Step-by-Step Tutorial
This exercise is designed for both old-school programmers who cut their teeth on punch cards and new creators just diving into AI art. Think of prompts as your modern-day Hollerith cards: precise instructions that guide a machine into producing the output you want.
1. Crafting Prompts (Your Punch Cards)
Good prompts = good outputs. Break them down into subject, clothing, setting, mood, and style.
Image As A Guide
Text As A Guide
Two humans stand beside a custom 32 Ford hot-rod and a mid-1980s DeLorean DMC in a ruined, futuristic cityscape. The man is taller than the woman by about 4 inches, both are muscular and athletic - he looks like a Mr. Olympian under his clothing, and she has the flexibility of a well-seasoned gymnast. The man, a rugged and scarred warrior, wears a tattered black Universal Life Church uniform beneath a biker's open Mad-Max style black leather coat adorned with an upside down US Flag - the insignia of a rebel cause - on his right lapel. His scalp is shaved cleanly and his beard is trimmed to about a year's worth of growth and is salt-and-pepper grey and red. His mustache is long and braided in two individual braids on either side of his chin. He carries a messenger bag containing a 17-inch laptop, and a joint smolders between his fingers. His face, a map of scars, is obscured by black wraparound designer sunglasses with a flat, non-mirrored finish. Slung across his shoulder is a futuristic firearm, a cross between Robocop's MP-500 and a Star Wars blaster. His facial appearance and shaved scalp must remain intact as depicted in the prompt.
The woman, a vision of erotic fantasy, is dressed in revealing attire reminiscent of Victoria's Secret, with a black and hot pink ensemble that accentuates her curves. She wears high-leg panties and a 32B push-up bra that adds 2 full cup sizes, paired with thigh-high black leather stiletto-heeled boots that evoke a Heavy Metal 2000 vibe. Her fiery red hair cascades down to her waist, styled as if she had just left New Amsterdam's 'Red Light' district. Her outfit must remain in the same style as the image.
The backdrop is a post-apocalyptic wasteland, with broken skyscrapers, smoke, and fog obscuring the horizon. A blood-red eclipsed moon hangs ominously in the sky, casting an eerie glow over the scene. The mood is dark, brooding, and tinged with the 'what if' questions of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone. The style is cinematic, blending elements of heavy metal fantasy and sci-fi realism, with a nod to the hyper-representational paintings of Boris Valejo, known for his vivid and often erotic depictions of fantasy worlds
2. Negative Prompts (Debugging Your Deck)
Just like a bad punch card ruined a census run, bad AI generations can give you warped faces, extra limbs, or watermarks. Tell the AI what you don’t want:
deformed, blurry, cartoon, extra limbs, distorted faces, watermark, text
3. Offline Tools: Pinta & GIMP
Pinta (Beginner Friendly)
- Open your AI output in Pinta.
- Use the Adjustments → Brightness/Contrast tool to set the mood darker.
- Experiment with Hue/Saturation to add a red or blue dystopian glow.
- Use Layers to overlay smoke/fog textures you download free online.
GIMP (Intermediate)
- Install GIMP (yes, it runs on Windows 11: GIMP Download).
- Use Layer Masks to blend in fog or eclipse textures.
- Go to Colors → Color Balance to tint shadows red/blue.
- Use Dodge/Burn to make light sources (like neon signs) glow realistically.
4. Online AI Tools
- Stable Diffusion: Full control with prompts, negative prompts, and aspect ratios.
- MidJourney: Great for atmospheric fantasy vibes.
- DALL·E / Firefly: User-friendly, quick start.
Generate multiple drafts, then refine. Just like old programmers submitted stacks of cards, you’ll run stacks of prompts until you find the right one.
First Set
Resulting From The Above Prompt
Resources
Given the nature of AI illustration, every platform adds its own kaleidoscope of variation. Your results may not perfectly match the examples here, even when using the exact same prompts. That’s part of the creative process — the machine interprets like an artist with its own quirks. Keep in mind that some platforms also restrict mature content unless you upgrade to a paid subscription.