What made jaws drop in 1903? The Wright Brothers’ first-ever flight of a powered plane — which lasted a mere 12 seconds. The 2023 equivalent? Creating art with a text prompt for the first time.
Like the Wright brothers, you’ll probably be inspired to keep refining until your AI art really takes off. Think of the following tips as the wind beneath your wings.
Take your AI art prompt from biplane to spaceship.
Creating AI art requires two things: a technology called generative artificial intelligence (AI) and a person who tells the technology what image to make. The most common way for people to instruct AI art generators is with written descriptions known as text prompts.
While prompts can be short — leaving most of the choices to the AI — it’s more fun to fine-tune and describe what you want in detail. Adobe Firefly has a AI image generator that lets you write prompts using nothing more than everyday language.
Let’s say you tell Firefly to make an image of a “full moon” and you get something like this.
Prompt: full moon
Prompt: full moon in the sky with a rocket headed toward the moon
Prompt: full moon in the sky with a rocket headed toward the moon, cartoon art
Prompt: full moon in the sky with a rocket headed toward the moon, in the style of a Golden Age Dutch Master oil painting
Whether you’re going for a straightforward scene, abstract art, character design, or something else, kick your AI art prompts into hyperdrive with descriptors like the following:
- Art movements (Cubism, Pop Art, Impressionism)
- Colors (either specific hues or concepts like vibrant or muted)
- Composition (close up, wide angle, shot from above)
- Emotions (happy, sad, angry)
- Lighting (back lighting, studio lighting, golden hour)
- Materials (photo, yarn, origami)
- Art Styles (hyper realistic, steampunk, collage)
If you use Firefly to generate AI art, you’ll find many descriptors already listed in the interface, which makes it even easier to try new AI art prompt ideas. You can also specify the image’s aspect ratio in the Firefly interface. Options include square (1:1), landscape (4:3), portrait (3:4), and widescreen (16:9).
Try alternate flight paths
Nature and technology fusion
Prompt: origami, vibrant nature and technology fusion, in the style of Magritte
Surreal dreamscape
Prompt: flamingo cartoon character in a surreal dreamscape, neon colors, photographed from above
Abstract geometric pattern
Prompt: abstract geometric patterns, vintage surfers, hot colors
Portrait in monochrome
Prompt: happy portraits in monochrome, made out of yarn, graphic, bioluminescent
Pro tips for the best AI art prompts (for now).
AI art generation is still in its infancy, and the ways we interact with the technology will likely evolve far beyond text prompts. In the meantime, here are a few tricks that help in some situations.
Apply an AI art prompt to only part of an image.
No matter how skilled you are at writing text prompts, you’ll inevitably generate an image that’s perfect — if only you could change just one thing without affecting anything else. That’s when it’s time for Generative Fill, which allows you to add or remove content from your images using simple text prompts.
In Firefly, you use a few simple controls to select part of the image, and then describe with a new text prompt what the AI should do inside the selection. You can also use Generative Fill on images that aren’t AI art, either in Firefly or in the Adobe Photoshop desktop and web apps.
You’re in the pilot’s seat.
By pushing text prompts beyond the basics, you can generate AI art as unique as your imaginings. Start simply and then layer on styles, moods, and other evocative descriptors. Try Generative Fill to finesse areas within your AI art. And don’t be afraid to get weird with your text prompts — unexpected destinations are sometimes the most memorable. When it comes to AI art prompt ideas, the sky’s the limit. Get started by following our step-by-step guide on how to make AI-generated art.