NovelAI Image Generation: How to Write Effective Prompts
Last updated on August 3rd, 2025
Looking to create stunning AI-generated images with NovelAI but not sure how to write the perfect prompt? You’re not alone. Whether you’re aiming for detailed anime characters, vivid fantasy scenes, or expressive portraits, your results depend heavily on how you write your prompts.
That’s where this NovelAI Image Prompts Guide (2025) comes in.
In this updated guide, you’ll learn exactly how to craft powerful prompts that help NovelAI generate the kind of images you actually want. We’ll break down the essential elements—like prompt structure, CFG scale, sampling settings, and negative prompts—and walk you through real-world examples that you can copy or customize for your own creations.
Whether you’re a complete beginner or an advanced user looking to sharpen your skills, this guide is packed with practical tips, prompt templates, and insights from the community to help you get better results—faster.
Let’s master prompt writing together.
What NovelAI is and why good prompts matter
NovelAI is a powerful tool that lets you create AI-generated images by typing out a description—called a prompt. It’s best known for anime-style art, but it can also create fantasy characters, sci-fi worlds, and surreal scenes with the right setup.
Sounds easy, right? Just type what you want, and boom—instant art.
Well, not quite.
The truth is, your prompt controls almost everything: what the AI draws, how detailed it is, the style, colors, background—even how many fingers a character has (yes, really). A vague or messy prompt can lead to weird or blurry images. But a well-written prompt? That’s where the magic happens.
Why Prompts Are So Important
Think of your prompt as a conversation with the AI. The more clearly and precisely you speak, the better it understands what you want.
Here’s a quick example:
- Weak Prompt: girl standing
- Better Prompt: 1girl, standing, long silver hair, red kimono, cherry blossoms, soft lighting
The second version gives the AI way more to work with. You’re telling it what you want, how it should look, and what mood to capture.
The difference in the final image? Huge.
Pro Tip: Use Tags Like a Shopping List
When writing NovelAI prompts, you’ll often use tags, like 1girl, blue eyes, sunset background, or detailed clothing. These tags act like keywords that guide the AI. The order of the tags matters, and so does how strong you make them (we’ll cover that in a later section).
Also, don’t forget about negative prompts—they tell the AI what to avoid, like blurry, extra limbs, or bad anatomy.
So before you dive into advanced settings like CFG scale and samplers, it all starts here: learning to write clear, focused prompts. It’s the foundation of every great image you’ll create with NovelAI.
Let’s keep going—you’re about to get really good at this.
How Prompt Writing Works in NovelAI
Writing prompts for NovelAI image generation is a bit like giving instructions to an artist. The clearer and more detailed your instructions, the better the final image will be.
At its core, a prompt is a list of words or tags that describe what you want the AI to create. These tags can describe everything from characters and colors to moods and backgrounds.
Breaking Down a Prompt
Let’s look at a simple example prompt:
1girl, blue eyes, short black hair, smiling, forest background, sunlight
Each part tells NovelAI something specific:
- 1girl — You want one female character.
- blue eyes — Eye color detail.
- short black hair — Hairstyle and color.
- smiling — The expression.
- forest background — The setting.
- sunlight — Lighting and mood.
Put together, these tags give the AI a clear idea of what to draw.
Why Order and Specificity Matter
The order you write your tags can affect how the AI prioritizes them. Usually, the most important or defining features go first. For example, if your main focus is the character’s hair, place tags like long silver hair near the start.
Being specific helps too. Instead of just girl, use 1girl, elegant dress, sitting on a bench. The more details, the better NovelAI can visualize your idea.
Don’t Forget Negative Prompts!
Sometimes you want to tell NovelAI what not to include. That’s where negative prompts (or undesired content prompts) come in.
For example, if you often get images with blurry hands or extra fingers, you can add:
bad hands, extra fingers, blurry
This helps the AI avoid those common mistakes and improve the final picture quality.
Quick Tip: Use Double Brackets to Emphasize
You can make some tags stronger by using double brackets like this: ((masterpiece)) or ((detailed eyes)). This tells NovelAI to focus extra attention on those details.
In short, prompt writing in NovelAI is about being clear, detailed, and sometimes even a bit picky. It takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll start seeing amazing results.
Ready to dive deeper? Next, we’ll explore how settings like CFG scale and sampling affect your images.
CFG Scale, Steps, Sampling – Settings Demystified
When you start using NovelAI image generation, you’ll notice some important settings that affect how your prompts turn into images. These settings might sound technical at first, but don’t worry — we’ll break them down simply.
