Marine Life, Shipwrecks, Caves and Grottos, Clear Water Visibility, Mysterious Deep-Sea Creatures.

Hint: Generate a photorealistic image of a school of brightly colored tropical fish swimming through a coral reef, with the light filtering through the water and creating a dreamlike, otherworldly atmosphere

Camera lenses and filters

Macro lenses. These lenses are designed for extreme close-up photography. It captures intricate details and textures that other lenses might not capture. They usually have a shallow depth of field, which creates a blurred background and draws attention to the subject. Hints: «Intricate Details», «Macro Still Life», «Macro Portraits», «Close-up Textures», «Macro Landscapes».

Hint: Generate a photorealistic image of a vibrant flower petal up close, with the intricate details of the petals and stamen in sharp focus against a soft, blurry background

Wide angle lens. Wide-angle lenses have a wider field of view than conventional lenses, making them great for capturing large landscapes or narrow interior spaces. They can increase perspective and make objects closer to the camera appear larger than they really are. Hints: «Panoramic Landscapes», «Interior Spaces», «Architectural Details», «Crowded Cityscapes».

Tooltip: Generate a photorealistic image of a sweeping landscape, with the vastness of the scenery and the sense of scale conveyed through the use of a wide-angle lens

Telephoto lens. Telephoto lenses have a narrow field of view and magnify distant subjects, making them ideal for wildlife, sports and portrait photography. They can reduce the distance between foreground and background objects and create a blurry background effect. Tips: Wildlife Photography, Sports and Action Shots, Portrait Photography, Landscape Compression, Close-ups from a Distance.

Hint: Produce a landscape photograph taken with a telephoto lens, featuring the majesty of a snow-capped mountain range in the distance and a solitary figure in the foreground

Tilt-Shift lens. Tilt-shift lenses allow you to control the plane of focus, giving you more control over depth of field and perspective. They are widely used in architectural and product photography to combat distortion and create a natural perspective. Hints: «Perspective Control», «Miniature Effect», «Product Photography», «Architecture Photography», «Landscape Photography».

Tooltip: Create a stunning aerial shot of a bustling cityscape, with a tilt-shift lens, emphasizing the scale and density of the urban environment

Polarizing filters. Polarizing filters reduce glare and reflections in photos, make colors more saturated, and increase overall image contrast. They can also help darken skies and reduce haze in photos. Hints: «Reducing Glare and Reflections», «Enhancing Colors and Contrast», «Capturing Clear Skies and Water», «Reducing Haze and Atmospheric Distortion», «Improving Detail and Texture».

Tooltip: Create a surreal landscape photo with a polarization filter, highlighting the vibrant blues and greens of a forest, and creating a striking contrast between the sky and clouds

Neutral density filter. ND filters reduce the amount of light entering the lens, allowing for slower shutter speeds when shooting. Hints: «Long Exposure Photography», «Blurring Motion», «Balancing Exposure in Bright Light», «Creating Dramatic Effects», «Softening Water and Clouds».

Tooltip: Generate a photorealistic image of a dramatic waterfall, with the water appearing silky and ethereal as it cascades down the rocks, captured through the use of a neutral density filter to slow down the shutter speed

Famous photographers

Ansel Adams . Known for his black and white landscape photographs, often depicting the rugged terrain of the American West.

Tooltip: Generate a photorealistic image in the style of Ansel Adams, capturing the vastness and grandeur of a rugged mountain landscape with crisp black and white tones

Annie Leibovitz. Portrait photographer. You can often see celebrities in her work.

Hint: Produce a portrait photograph in the style of Annie Leibovitz, capturing the essence of a cultural icon or historical figure with a captivating and timeless composition

Robert Capa. Capa was a photojournalist who covered conflicts and wars around the world, often capturing violent and emotional moments on film.

Tooltip: Create an image in the style of Robert Capa, capturing the intensity and grittiness of a wartime conflict with a sense of immediacy and realism that transports the viewer to the front lines

Henri Cartier-Bresson She was a pioneer of street photography, capturing casual moments of everyday life with a Leica camera.

Hint: Generate a photorealistic image in the style of Henri Cartier-Bresson, showcasing the beauty and complexity of urban life with a keen eye for detail and a sense of spontaneity

Dorothea Lange. Was a documentary photographer. The author of the cult picture «Migrant Mother».

