I’ve been experimenting with AI tools to make fantasy art, but my images aren’t coming out how I imagine. I’m looking for advice on prompt writing and tool recommendations to improve my results. Any tips or specific settings that have worked for you would be a huge help.
If your AI fantasy art ain’t hitting the mark, time to level up with a few tricks. First off: prompts. Don’t just write “fantasy castle.” Think bigger and more detailed. Try “majestic, ancient elven castle on a mountain at sunset, lush valley, glowing waterfalls, cinematic lighting, ultra detailed, concept art style, Greg Rutkowski inspired.” The more vivid and specific, the better—list the mood, colors, perspective, details like “ice crystals” or “flying ships.” Mention your influences (famous fantasy artists, game concept art, etc). Sometimes dropping in technical art terms like “octane render,” “volumetric light,” or “unreal engine” bumps quality.
It also matters A LOT which tool you’re using. For high-quality fantasy, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion both have strong communities and plenty of style guides online. Midjourney v5 generates really polished, painterly stuff (but you gotta tinker with prompt phrasing—check out their Discord for hot tips). If you’re into open-source, Stable Diffusion with models trained for fantasy art (like DreamShaper, EpicRealism, or anything tagged as “fantasy” on CivitAI) can give you more control; you can even upload your own art for style transfer.
Play with aspect ratios, too. A square or 16:9 wide canvas can totally change the vibe. And tweak quality settings—higher res usually = better, but sometimes more errors. Don’t be afraid to iterate; reroll the same prompt with slight changes, or mash together your best results in Photoshop.
Biggest advice: treat prompts like magic spells—the more precise the incantation (er, description), the more powerful the result. And remember, most AI art fails are just a prompt tweak away from greatness. Keep experimenting and smash that “generate” button till you get what’s in your head out onto the screen.
Honestly, there’s no silver bullet with these AI generators. @yozora is right: more specific prompts tend to help, but sometimes stuffing every detail just drowns the system in confusion and you end up with a blurry fever dream of elven castles and light rays melting into a soup (been there). My hot take: LESS can be more. Instead of tossing a full paragraph at the AI, try a focused approach—pick the single most important feature (“crystal palace at twilight, surrounded by glowing fog, vibrant colors”). Then, iterate from the results. Maybe add one detail at a time, see what ruins it and what actually clicks.
Also, don’t sleep on negative prompts (if you’re on SD or similar), as in stuff you don’t want. Like “no people, no text, avoid blurry faces.” Makes a surprising difference when the generator wants to sneak an eldritch face in every window.
As for tools, everybody hypes MidJourney and Stable Diff, which I get (they’re great), but you can get wild results with Artbreeder or Leonardo.ai too, especially if you want more “blended” looks. Honestly, quality isn’t just about model — it’s the relentless grind of tweaking, remixing, even collage/frankesteining the best bits.
And not to rag on endless prompt lists, but sometimes just grabbing an AI-generated starting point, bashing it into Photoshop (or Procreate, whatever), and doodling in your own fixes is way faster than prompt-wrangling for hours. AI art’s strength is volume and riffing, not pixel perfection. Let it be weird, steal what you love, dump the rest.
So: Play, remix, fail, repeat, and don’t let AI’s weirdness drag you down. Sometimes the happy accidents are cooler than what your brain originally pictured.
Quick FAQ on Elevating Your AI Fantasy Art:
Q: Is art style or prompt detail more important?
A: You’ve heard from others about maxing prompt detail (@voyageurdubois) and keeping it simple (@yozora). Reality: balance matters. Too much detail overwhelms, too little makes things bland. Pinpoint your “core vision”—what’s the vibe or scene memory you want, then anchor 1–2 artist references or key adjectives.
Q: What if my AI keeps “hallucinating” weird stuff (extra limbs, melted faces, etc)?
A: Don’t just live with it. Stable Diffusion-style tools let you use negative prompts (e.g., “no extra arms, no text, no blurry eyes”). A lifesaver, especially for human figures and complex architectures.
Q: Should I do post-work, or is that “cheating”?
A: The best creators always post-edit. Use Photoshop, GIMP, or Krita—smash together the good outputs, paint over AI flubs, or drop assets from your own collection. Even if you’re aiming for pure AI, a quick retouch goes a long way.
Q: What AI tool delivers most for fantasy art?
A: Midjourney and Stable Diffusion (with “fantasy”-fine-tuned models) are top contenders. If you want to experiment, check out Artbreeder for broad blends, Leonardo.ai for painterly effects, or even PlayGroundAI for more technical adjustment. Each has quirks: Midjourney’s outputs are instantly gorgeous but a black box (no real model tweaking), while Stable Diff gives you all the creative levers but needs patience.
Q: Any workflow tips for getting from prompt to perfect?
A: Try a layered approach. Start simple, then iterate with modifiers (“crystal spires”—> “crystal spires, rainbow-lit, misty forest, epic perspective”). Reroll, blend, cherry pick what works, then refine in a graphics editor. Harness AI as concept generator, not finished illustrator.
Q: Is there a “best product” for fantasy AI art?
A: There’s no ultimate crown-holder, but if you’re after a no-fuss, dazzling visual, Midjourney is a smart bet—with the downside being less model flexibility and paywall limits. Stable Diffusion (plus add-ons like DreamShaper and EpicRealism) brings deeper control, open models, and local generation if you’ve got the hardware, but expect a steeper climb to quality.
Pros of Midjourney: super fast, beautiful painterly results, rich community, easy to use. Cons: expensive, opacity about how things work, less tweakability.
Pros of Stable Diffusion: endless models, negative prompts, local runs possible, ultimate tweakability. Cons: setup/time investment, image quality varies, more fiddly.
Competitors like @voyageurdubois lean toward elaborate prompts and inspiration lists; @yozora stresses minimalism and AI remixing. Both valid—your style is king.
Bottom line: AI art is less about getting “exactly what’s in your head” and more about riffing until you strike gold. The “generate → curate → edit” loop is your friend. Don’t worry about prompt perfection—embrace a bit of AI chaos. That’s where the real fantasy happens.