Some people believe that you never really run out of ideas when you’re doing what you love – but that isn’t always the case.
How do you break out of your artistic block or expand your creativity? The solution is actually much simpler than you might imagine: using art prompts.
From picking a subject to selecting a theme, art prompts can inspire creators. You can generate illustration prompts like skyscapes, portraits, object-centered styles, and much more. These are a few ideas you can try to spur your creativity.
Note: All art featured in this article was created by AI.
This Article Covers:
Best Art Prompts to Inspire Creativity
Aside from browsing through productivity books and scrolling social media, art idea prompts are a great way to increase productivity. AI prompts turn your descriptions into images.
You can search for general ideas like “Give me a drawing prompt for XYZ.” However, if you want more tailored results, consider using specific keywords. The clearer the description, the better the image you will receive!
Use Art Prompts for Sketch Inspiration
You can use portrait sketch prompts to see how AI portrays emotions. It gives you a look at how well you understand people, thoughts, and feelings.
Faces in an AI-generated prompt aren’t always the clearest. Once an AI produces your idea, it’s your job to turn it into something more natural. You get to get inspiration and develop your portrait-making skill all at once.
Here are a few to get you started.
1. A Childhood Scene
Your details should be specific if you want to sketch a fond childhood memory. You can type in “a kid on a park swing during sunset” or “a classic roller coaster during the day.”
2. A Representation of Tragedy
Another idea for AI art prompts is representing a tragic event.
Sadder emotions can be hard to portray in sketches, so describe them as creatively as possible! Add colors to your prompt, like “a child lying in bed under blue light” or consider other symbols.
For portraits, you can ask the AI to generate something like “a woman walking away from a house fire in the style of Rembrandt.”
3. The Inspired or The Inspiration
You can generate an art prompt about inspiration. If you want it to be about a role model, use lighting and color to emphasize your point. For example, “a portrait of a woman under a spotlight holding a gold trophy.”
You can go further by showing a person who’s inspired. For example, consider an image of “a portrait of a boy with a trophy reflecting in his eyes.”
4. Yourself from a New POV
Creators may forget that they can be their own subjects, too. You can get an AI prompt like that by describing yourself to the generator.
It could be something like “a tan girl with curly hair and glasses” or “a fair-skinned boy with freckles and ginger hair.” You can also tell it to make it a watercolor painting, pencil sketch, etc.
5. People in Love
Art prompts about love are common, especially if they’re illustrations for gifts or events. But even AI has trouble capturing an image of a couple in love.
Instead, you can get AI to generate ideas for a scene. You can try “a couple on a boat under the moonlight” or “a man and woman standing on the beach.”
AI Drawing Suggestions for Landscapes
Landscapes and scenes are one of the top ways to generate AI prompts. Compared to portraits, there is more room for symbolism.
The possibilities with landscapes and scenes are almost endless, so creators usually don’t run low on ideas for these projects. But sometimes, even after finishing the work, it might feel like something is missing.
While these works let you express valuable aspects of life, a drawing prompt can give you the push you need to polish it!
1. A Recent Dream
Lots of creators like to portray their dreams in the form of a landscape. That’s where the fun starts! You can describe it to the AI as you remember it: “bedroom objects scattered around a galaxy.”
It’s your dream, so you have the power to interpret it in whichever way you like.
2. A Nighttime View
Art project prompts focused on nighttime scenes can have different representations. Ask the AI for a “view of a 6 PM sky without people” or a “view of a city from the mountains at night in the style of a Japanese block print.”
You can even make it about nightlife culture. Generate an image by typing keywords like “a person alone at a convenience store at midnight” or “pub scene with people clinking their glasses.”
3. Anything Natural
Some nature-themed illustration AI prompts could be “an old film photo of a person in the middle of a golden field” or “trees and flowers in the distance.”
If you’re feeling a bit quirky, include other descriptions to your prompt, like “trash cans and plastic bottles hidden behind leaves” or “smoke covering up clouds.”
4. A Scene of Youth
Describing youth to an AI art generator is trickier than it sounds. But here are a few ways you can try. Type in “kids running around a park under the sun” or “young girls sitting together watching the sunset, anime style.” You can also add themes to them, like, “a group of adults and children protesting.”
5. The Sky or the Sea
Common art prompts include “a view of the sky” or “a landscape shot of the sea,” but you can make massive changes depending on the colors and elements you want to add.
If you want to express loneliness, ask the AI program for “a view of the sea with a lone boat.” If you want to portray hope, type in “a sky with birds flying across the sun.”