Hint: Produce a documentary-style photograph in the style of Dorothea Lange, highlighting the social and political issues of the day with a powerful and impactful image

Man Ray. Ray was a surrealist photographer who experimented with avant-garde techniques such as solarization and photograms.

Hint: Create an image in the style of Man Ray, using surrealist techniques like photomontage or solarization to produce an otherworldly and dreamlike effect

Richard Avedon. Avedon has worked in fashion and portrait photography and is known for his austere, minimalist style and ability to capture the character of his subjects.

Hint: Generate a photorealistic image in the style of Richard Avedon, showcasing the raw and unfiltered beauty of a subject with a minimalist and striking composition

Irving Penn. Penn is a fashion and portrait photographer known for his clean, precise style.

Prompt: Produce a fashion photograph in the style of Irving Penn, showcasing the beauty and creativity of clothing design with a sophisticated and elegant image

Andreas Gursky. German photographer known for his large-scale digital images. Landscapes, architecture and urban environments are often found in his works.

Tooltip: Create an image in the style of Andreas Gursky, featuring a modern architectural masterpiece with a focus on the interplay of light and shadow in the structure

Cindy Sherman. A contemporary photo artist who uses self-portraiture to explore themes of identity and pop culture.

Hint: Generate a photorealistic image in the style of Cindy Sherman’s “Untitled Film Stills” series, depicting a character in a dramatic pose in a vintage film noir setting

Edward Weston. Weston was a pioneer of modernist photography, known for his pinpoint accuracy and his use of sharp focus to capture the beauty of everyday objects.

Hint: Create an image inspired by Edward Weston’s “Shell” series, showcasing the intricate and delicate beauty of a seashell or other natural object

Alfred Stieglitz. Stiglitz is a photographer known for his avant-garde photography.

Hint: Generate a photorealistic image in the style of Alfred Stieglitz’s “City of Ambition”, depicting the towering skyscrapers and bustling streets of a modern metropolis

William Eggleston. Pioneer of color photography, known for his depiction of everyday scenes.

Hint: Create an image inspired by William Eggleston’s “Los Alamos” series, showcasing the surreal and sometimes otherworldly beauty of the American West

Walker Evans. was a documentary photographer who photographed the daily lives of Americans during the Great Depression, often focusing on architecture and signage in small towns and rural areas.

Hint: Generate a photorealistic image in the style of Walker Evans’ “Subway Portraits” series, capturing the diverse and sometimes gritty characters of New York City’s subway system

Steve McCurry. Photojournalist best known for his portrait of the «Afghan Girl», which appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985. His work often captures the people, culture and conflicts of Asia and the Middle East.

Clue: Create an image inspired by Steve Mc Curry’s “Monsoon” series, depicting the vibrant colors and cultural traditions of South Asia during the annual rainy season

You can also check out our guides on creating images in the style of famous artists and animators.

Previous post

next post

15 Incredible Tip Styles to Try in Midjourney V4 (100+ Examples)

49 449
views

Very long post

Midjourney V4 took 9 months to prepare and was finally released. After trying it in just 30 minutes, I was blown away by the quality it delivers across a huge range of styles and themes.

What does V4 do better? Almost all. And I’m not just comparing it to previous versions. I compare it with all artificial intelligence image generators.

Below I have selected the trending styles that impressed me the most and included the exact prompts for each one so you can try them out.

• 1. Logo design
• 2. Web and App Design
• 3. Pixel Graphics
• 4. Isometric art
• 5. Character design
• 6. Photos of people
• 7. Movie posters
• 8. T-shirt design
• 9. Patterns, Patterns
• 10. Paper craft
• 11. Tattoo design
• 12. Anime
• 13. Architecture
• 14. Fashion design
• 15. Cinema

1. Logo design

For the first time, artificial intelligence can create consistent and effective logos for your business.
Try adding these phrases to your clues:

• Graphic designer names: Paul Rand / Saul Bass / Massimo Vignelli
• Simple / Flat / Vector
• Kitsch / elegant / minimalist

logo_diesel_engine_repair_illustration_white_bg

logo_diesel_engine_repair_illustration_white_bg

flat vector logo of deer head, minimal graphic, by Sagi Haviv —no realistic photo detail shading

flat vector logo of square, blue purple orange gradient, simple minimal, by Ivan Chermayeff

simple minimal logo of chicken, style of Yoji Shinkawa —no letters font

logo of taiwanese brand cup of tea, minimal style of japanese book cover

emblem of a kaiju, simple, japanese

houseplant emblem, kitschy vintage retro simple —no shading detail ornamentation realistic color

2. Web and App Design

Will artificial intelligence replace user interface designers?
With V4 it certainly looks like that. While V3 didn’t have a clear idea of ​​what interfaces look like, V4 definitely does.