Understanding these will help you get sharper, clearer, and more accurate images.
What Is CFG Scale?
CFG stands for Classifier-Free Guidance scale. Think of it as a control knob that tells the AI how much it should stick to your prompt.
- Low CFG values (like 3 or 4) make the AI more creative but less focused. It might add unexpected details or stray from your prompt.
- High CFG values (like 10 or 12) force the AI to follow your prompt very strictly but can make the image less natural.
Most users find a CFG scale between 6.5 and 8 works best for balanced, detailed images.
What Are Steps?
Steps mean how many passes the AI takes to create your image. More steps usually mean more detail and less noise, but also longer generation time.
- Around 20–30 steps is a good starting point.
- Going too high, like 50 or more, doesn’t always improve quality and just wastes time.
What’s Sampling?
Sampling is the process the AI uses to generate your image step-by-step. NovelAI offers different samplers like Euler a, DDIM, or LMS.
Each sampler has its style and speed:
- Euler a is popular for sharp, clean anime-style images.
- DDIM can be smoother but sometimes less detailed.
- LMS is good for realistic images.
Try different samplers to see which one matches your style.
Real Example: Putting It All Together
Here’s a prompt with settings that work well:
Prompt:
masterpiece, best quality, 1girl, silver hair, glowing eyes, night sky, soft lighting
Negative Prompt:
blurry, bad anatomy, extra fingers
Settings:
- CFG Scale: 7.5
- Steps: 28
- Sampler: Euler a
Result: The AI creates a detailed anime girl with glowing eyes under a night sky. The image is sharp, the lighting soft, and common mistakes like extra fingers are avoided.
Quick Tip: Experiment and Adjust
Don’t be afraid to play with CFG, steps, and sampler settings. Small changes can make a big difference. The key is to find what works best for your specific prompt and style.
With these settings demystified, you’re ready to write prompts with confidence and tweak your generation for the best results.
Next, we’ll dive into writing better prompts—the heart of great NovelAI images.
Writing Better Prompts: Tips and Tricks
Crafting great prompts is the key to unlocking amazing images with NovelAI. The better your prompt, the closer your AI art will match your vision.
Here are some friendly tips to help you write clearer, more effective prompts:
1. Be Specific but Concise
Use clear, focused tags. Instead of just girl, try 1girl, wearing a red dress, smiling. Add details, but don’t overload your prompt.
2. Use Positive and Negative Prompts
Tell the AI both what you want and what you want to avoid. For example:
- Positive: detailed armor, glowing sword
- Negative: blurry, bad anatomy, extra limbs
3. Use Double Brackets to Emphasize
Double brackets like ((masterpiece)) tell NovelAI to focus more on that detail.
4. Experiment with Styles and Artists
Add style tags like anime style, digital painting, or mention famous artists for inspiration. For example:
portrait, anime style, by Makoto Shinkai
5. Break Prompts into Sections
Organize your prompt like a shopping list: subject, details, background, lighting, mood.
Example Prompt:
((masterpiece)), best quality, 1boy, short black hair, confident smile, futuristic city background, neon lights, cyberpunk style
Final Tip: Practice Makes Perfect
The more you experiment, the better your prompts will become. Save your favorite prompts and tweak them over time.
Using Negative Prompts (Undesired Content)
When you use NovelAI image generation, sometimes the AI adds unwanted details—like blurry faces, extra fingers, or weird backgrounds. That’s where negative prompts come in handy.
Negative prompts tell the AI what not to include. They help clean up your images and make them look better.
Common Bad Tags to Exclude
Here are some of the most common negative tags you might want to add to your prompt:
- blurry
- bad anatomy
- extra fingers
- mutated hands
- disfigured
- low quality
- pixelated
- text or watermark
- deformed
Adding these tags tells the AI to avoid these issues, improving the final image’s quality.
How Negative Prompts Affect Output
Think of negative prompts as a filter. They don’t describe what you want to see but rather what you want to keep out.
For example, if you’re tired of seeing weird extra fingers in your images, adding extra fingers, mutated hands to your negative prompt will help reduce those errors.
Negative prompts work best when combined with a strong positive prompt. Together, they guide the AI to focus on good details and avoid common mistakes.
Real Tip: Keep Negative Prompts Simple and Clear
Don’t overload your negative prompt. Choose the few most important bad tags to exclude. Too many can confuse the AI or slow down the generation.
Example:
Positive Prompt:
1girl, blue eyes, smiling, forest background
Negative Prompt:
blurry, bad anatomy, extra fingers, watermark
This setup helps get a clear, sharp image with fewer errors.
