The Prompt Archive
Why Do Great Prompts Matter in AI Art?
So, great prompts matter because the prompt is the entry point for communication between humans and AI. You can instruct the AI to generate what image you want with prompts which can be more precise as what image in your head.
Let's take image generation in Midjourney as an example.
If you want a cat, you say “generate a cat” to Midjourney, and maybe you will get this image.
It's beautiful right? But it's perhaps not what you want.
You probably prefer an animate style to this style, and if you want to use it in somewhere you need a 2:3 resolution.
So you can put your thought to AI.
“An animate style cat —ar 2:3 —niji 6”
The parameters (—ar 2:3 —niji 6) are used to limit model(niji 6) and resolution(2:3). And you use “animate style” to ask AI to generate an animate style image.
The prompts can be more precise like this:
“A fluffy golden retriever puppy portrayed in an Iridescent Soap Bubble Fantasy, with delicate, shimmering surfaces and refracted light. Use a color palette of Periwinkle and Pale Gold complemented by Lens Flare effects to evoke a dreamy, ephemeral atmosphere. —ar 2:3 —v 7 —raw”
Think of prompts as a camera lens — the clearer your intent, the more vivid your image.
The Key Elements of a Great AI Image Prompt
Every powerful AI image starts with a well-structured prompt. A strong prompt isn't just a sentence—it's a combination of elements that tell the model what to create, how to style it, and what atmosphere to capture.
The elements include, but are not limited to the following:
- Subject: Define the main object or scene: “a cyberpunk samurai”, “a serene forest lake”. The more specific the subject, the stronger the composition.
- Style: Choose how it should look: photorealistic, oil painting, anime, cinematic lighting, etc. This controls texture and tone.
- Composition: Add perspective or camera cues: wide shot, close-up portrait, top view, 35mm lens. This gives structure to the image.
- Lighting & Mood: Light defines atmosphere. Golden hour, soft studio light, rainy night, or neon reflections immediately shift emotion.
- Extra Modifiers: Words like ultra-detailed, sharp focus, film grain, or volumetric fog help polish the output.
So let me give your an example:
“a confident and alluring woman with long gradient blue-purple hair tied back, gentle yet powerful gaze, subtle smile suggesting warmth and mystery, delicate face with sharp jawline, glowing blue eyes with soft starlight reflections, golden star stickers on her cheek, elegant exposed collarbone, wearing a black and gold futuristic outfit with open neckline and smooth reflective texture, highlighting her graceful neck and shoulders, balanced mix of strength and femininity, radiating dominant yet kind charisma, cosmic and romantic lighting, starry galaxy background, cinematic glow, 90s anime style with modern polish, ultra-detailed illustration, --niji 6 --ar 1:1 --s 100”
You can divide this prompt into these 5 parts:
- Subject: a confident and alluring woman
- Style: 90s anime style with modern polish
- Composition: highlighting her graceful neck and shoulders, elegant exposed collarbone, open neckline
- It describes a specific compositional focus: a close-up of the upper body(collarbone, shoulders).
- It emphasizes the body pose and camera position(close-up shot).
- This effectively act as a “camera framing cue,” helping the AI to focus.
- Lighting & Mood: cosmic and romantic lighting, starry galaxy background, cinematic glow.
- Extra Modifiers: ultra-detailed illustration, black and gold futuristic outfit with smooth reflective texture.
| Module | Fragment | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | a confident and alluring woman with long gradient blue-purple hair tied back, glowing blue eyes… | Defines the character, hairstyle, eyes, personality traits |
| Style | 90s anime style with modern polish | Controls visual language, era aesthetic |
| Composition | elegant exposed collarbone, open neckline, highlighting neck and shoulders | Controls framing range, focused body parts |
| Lighting & Mood | cosmic and romantic lighting, starry galaxy background, cinematic glow | Controls emotion and atmospheric ambiance |
| Modifiers | ultra-detailed illustration, black and gold futuristic outfit, --niji 6 --ar 1:1 --s 100 | Enhances detail and model control |
An I have A LOT of Examples for you:
Advanced Prompt Engineering
Negative Prompts
You can use parameter “— no” to command AI not to generate the subject or something.
“futuristic car, detailed design --v 7.0 --no background”
Placing it at the end of the prompt yields the most stable results. And The effect is not 100% excluded, but its probability of occurrence will be significantly reduced.
Prompt Weighting
You can use weights “parameter ::X” (The X is number). to tell the AI which parts of your prompt are more(or less) important.
Let me show you:
“beautiful woman, cyberpunk city, neon lights”
And when you adjust the weights.
“beautiful woman::2 cyberpunk city::1 neon lights::0.5”
You can see that Midjourney has increased the proportion of females in the image and softened the background. Additionally, the female subject's colors are more vibrant due to the “beautiful” prompt.
Mastering Key Parameters
You need to understand some core Midjourney parameters. Here are the parameters:
- Aspect Ratio (e.g., --ar 16:9 ): Controls the resolution.Use --ar 16:9 for cinematic desktop wallpapers, --ar 9:16 for phone wallpapers, or --ar 1:1 for profile pictures.
- Chaos (e.g., --c 10): (Midjourney) The Chaos parameter (0-100) increases how different and “creative” the initial images are from each other.
- Stylize (e.g., --s 100): (Midjourney) Controls how “artistic” or “opinionated” the AI gets. A low value (e.g., --s 50) sticks closely to your prompt. A high value (e.g., --s 1000) takes more creative liberty.