The model tends to make things «painterly» rather than vector. You can try adding the following to your tooltips to make them cleaner:

• Vector
• User Interface
• Adobe Illustrator / Figma
• Dribble / Behance

main_page_of_the_website_of_a_construction_company

internal_page_of_the_site_product_cards_wooden_houses

app that monitors your health, flat vector, Adobe Illustrator, dribbble, user interface

meditation app, flat vector, Figma, dribbble, user interface

cryptocurrency tracking app, adobe illustrator, behance

screenshot of a web app that tells you what is the best pizza, style of behance and dribbble

photography of an iphone with a modern user interface plant identification app on the screen inspired by Behance and Figma and dribbble

photo of macbook M1 with with a modern user interface of plant identification app on the screen inspired by Behance and Figma and dribbble

3. Pixel art

I never thought the older versions of Midjourney were good at pixel art, but Midjourney V4 blows my mind. I also haven’t been able to achieve anything close by running Stable Diffusion on my own. With some artistic touches, they would look amazing as game backgrounds.

You can create different pixel art styles by adding them to your tooltips:

• 8 bit pixel art / 16 bit pixel art / 32 bit pixel art
• yes, varying these up will change the style of the image. At 32 bit, we noticed it moves away from “pixel art” and towards a regular illustration.
• Sega Dreamcast / SNES / Atari
• Isometric

16 bit pixel art, island in the clouds, by studio ghibli, cinematic still, hdr

16 bit pixel art, outside of a coffeeshop on a rainy day, light coming from windows, cinematic still, hdr

16 bit pixel art, isometric, cozy tavern interior with cute characters, cinematic still, hdr

clean pixel art, moon base with rover, style of castlevania 1986

pixel art, misty mountains, style of cave story

chinese gate style of owlboy pixel art

4. Isometric art

The isometric art appearing in V4 is absolutely stunning!
Try these quick additions:

• isometric
• low-poly
• box cutout
• made in blender
• Materials: matte clay

cute isometric kitchen made with Blender

cute isometric island, cottage in the woods, river with water falling off the edge, made with blender

cute isometric island, Winterfell from Game of Thrones, blender 3D

8 bit pixel art, inside of spaceship command center, style of game boy, visible outlines, isometric

8 bit pixel art, living room, style of SNES and PS1 and Game Boy, visible outlines, isometric

isometric clean art of exterior of condo designed by kengo kuma, blender

5. Character design

This is a very broad topic. There are so many different types of character design and so many different styles.

You could look for designs for:

• Mascot for your brand
• Character design for your animation or video game
• Character designs for your DnD campaign

You may also be looking for several different styles:

• 2D / 3D
• Rendering
• Concepts and variants
• Character change table to show the character at different levels

The characters of the neural network are simply excellent.
Promt: Character 3D Colorful, colors, UItra, 3D render, 16K, —q 5 —ar 2:3

To generate a character with different angles, add
multiple poses, multiple views

Strange Character 3D, multiple poses, multiple views, colors, UItra, 3D render, 16K, —q 5

William_Vaughan_photorealistic_photography_chibi_astronaut

turtle_in_the_matrix_kung_fu

santa_claus_cartoon_futuristic_cyberpunk

dinosaur_with_rollerblades_sunglasses_smoke_suit_8k

mascot for a vegetable drink brand, super cute, 2d

mascot for a dairy brand, clip art style, cute

wizened old female fortuneteller, head, close up character design, multiple concept designs, concept design sheet, white background, style of Yoshitaka Amano

space mercenary character design, concept design sheet, white background, style of yoji shinkawa

6. Photos of people

The

V4 crosses the line between “hey, this could almost be a real photo” and “holy cow, is this not a real photo? »

We’ve noticed that the model excels at capturing vintage style photos. Here are some phrases you can add to your hints to give them a realistic vintage look:

