How to Write Prompts for AI Generation
AI Editor in Effect House allows you to transform ideas into stunning visuals through text prompts. A well-crafted prompt provides clear details that guide the AI to generate the most accurate and high-quality artistic effects. This guide covers the essential components of effective prompts and offers practical tips to enhance your AI-generated artwork.
What Makes a Good Prompt?
A well-structured prompt typically includes the following:
- Style: The artistic medium or reference style
- Subject: The main character, object, or focal point
- Environment: The background and setting
- Atmosphere: The mood or emotion of the scene
- Adjectives: Enhancing details like lighting, resolution, or camera angles
- Input prompts in English and separate keywords with commas for better AI interpretation
- The order of words matters—words placed earlier in the prompt have a greater influence on the final image
- Avoid restricted content—violent, negative, explicit, or gory prompts will not be processed
Style: Define the Artistic Look
Choose an artistic medium or a specific art style to define the visual appearance of your AI-generated effect.
Common Artistic Styles
- Traditional: Watercolor painting, oil painting, pencil sketch, ink drawing
- Digital: 3D render, concept art, vector illustration, cyberpunk
- Famous Artists: Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, Studio Ghibli style
Example Style Prompt
"Sunny spring morning, wearing pastel-color clothes, the background is a hillside full of cherry blossoms, hand-painted wooden benches dotted beside the stream, lots of cherry blossom petals falling in the air, light blue sky, marshmallow clouds."
Generated Results Using Different Style Prompts
For example, this is the input image:
These are generated artworks with customized style prompts:
Realistic
3D Cartoon
Comic
Doodle
Scene Swap
Wood
Vintage
AI Doll
Anime Blend
Bold Cartoon
Plush Pal
JP Anime
Gouache
Subject: Describe the Main Character or Object
Define what your main focus is—whether it's a person, an animal, or an object. Add specific details like:
- For people: Age, gender, skin tone, clothing, hair color, facial expression
- For animals: Species, breed, fur color, accessories (for example., "a cat with a red scarf")
- For objects: Shape, size, color, texture, pattern
Example Subject Prompt
"Glamorous 1920s, wearing dazzling flapper dresses adorned with sequins, pearls, and white feathered headbands."
Generated Results Using Different Subject Prompts
For example, this is the input image:
These are generated artworks with customized subject prompts with various styles:
Realistic
Comic
3D Cartoon
Environment: Set the Scene
Describe where your subject is located to provide context for the AI-generated artwork. You can specify natural landscapes, urban settings, historical eras, or fantasy worlds.
Example Environment Prompts
- "Winter snow mountain, white cover, cold, pine trees,"
- "Blue underwater world with many colorful corals, a variety of color fishes, aquatic plants and bubbles around."
- "In the desert, the ground is full of fine sand, the sun is shining brightly, there are many cacti on the ground, weathered stones, and mountains in the distance."
Generated Results Using Different Environment Prompts
For example, this is the input image:
These are generated artworks with customized environment prompts:
Realistic
A stormy scene with dark, swirling clouds, heavy rain pouring down, and strong winds bending trees. Lightning flashes across the sky.
Blue underwater world with many colorful corals, a variety of color fishes, aquatic plants and bubbles around.
In the desert, the ground is full of fine sand, the sun is shining brightly, there are many cacti on the ground, weathered stones, and mountains in the distance.
Comic
A stormy scene with dark, swirling clouds, heavy rain pouring down, and strong winds bending trees. Lightning flashes across the sky,
Blue underwater world with many colorful corals, a variety of color fishes, aquatic plants and bubbles around.
In the desert, the ground is full of fine sand, the sun is shining brightly, there are many cacti on the ground, weathered stones, and mountains in the distance.
3D Cartoon
A stormy scene with dark, swirling clouds, heavy rain pouring down, and strong winds bending trees. Lightning flashes across the sky,
Blue underwater world with many colorful corals, a variety of color fishes, aquatic plants and bubbles around.
In the desert, the ground is full of fine sand, the sun is shining brightly, there are many cacti on the ground, weathered stones, and mountains in the distance.
Atmosphere: Define the Mood
The atmosphere determines the emotional tone of the scene. This can be conveyed through lighting, weather, color schemes, and overall mood.
Example Atmosphere Prompts
- "A stormy scene with dark, swirling clouds, heavy rain pouring down, and strong winds bending trees. Lightning flashes across the sky."
- "New Year night, warm atmosphere, New year decorations around, shining fireworks, very bright New year lights everywhere."
