The world of AI art generation is advancing at a rapid pace. With tools like DALL-E 2, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion, artists have an endless array of creative possibilities at their fingertips. However, crafting the perfect prompt and extracting the most impressive visuals from these AI systems remains an art unto itself. In this blog post, we’ll explore some pro techniques and tips for taking your AI artistry to the next level.
Harnessing the Power of Negative Prompts
One of the most effective ways to refine and enhance AI-generated images is through the use of negative prompts. Also known as negative embeddings, these are specialized prompts trained on undesirable qualities or flaws common in AI art. By incorporating negative prompts into your overall prompt, you can steer the AI away from generating these unwanted elements.
There are a few key ways to take advantage of negative prompts:
Targeting Specific Art Styles
Some negative prompt embeddings are designed to discourage the AI from mimicking particular art styles that you may not desire in your final output. For example, the “bad_prompt” and “bad_prompt_v2” embeddings help reduce tendencies toward anime/cartoon styles. By adding “(bad_prompt_v2)” or “(bad_prompt:0.8)” to your prompt, you can nudge the AI toward more realistic and refined stylistic choices. The number after the colon represents the “strength” or weight of the negative prompt.
Avoiding Unwanted Elements
In addition to art styles, you can use negative prompts to omit specific unwanted elements from your generated images. For instance, adding “bad hands” or “bad_prompt_hands” helps the AI render more anatomically correct and properly proportioned hands. Other common unwanted elements that negative prompts can help avoid are extra limbs, distorted faces, unrealistic textures, etc.
Preserving Your Artistic Vision
Some negative prompts are designed to restrain the AI from diverging too far from your original vision. Embeddings like “bad_prompt_artist” reduce the extent to which the AI will impose its own stylistic interpretation on your prompt. This allows you to maintain more control over the final look and feel.
The key is downloading negative embeddings created by others and adding them to your AI system’s folders. Then incorporate them into your prompts and experiment with different weights to see their impact. With practice, you’ll learn which negative prompts produce the best results for your desired aesthetics.
Upscaling and Enhancing Details
Another way to take your AI art to the next level is through upscaling – increasing the resolution of initially generated images. This allows you to introduce finer details, sharper textures, and overall enhanced quality.
Here is an effective upscaling process:
- Generate an initial image as usual through DALL-E, Midjourney, etc.
- Use an AI upscaling system like Image-to-Image in Stable Diffusion to double the resolution of the image.
- For the upscaled rendering, use a moderate denoising strength like 0.25 to avoid over-smoothing.
- Once rendered, take this upscaled image into an editing program like Photoshop. Apply an “unsharp mask” filter to sharpen and bring out details.
- Save the sharpened upscaled image, and feed it back into the AI system for further refinement. Disable any face restoration to avoid blurring.
The unsharp mask allows you to selectively sharpen key areas and introduce more defined textures and details not present in the original. The AI can then build on this enhanced foundation.
You may need to touch up over-sharpened edges manually by erasing and blending problem areas. But overall, this technique can take your images to new heights of quality and precision.
Putting It All Together
By combining carefully crafted negative prompts and targeted upscaling, you’ll be shocked by how much you can transform AI-generated art. Let’s walk through an example prompt using these advanced techniques:
“A majestic palomino horse galloping across a beach at sunset. Dynamic perspective, detailed musculature and mane flowing in the wind. Beautiful lighting. Vibrant colors. Extremely detailed render by guweiz and greg rutkowski. Trending on Artstation.
(bad_prompt_v2:0.8) (bad hands:0.7) (bad teeth) (bad perspective)
Breaking this down:
- The initial descriptive prompt establishes the desired scene and qualities. Using multiple artists helps the AI synthesize their styles.
- The negative prompt embeddings discourage unwanted elements and steer the AI stylistically. Adjust the weights as needed.
- Artstation and other contextual cues indicate the refinement level.
After generating the initial image, upscale with unsharp masking to add details. With the right prompts and techniques, you can create breathtaking AI art worthy of the finest galleries!
A Comprehensive Arsenal of Negative Prompts
To further enhance your negative prompt toolkit, here are some of the most useful embeddings currently available:
Bad Prompt V2: Prevents stylistic deviations and distortions. One of the most versatile for general use.
Bad Anime: Discourages an anime art style. Helpful when aiming for realism.
Bad Hands: Generates better hand proportions and anatomically correct hands.
Bad Teeth: Avoids garish or distorted teeth.
Bad Wings: Renders more realistic and properly attached wings on figures.
Bad Face: Reduces odd facial distortions and expressions.
Bad Fur: Improves fur texture and realism on animals/creatures.
Bad Logo: Omits any overt branding, logos, watermarks.
Lowres: Reduces blurriness and low resolution.
As you master prompt crafting and negative embeddings, consider making your own tailored to your unique needs. The possibilities are endless!
Unleashing Your Creativity with Community Embeddings
Beyond negative prompts, a universe of creative embeddings exist that you can harness to take your images in new directions. Browse community hubs like Lexica to discover ones that inspire you, like:
- Mushroom Embeds: Adds psychedelic mushroom elements.
- Fey Embeds: Incorporates otherworldly fairy/elf themes.
- Horror Embeds: Imbues creepy/unsettling tones and elements.
- Nature Embeds: Introduces more lush, vibrant nature designs.
Mix and match these with negative prompts to craft your perfect aesthetic vision. Explore what embeddings spark your imagination most.
Continually Evolving Your Skills
As AI art technology progresses rapidly, so must your skills in prompting these systems. Set aside time each week to experiment with new prompts, embeddings, and upscaling tricks. Immerse yourself in AI artist communities to stay on top of the latest developments.
Reflect on what worked well in your past images and what could be improved. Maintain notes on effective prompts and embedding combinations for reference. With diligent practice and an open, creative mindset, your art will reach new heights.
The future of AI art generation is bright, but realizing its full potential requires dedication and ingenuity. Master these techniques, and you will unlock truly exceptional images beyond what most artists accomplish. Let your unique artistic vision shine through!
How have negative prompts and upscaling impacted your AI art journey so far? Share your insights and results with the community. Together, we will shape the future of this revolutionary technology. The only limits are our imagination. Let’s make AI art history!
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