Art Prompts for Animals
Art drawing prompts for animals can be difficult to create when considering their proportions, textures, and features. AI images can help you picture them better. You can get started with these sketch prompts.
1. A Scene of Predator and Prey
You can get inspiration on how to put two animals in one scene with AI art prompts. If it’s something you’re not familiar with, it might show you the necessary details.
Try getting a prompt of “a bird and worm” or “a bear hunting salmon in a stream”, or something less conventional like “a snail hunting a lobster.” Feel free to explore the combinations that AI prompters generate until you find a pair you’re interested in recreating.
2. Animals in Their Natural Habitat
You can use AI prompts as a guide when you’re unfamiliar with their natural habitats and habits. To get an AI to generate an image, type in descriptions like “a black and white sketch of squirrels storing food for the winter in trees” or “a watercolor of a hippo taking a swim along the shore.”
3. Unique Animal Features
Did you know that AI is also helpful if you want to highlight animal features or textures? In some cases, they produce images exactly how you need them, like “wet lion fur” or “fish under the sun.” You can include the medium you want inspiration for, from pencil sketches to oil paintings.
A couple of illustration prompts to consider typing include “an oil painting of a peacock showing off its feathers” or “a giraffe reaching for an apple.”
Illustration Ideas for Objects
You can also look up prompts for drawing objects! That way, you can see how AI would portray them (based on different descriptions). This might be one of the best methods to inspire your imagination.
1. A Moving Object
Objects in action are a challenging picture to capture, but that’s something AI can do well. You can try it out by typing in a drawing prompt for “speeding red car” or “green ball rolling off a table.”
2. An Object With Multiple Textures
Asking an AI to combine objects together is a great way to play with unfamiliar textures. Type in something like “a dress made with silk, cotton, and lace” to see how AI makes it work.
3. Something Made From One Material
You can also have the AI focus on a single material. For example, type in “grey metal bank safe” or “Mission-style wooden chair.”
Add lighting or colors to your description if you want to play around more. Try typing in “plastic folder with a water stain” or “purple glass bowl under direct light.”
How to Use AI Prompt Generators
Unless you only have vague ideas, most AI drawing prompt generators work best when you describe a picture using clear and accurate text. You can also generate prompts through more specific methods, like those found in these online Midjourney classes!
Prompt by Aspect Ratio
If you want to generate an art prompt with a certain aspect ratio, you can include it in your description, usually in the format “width: length” (using numbers). Framing your prompt in the right size saves considerable time — AI does it for you!
For example, you can type:
“A tabby cat sleeping on a flowerbed –ar 3:2”
You could also define it as a custom image size:
“A tabby cat sleeping on a flowerbed –w 300 –h 300”
Tip: If you aren’t sure what measurement you want, test out different sizes in a photo editor before adding it to your prompt.
Prompt by Style
When it comes to styles, you should be specific about AI art drawing prompts.
You can type them in as an art form, genre, lighting, or even an artist name:
- City sunset in a Pixar movie style
- An empty beach landscape Da Vinci style
- A lioness with her cubs in Andy Warhol style
- Campsite with one tent that has glowing lights
Prompt by Resolution
AI art generators can also generate art prompts for you based on resolution! For this, you can use the typical keywords, such as 4k, photorealistic, intricate details, or standard settings like HD.
Here’s how you could type your request:
- A wilting rose in a vase HD
- A basket of fruit in 4k
Ways to Prompt AI Using Images
If you aren’t too sure how to describe it in text, you can also use images to generate the prompts. Here are a few ways to do so.
1. Using URLs
When you use an image URL, specify the link and include any additional descriptions.
For example,
“art prompt of https://www.pexels.com/photo/food-eating-candy-chocolate-4644/ flower bouquet.”
Note: You can add multiple image URLs if you’d like!
2. Using Image Weights
To balance out the elements in the image, include a weight using the following formatting: “keyword –iw:[number].”
For example, you could type something like this: “art prompt of https://www.pexels.com/photo/heart-shaped-box-of-chocolate-candies-on-white-linen-6716591/ flower bouquet –iw:2.”
Final Words
Art prompts are a great way to inspire you and spark those creative juices in you. It’s even easier to think up unique ideas for art projects with the help of AI prompt generators. All it takes is a quick idea and a platform, and you can scroll through all the possibilities available!
AI isn’t just for art — discover our favorite AI websites that are changing the world!
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