Using negative prompts is a powerful way to improve your NovelAI images. It’s like giving the AI a little extra guidance to avoid common pitfalls.
Prompt Templates by Category
One of the easiest ways to get great results with NovelAI is to use prompt templates. These are ready-made prompts you can tweak and build on. Let’s look at some popular categories and example templates to get you started.
Anime Girl
Anime-style characters are what NovelAI is famous for. Here’s a simple template to create stunning anime girls:
masterpiece, best quality, 1girl, big expressive eyes, long flowing hair, school uniform, smiling, cherry blossom background, soft lighting
Tip: Add details like hair color, expression, or accessories to make your character unique. For example, swap “long flowing hair” with “short pink hair” or add “holding a book”.
Fantasy Backgrounds
If you want to create magical worlds, fantasy backgrounds are a great choice. Try this template:
fantasy landscape, towering castles, glowing waterfalls, misty mountains, enchanted forest, sunrise lighting, vibrant colors
Tip: Use words like “ethereal,” “mystical,” or “ancient” to add mood. Change lighting from “sunrise” to “moonlit” for a nighttime scene.
Sci-Fi Characters
For futuristic or sci-fi images, here’s a solid starting prompt:
cyberpunk character, glowing neon tattoos, futuristic armor, short spiky hair, city skyline at night, rain reflections, dramatic lighting
Tip: Add tech details like “holographic visor” or “robotic arm” for more sci-fi flavor. Play with colors like “neon blue” or “electric purple” to match your vision.
Using these templates saves time and helps you focus on the fun part: customizing your AI art. Remember, the best prompts mix clear tags with creative details.
Community-Sourced Tips
The NovelAI community is super helpful and creative. Reddit users often share tips that can really boost your prompt writing skills. Here are some crowd favorites you might want to try:
1. Use Weighting for Focus
Many users recommend weighting parts of your prompt to make certain details stand out. You can do this by adding :: followed by a number to increase emphasis. For example:
1girl::1.5, blue eyes::1.2, smiling::1.3
This tells NovelAI to pay extra attention to these features.
2. Combine Styles for Unique Results
Mixing art styles can create fresh images. Try combining tags like:
digital painting, anime style, watercolor, by Studio Ghibli
This blend gives a soft, artistic feel while keeping that anime vibe.
3. Use Clear Negative Prompts
Reddit users stress the importance of clear negative prompts to avoid bad anatomy or blurry details. Simple tags like:
blurry, lowres, bad hands
can save your image from common AI mistakes.
4. Experiment with Seed Values
Some creators share their seed numbers to reproduce or tweak images. Setting a fixed seed helps get consistent results when you tweak other settings.
The community loves sharing their best prompts. Browsing forums or subreddits like r/NovelAI can give you fresh ideas and inspiration.
These tips from the community can really help you write better prompts and get the most out of NovelAI. Don’t hesitate to jump into Reddit and join the conversation!
Read More: 5 Best Chat GPT Apps
FAQ: NovelAI Image Prompts Guide (2025)
What does CFG scale mean in NovelAI?
CFG scale stands for Classifier-Free Guidance scale. It controls how closely the AI follows your prompt.
- Lower values (around 3–5) let the AI be more creative and flexible.
- Higher values (7–10) make the AI stick tightly to your prompt but can reduce creativity.
Most users find a CFG scale between 6.5 and 8 gives the best balance of quality and creativity.
Which sampler should I use for NovelAI image generation?
NovelAI offers different samplers like Euler a, DDIM, and LMS. Each affects image style and speed:
- Euler a is popular for crisp, sharp anime-style images.
- DDIM often produces smoother, softer results.
- LMS is good for realistic or detailed images.
Try different samplers to see which matches your style and prompt best.
Can NovelAI generate consistent faces?
Generating consistent faces can be tricky because AI sometimes varies details each time. However, you can improve consistency by:
- Using detailed prompts with clear facial features.
- Adding artist or style references.
- Fixing the seed value in your settings to reproduce similar images.
Still, slight variations happen—so keep experimenting and tweaking!
Conclusion
Mastering NovelAI image prompts is the secret to creating stunning AI-generated art. With the right prompt writing skills, understanding key settings like CFG scale and samplers, and using negative prompts to avoid unwanted details, you can bring your creative vision to life.
Remember, practice and experimentation are your best friends here. Use the prompt templates, community tips, and examples we shared as a starting point. Soon, you’ll be crafting detailed, vivid prompts that make NovelAI work exactly how you want.
Ready to dive in and create your next masterpiece? Happy prompting!