Prompting with Artist's Names

SDXL-based models are capable of creating artwork with artist's names as influences with much greater success than models based on SD 1.5. This is such an exciting milestone, especially with the models we've added most recently, like Juggernaut XL v6 + Run Diffusion. RealCartoon XL, AlbedoBase v1.3, SDXL Niji and the original SDXL are also capable of creating great artworks with artist's names, so it can be fun to fine-tune an artist's style by comparing the prompt in different models. So far, the Juggernaut results have been my favorites more often than not.

 

Great Resources on Artists

SDXL Artist Style Studies  has portraits and architecture/landscape images created in SDXL in the styles of thousands of different artists. There are also really helpful tags at the top to help you find artists by style.

SDXL 1.0 Artistic Studies  includes SDXL artworks prompted with thousands of artists, as well as art mediums, movements, even lenses.

Mid Library  is a wealth of information on artists, genres and styles for Midjourney, many of which will also work with Stable Diffusion.

 

Starting Out

Prompting with Artists: Starting Out

Prompt: 
beautiful woman standing at the edge of a cliff, looking out at a starry night, (spiral+ galaxy:1.2), (celestial:1.3) rising above a gorgeous cityscape, (arthur rackham:1.4)
Model: Juggernaut XL v6 + Run Diffusion

I liked the look of Arthur Rackham's style, so I added his name at the end of my prompt with a prompt weight of 1.4. This is a good way to check how an AI model interprets an artist's name. 

Often, just using a name won't create consistent results. It helps to build out the style by describing the artist's mediums or the characteristics you hope to bring out. Here's the same seed with a more built-out prompt:

Prompting with Artists: Starting Out

Prompt: 
beautiful woman standing at the edge of a cliff, looking out at a starry night, (spiral+ galaxy:1.2), (celestial:1.3) rising above a gorgeous cityscape, (concept art illustration) . whimsical, storybook, (ink, watercolor:0.7), (arthur rackham:1.4)

 

Combining Artists

The next day, I was working on an ancient warrior design. I thought about combining Arthur Rackham's name with another book illustrator, Edmund Dulac. 

Prompting with Artists: Combining Artists

Prompt: 
(beautiful ancient warrior:1.3), close up, samurai+, Amazon, dreadlocks, wooden beads, (face paint), (holding a weapon), (arthur rackham, Edmund Dulac:1.4)

I really liked the style, but the fingers are a bit mangled, and the hair braids seem to be tucking into her tunic. So I added a 3rd artist, French photographer Laure Albin Guillot.

Prompting with Artists: Combining Artists

Prompt: 
(beautiful ancient warrior:1.3), close up, samurai+, Amazon, dreadlocks, wooden beads, (face paint), (holding a weapon), (arthur rackham, Edmund Dulac, Laure Albin Guillot:1.4)

~

The next day I was creating angels and I wanted to improve the wings. I remembered I'd been looking at nature illustrator Edith Holden, so I added her name to the prompt and indeed, the nature imagery and wings were much improved.

Prompting with Artists: Combining Artists

Prompt: 
(beautiful angel with gold wings:1.3), close up, standing in a magical winter forest, surrounded by trees, (Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Edith Holden, Laure Albin Guillot:1.4)

This is the Edwardian Illustration style.

 

An Interesting Experiment

Let's see how the Edwardian Illustration style looks when we remove each artist in turn. First, here it is with all 4 artists:

Prompting with Artists: An Interesting Experiment

Prompt: 
beautiful woman with platinum blonde hair, (up close:1.3), wearing a fur coat, (in a snowfall:1.3), city lights behind her, (white on white:1.2), (Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Edith Holden, Laure Albin Guillot:1.4)

In this version, I've removed Edith Holden, nature illustrator and author of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.

Prompting with Artists: An Interesting Experiment

Prompt: 
beautiful woman with platinum blonde hair, (up close:1.3), wearing a fur coat, (in a snowfall:1.3), city lights behind her, (white on white:1.2), (Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Laure Albin Guillot:1.4)

In this version, I've removed Edmund Dulac, who illustrated storybooks and fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen, Edgar Allan Poe, as well as Arabian Nights and others.

Prompting with Artists: An Interesting Experiment

Prompt: 
beautiful woman with platinum blonde hair, (up close:1.3), wearing a fur coat, (in a snowfall:1.3), city lights behind her, (white on white:1.2), (Arthur Rackham, Edith Holden, Laure Albin Guillot:1.4)

In this version, I've removed Arthur Rackham, who illustrated Alice in Wonderland, The Ring of Nibelung, and many others.

Prompting with Artists: An Interesting Experiment

Prompt: 
beautiful woman with platinum blonde hair, (up close:1.3), wearing a fur coat, (in a snowfall:1.3), city lights behind her, (white on white:1.2), (Edmund Dulac, Edith Holden, Laure Albin Guillot:1.4)

In this version, I've removed Laure Albin Guillot, French photographer who photographed Paris celebrities as well as nature and landscapes.

Prompting with Artists: An Interesting Experiment

Prompt: 
beautiful woman with platinum blonde hair, (up close:1.3), wearing a fur coat, (in a snowfall:1.3), city lights behind her, (white on white:1.2), (Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Edith Holden:1.4)

The image is strongly guided by the two book illustrators. When either of them are removed, the photographer's influence is able to shine. Even though this style started out with Arthur Rackham, I really liked the stylized vintage photo look that was created when his name was removed. 

Prompting with artist's names is a lot of fun, and it's a great way to create results that are unique and appealing to your own personal taste. 

 

 

Source: the MonAI wiki · Updated · First published