Know Your Prompts: Turning AI Generated Paintings into NFT's
AI generated art has taken the internet by storm and is one of the next big interests within the NFT (non-fungible token) community. VQGAN+CLIP was only released back in January 2021 and since then generative tools have gotten exponentially better (see OpenAI's Dalle-2). All the hype and excitement around new AI art tech has grown the demand for AI generated paintings- and newfound artists want in on the lucrative side hustle.
Online AI art generators such as our own NightCafe have made it easy for artists of any skill level to turn their words into art they can be proud of. I had a chance to catch up with an AI artist who goes by the name N1FTey. Keep reading to see our discussion around the topic of AI NFT art and what it takes to make good generative art.
NC: Can you tell us a little bit about what inspired your NFT projects?
N1FTey: Right now, I’m most passionate about digital collages where I take anywhere from 25-100 AI generated images to create a coherent story.
All of my work is available either as NFT’s on various blockchains, or as physical prints. I’m making t-shirts from a number of these projects, and hope to add a shirt-shop to the gallery soon. I also did keyword research primarily to educate myself so that I can complete other projects more efficiently.
NC: Why do you believe keyword research is important?
N1FTey: It seems there’s still much to be learned and explored within the [online] AI art community. Any type of comparison project (or any project) that has a deliberate goal in mind will always prove useful to others in a given field.
So, from a community perspective, the more research—the better.
The Gates of Hell Are Open For Her by N1FTey
My background is in philosophy. Striving to truly understand language, logic, and syntax are fundamental and paramount to truly understanding our world. I’ve found the same requirements to be true when learning how to communicate with artificial intelligence. It behooves me to understand the language, syntax, and rules of logic the AI art generator is using.
The better I can communicate (and the better I understand the communication process), the closer the results are to what I want them to be. This benefits me as an artist, infinitely.
NC: What have been your favorite modifiers to stumble upon so far?
N1FTey: It depends on the style of art I’m working on or the mood I’m in. At first, I had an unhealthy relationship with the Unreal Engine/CryEngine/Trending combo, but I think it’s because so many of the coolest fantasy/3d style images I’ve seen use at least one of those modifiers.
While these modifiers produce really cool results, I’m still figuring out how to control them. They often take me further from my goal in a given project. Regardless, experimenting with them is fun.
On the more dark and dreary side, I love the Film Noir modifier, I’ve produced so many amazing images that really captured my mood or attitude at the time. But, if I had to pick a favorite so far, I think it has to be the Ink Drawing modifier. I have less luck using this modifier to get what I want when I need it, but it has produced my favorite image so far.
NC: What are your biggest tips when it comes to finding a good modifier?
N1FTey: Practice, and practice with restraint. You have to learn and understand the individual modifiers first, then you can be more deliberate about using and combining them.
The very reason I began the comparison projects was because I felt like I was wasting time and money. I needed to learn how the AI worked on minimal input data and a standalone single modifier before I could get the results I was looking for. Now that I understand modifiers better, I’m able to complete my major projects faster and with better results.
I still use my Glass Rose project as a resource, pretty much daily. So, practice with intention, take notes, and use your notes as a resource.
Fruit by N1FTey
NC: Why are modifiers so important when writing prompts for text to image creations?
N1FTey: It seems the more the AI has to go on, the better the result. If I simply type in “tortilla,” the AI will probably get so bored it wants to unplug itself, but reluctantly produces a sub-optimal tortilla. But if I tell the AI I want a colorful, 8k resolution, Unreal tortilla in the style of Picasso- well, now the AI has more data to produce a quality tortilla.
Lastly, we seem to be asking a lot from the AI. Although I did a “Fruits” project, this isn’t the norm. People aren’t [usually] asking the AI for simplistic realistic items like bananas. Artists on here testing boundaries.
The amount of opportunities are endless when it comes to this new art market that is the AI art NFT world. If you are able to experiment and put your own spin onto the things you make, you'll make something great!
In the (sometimes lucrative) world of NFT's, AI art will earn its place. With all the buzz it's made in the past year- it seems it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Any requests for N1FTey can be made using https://linktr.ee/N1FTey or via email at n1fteyart@gmail.com.
Their art can be found at:
NightCafe Studio Profile: N1FTey
80 Glass Roses Project: 
80 Glass Roses NFTs | Voice
82 Fruits: 82 Fruits Project NFTs | Voice
Rarible Profile: N1FTey's Profile
Digital Collage: Kalamint