- "Surrounded by pink clouds, bubbles floating in the air, heart-shaped bubbles, romantic atmosphere, with the sea in the background, soft lights, dreamy scene."
Generated Results Using Different Atmosphere Prompts
For example, this is the input image:
These are generated artworks with customized atmosphere prompts:
Realistic
A stormy scene with dark, swirling clouds, heavy rain pouring down, and strong winds bending trees. Lightning flashes across the sky.
New Year night, warm atmosphere, New year decorations around, shining fireworks, very bright New year lights everywhere.
Surrounded by pink clouds, bubbles floating in the air, heart-shaped bubbles, romantic atmosphere, with the sea in the background, soft lights, dreamy scene.
Comic
A stormy scene with dark, swirling clouds, heavy rain pouring down, and strong winds bending trees. Lightning flashes across the sky.
New Year night, warm atmosphere, New year decorations around, shining fireworks, very bright New year lights everywhere.
Surrounded by pink clouds, bubbles floating in the air, heart-shaped bubbles, romantic atmosphere, with the sea in the background, soft lights, dreamy scene.
3D Cartoon
A stormy scene with dark, swirling clouds, heavy rain pouring down, and strong winds bending trees. Lightning flashes across the sky.
New Year night, warm atmosphere, New year decorations around, shining fireworks, very bright New year lights everywhere.
Surrounded by pink clouds, bubbles floating in the air, heart-shaped bubbles, romantic atmosphere, with the sea in the background, soft lights, dreamy scene.
Adjectives: Enhance the Details
Use adjectives to refine quality, composition, and stylistic enhancements. These can describe:
- Lighting: Soft glow, edge light, golden hour, cinematic lighting
- Resolution and detail: 8K, ultra high-definition, super detailed, crisp texture
- Camera angles: Close-up, wide shot, top-down view, fisheye lens
- Artistic techniques: Brushstroke details, surreal effects, dreamlike aesthetics
Example Adjective Prompts
- "Night, playground lights are bright, the ferris wheel and carousel are rotating, and many balloons floating in the sky, happy atmosphere."
- "Night, playground lights are bright, the ferris wheel and carousel are rotating, and many balloons floating in the sky, happy atmosphere, warm tone."
- "Night, playground lights are bright, the ferris wheel and carousel are rotating, and many balloons floating in the sky, happy atmosphere, citypop, retro Vaporwave, retro wave style."
Generated Results Using Different Subject Prompts
For example, this is the input image:
This is a generated artwork with a customized adjective prompt:
Realistic
Night, playground lights are bright, the ferris wheel and carousel are rotating, and many balloons floating in the sky, happy atmosphere.
Night, playground lights are bright, the ferris wheel and carousel are rotating, and many balloons floating in the sky, happy atmosphere, warm tone.
Night, playground lights are bright, the ferris wheel and carousel are rotating, and many balloons floating in the sky, happy atmosphere, citypop, retro Vaporwave, retro wave style.
Comic
Night, playground lights are bright, the ferris wheel and carousel are rotating, and many balloons floating in the sky, happy atmosphere.
Night, playground lights are bright, the ferris wheel and carousel are rotating, and many balloons floating in the sky, happy atmosphere, warm tone.
Night, playground lights are bright, the ferris wheel and carousel are rotating, and many balloons floating in the sky, happy atmosphere, citypop, retro Vaporwave, retro wave style.
3D Cartoon
Night, playground lights are bright, the ferris wheel and carousel are rotating, and many balloons floating in the sky, happy atmosphere.
Night, playground lights are bright, the ferris wheel and carousel are rotating, and many balloons floating in the sky, happy atmosphere, warm tone.
Night, playground lights are bright, the ferris wheel and carousel are rotating, and many balloons floating in the sky, happy atmosphere, citypop, retro Vaporwave, retro wave style.
Prompt Writing Best Practices
Here are a few things to consider when crafting effective prompts:
- Be specific, not vague
- Before: A cool city
- After: A futuristic neon-lit cyberpunk city at night with holographic billboards
- Use commas to separate keywords
- Before: A big forest with blue sky and animals and lakes and mist
- After: A dense enchanted forest, blue sky, woodland creatures, misty lake, glowing fireflies
- Experiment with word order
- Words at the beginning of the prompt have more weight than those at the end.
- Try rearranging subject, style, environment, and mood for different results
- Combine reference images with text
- Uploading a reference image in addition to a well-structured prompt can improve consistency
- Test different variations
- AI results can vary, so try multiple prompt versions to refine your effect.