• polaroid
• vintage photography
• film photography
• fuji color film

To generate a portrait of a girl, a very large description was needed.
in the hall of a palace with a ronded and colorful architecture, portrait of a glamorous fashion model wearing retro glasses, fashion style, Natural light, outfit by Pierre Cardin, Antoni Gaudí style, 1970s style, digital photography, photo realism, ultra realism, sharp focus, detailed, photo film, 70 mm, shot by Wes Anderson, cinematic, movie, realistic, photographie, photo taken with a 70mm lens, Iso 40 0, f4. 1/20, 8k, HD realistic, photorealistic, ultra photoreal, ultra-detailed, intricate details, 8K, super detailed, full color, ambient occlusion, volumetric lighting , high contrast , HDR

old man portrait, sketch, color

photograph close up portrait 40-year-old tough decorated general, CLEAN SHAVEN, serious, stoic cinematic 4k epic detailed 4k epic detailed photograph shot on kodak detailed bokeh cinematic hbo dark moody —ar 17:22

blonde girl leaning on table and smiling at camera, detailed facial features, detailed eyes, polaroid, 1990

man sitting at breakfast table, detailed facial features, vintage photograph, fuji color film, 2000

woman playing solitaire at a desk, fuji color film, polaroid, 1999

man wearing baseball cap walking his dog, full body, vintage photograph, fujicolor film, 2010

A signal for the start of naturalistic interaction between people in images generated by artificial intelligence.

Verbs such as “argue”, “fight”, “hug”, give interesting results. But the less dynamic the pose, the more realistic the person is. However, I noticed a huge improvement in people’s side and rear profiles compared to the V3.

Although it looks like crazy hands and fingers are here for a long time.

man and woman posing for a picture at Disneyworld, 2001, detailed face, detailed arms, full body portrait, photograph

two men, brothers, one man has hair, arguing outside a house on a patio, 1980, realistic arms, vintage photograph, flash photography

two siblings sitting on deck in late afternoon, early 2000s, flash photography, polaroid

two siblings sitting on deck in late afternoon, early 2000s, flash photography, polaroid

7. Movie posters

The

V4 does an excellent job of recognizing links to just about… everything. In the example above, it looks like the V3 model contains some details of the visual atmosphere of No Country for Old Men, but in the V4 version, it looks like the model actually contains information about the characters.

This is amazing! How much does the model know about how many different creative works there are?

Some things you can check right now:

• Generate movie posters for books without existing movies
• Generate movie posters for existing movies and see how well V4 does!

movie poster for the shawshank redemption prison style of Saul Bass

movie poster for the Matrix, style of Saul Bass

8. T-shirt print design

You can easily create bold and vibrant t-shirt graphics that are perfect for printing.

tshirt vector, rocky balboa graphic, vivid colors, detailed

tshirt vector, attack on titan emblem, vivid colors, detailed

tshirt vector, 80s synthwave dog, vivid colors, detailed

tshirt vector, darth vader synthwave, vivid colors, detailed

tshirt vector, screen printed, Yoda graphic, synthwave, vivid colors, detailed

tshirt vector, kaiju emblem, bold vivid colors, detailed

9. Patterns and Patterns

V4 not only creates beautiful patterns that you can turn into backdrops for any project (not to mention home wallpapers), there are a couple of tricks you can use to create consistent patterns:

• Repeating. (This almost always results in a repeating endless pattern)
• Radial repeating. Repeats the pattern in a circle (like flower petals)

celtic knot pattern, simple, geometric

native american decorative patterns

native american decorative patterns

chinese pattern, repeating

This is the image above, laid out on a grid. “repeating” will create a perfect repeating pattern most of the time.

10. Paper products

I can’t believe it’s not paper! Papercraft is a testament to how well Midjourney now understands materials and lighting.

