November 20, 2024
There are many ways to approach prompt crafting, and some element of randomness is inherent in the process regardless of your approach. The prompts in this post embrace randomness. In this post, I will show a few different ways randomness can be incorporated into your prompts.
Build A Prompt
The image above was inspired by a "Build a Prompt" contest on NightCafe. In this type of contest, you are given several "pools" of words and can select one (sometimes two) words from the pools and add in a small number of your own words. Some pools are subjects, some are styles, some might be adjectives, and usually includes artists.
The prompt for the image above is: Storybook Illustration:: Cat and mouse:: Alcohol Ink:: Mosaic:: Horror:: Folk Art:: Fox and Hare, Charcoal:: Powerful:: Occult
To my knowledge, this particular contest was started by Crystal @--Crystal-- on NightCafe, and is still ongoing with different hosts.
Random Prompts
The image above came from a "Random Prompts" contest. This contest also involved random selections from pools of words divided into different modifier types (subjects, backgrounds, styles, artists, etc.). The main difference was the number of words in the pools and, if I remember correctly, no additional words could be added.
The prompt for this image is: Spiritual, Art Deco, clockpunk, Zdzisław Beksiński, dolls, Impressionism
Dawn_Day_Dreamer @ArtisTherapy on NightCafe was the host and creator of this contest, and she has created a number of very creative contests, including contests that require the words in the prompt to start with each letter of the alphabet (in order), contests using the predictive words feature of search engines, and many more.
Creative Constraints - Leaving it up to Artificial Intelligence
Most if not all AI-Assisted Art models have built in "random" options. From a "random" button to create an entire prompt to "random" options for certain modifiers, these options can be used to jump start creativity and can produce fascinating images.
For the image above, I used a different approach. I gave ChatGPT some parameters to develop a prompt, and then used the prompt ChatGPT developed.
Parameters
create a random prompt featuring a unique person wearing an extraordinary hat and a random art style
Prompt
A serene herbalist sits amidst a field of wildflowers, wearing an extraordinary hat designed like a miniature greenhouse. The transparent dome of the hat contains tiny living plants—moss, ferns, and blooming flowers—that emit a faint glow as sunlight filters through the glass. Drops of dew cling to the dome, reflecting tiny rainbows, while vines trail down and entwine gently with the herbalist’s flowing robe.
The art style is inspired by pre-Raphaelite painting, featuring rich, intricate details and a soft, ethereal quality. The herbalist’s tranquil expression is framed by loose curls, and the wildflowers around them are rendered in vivid, naturalistic hues of gold, lavender, and green. The background is bathed in warm, golden light, giving the scene a timeless, enchanted atmosphere, where nature and magic coexist in perfect harmony.
This prompt works well with Dall-e3, but if you are using other models to create, you may need to give the AI some additional instructions (such as keeping it brief!).
Closing Notes
This post only scratches the surface on how randomness can be used to generate images and/or stoke the imagination. Hopefully it has given you some ideas. If so, and you want to share (and you are on NightCafe), please let me know (@Locutus_of_Borg)
The image above was created as part of a contest hosted by Mrs Hyde@Mrs_Hyde, which involved using the title of a famous painting (The Lady of Shalott) and adding "in the style of ..." where ... is an artist of your choice. Perhaps not "random" in the sense we have been discussing here, but I wanted to share this as Mrs Hyde is another very creative contest host on NightCafe.
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