Hogwarts, castle on a hill, from Harry Potter, layered paper art, diorama, shadowbox, volumetric lighting

Harry potter on broomstick in sky, layered paper craft, paper art, diorama

Harry potter on broomstick in sky, layered paper craft, paper art, diorama

Harry potter on broomstick in sky, layered paper craft, paper art, diorama

Harry Potter and a White Stag,layered paper craft, diorama

dumbledore in his study, layered paper craft, diorama

11. Tattoo design

You can create tattoos in many different styles. I have noticed that Migjorni often tattoos the human body. If you don’t want to use a human, add —no human to the prompt

tattoo_World_Tree_scandinavian_runes_minimalism_sketch

minimal tattoo design, symmetrical, line, dots, square, black, white background

minimal tattoo design, symmetrical, line, dots, square, black, white background

minimal tattoo design, symmetrical, line, dots, square, black, white background

minimalist lavender flower tattoo design, lines, minimal, black and white, white background

minimalist rose tattoo design, lines, minimal, black and white, white background

12. Anime

It’s no secret that anime is one of the most popular ways to create images using artificial intelligence today. NovelAI is another very popular anime generator.

Midjourney’s has an anime mode called Niji Mode . This is a completely different model than the regular Midjourney model. Use the command ‘ —niji ’ anywhere on your command line to switch to Niji mode.

girl opening the window over a medieval village , sunlight streaming in, best quality, masterpiece, style of Studio Ghibli by Hayao Miyazaki —niji —ar 3:2

masterpiece, best quality, cat bus, sunlight streaming through the trees in a forest, style of Studio Ghibli by Hayao Miyazaki —niji —ar 3:2

masterpiece, best quality, sunlight streaming through the trees in a forest, style of Studio Ghibli by Hayao Miyazaki —niji —ar 3:2

1990s anime still, students learning how to pilot mechs, style of Studio Ghibli by Hayao Miyazaki —niji —ar 3:2

empty classroom, style of Makoto Shinkai The Garden of Words, aesthetically pleasing, muted color scheme —niji —ar 3:2

13. Architecture

Zaha Hadid Architects (the company of the late Zaha Hadid, starchitect winner of the Pritzker Prize) are rumored to use Midjourney in their daily work and suggest “Zhaha Hadid style”.

Artificial intelligence will transform the architecture and interior design industry, both at the stage of design and development of ideas, and at the stage of presentation to clients.

organic house embedded into the hilly terrain designed by Kengo Kuma, architectural photography, style of archillect, futurism, modernist architecture

organic resort embed into a series of hills, designed by Ando Tadao, architectural photography, style of archillect, futurism, modernist architecture

organic house embedded into a grassy hill, designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, architectural photography, style of archillect, futurism, modernist architecture

Interior Design, a perspective of a study, modernist, large windows with natural light, Light colors, plants, modern furniture, modern interior design

Interior Design, a perspective of a living room and a kitchen with an island, large windows with natural light, Light colors, vegetation, modern furniture, skylight, modern minimalistic design

Interior Design, a perspective of a study room with mahogany walls and a large desk of walnut wood, large windows with natural light, Light colors, plants, modern furniture, classical interior design

14. Fashion design

Fashion is another industry that will be transformed with the introduction of artificial intelligence tools. Boost the creativity of your fashion designs with:

• Moodboards. Mood boards
• Conceptual design of clothes and shoes
• Editorial photo shoots

fashion moodboard for bohemian fashion line, in the style of hip hop

fashion moodboard for spring inspired by flowers

futuristic sneaker inspired by egyptian mythology, by nike

futuristic footwear, inspired by military special forces, by Nike

cinematic production still of a black editorial model posing with experimental fashion against perfect solid blue sky

high-fashion black model as a polaroids shot circa 2022, wearing Valentino FW 2023 haute couture, in the style of British Vogue shoots, ultra real, ultra details, photo real

15. Cinema

Creating funny shots and scenes that don’t exist is a favorite pastime of AI subreddits.

Production Still from Wes Anderson film, darth Vader dropping off young luke sky Walker off at school, cinematography by Wes Anderson, symmetry —ar 3:2

Production Still from Star Wars: Shrek, starring bald shrek as yoda’s father, cinematography, directed by George Lucas, 1978 film style —ar 3:2

Production Still from Star Wars: A New Hope, cinematography, directed by jared Hess, 2000s film style —ar 3:2

production still from sergio Leone directed zombie film, weird west, gunslingers and cowboy wizards, cinematography, vintage scratched lenses, insanely detailed —ar 3:2

screengrab from Tyler the creator music video, pop art landscape, post modern, cinematography, directed by Hiro Murai —ar 3:2

The Midjourney V4 opens up a new frontier in the world of AI content creation.