Bephers

The Artist Spotlight is your inside look into the influences, collaborations and prompts that drive the NightCafe community.

We catch up with some of our most original creators to find what inspires them, who their favorite creators are, and how they use image generator algorithms as part of their work.

NC: WHAT INFLUENCES YOUR WORK?

At the moment I'm still really new to all of this, so it's whatever I see that I feel like creating.

For example, the other day I went down to the beach for dinner and had to fend off the seagulls who were trying to steal my food, which led me to create one of my pieces.

I also like learning about artists and studying their styles and then replicating them with a twist on NC.

Doing a mashup between styles is really fun. I love folk art mashed up with retro-futurism or art deco. It's just really fun to play around with different modifiers and see what they do and what differences they create.

NC: MOST UNDERRATED ARTIST ON NIGHTCAFE?

There are so many!

• CarineVP. Super talented and really helped me with my paper scrolling. I love paper art. It's so clever, and Carine is a genius.
  

• CamelliaLane. I love literally everything they do. They have such creative and interesting art in a variety of styles.
  

• CarosLines, aka Caroline. Caroline comes up with some really fun challenges that brings out everyone's creativity. She's so encouraging, as well, not to mention a fantastic artist!
  

• Dawn_Day_Dreamer. The same can be said. Absolutely amazing artist and often uses challenges to teach people how to use different elements in NC.

NC: PROMPT THAT MOST SURPRISED YOU?

"Blue and orange alligator, black and grey and white, splash_art, Karla_Gerard, Paul_Barson, Lucy_Grossmith, whimsical, comic book art, Peter_Coehlo, detailed fantasy background, dramatic effect, moody, cinematic lighting".

This gave such a cool effect. You can obviously choose the colours, but I loved how it turned out. It hasn't been particularly popular, but I don't necessarily create art for popularity.

NC: ANY TIPS FOR PROMPT WRITING?

I'm still learning myself!

1. I try lots out in SD1.5 first to give me a vague idea of what it may look like and save credits before trying something in 1.0 or 0.9. This is especially true if I'm trying a new modifier. However, bear in mind that some things just won't work in 1.5. One of my favourite prompts doesn't work at all in 1.5.

2. Sometimes simple is better. Today I created a really cool picture with just a preset and a couple of words. Nothing more to it. You don't always have to go for really long, detailed prompts to get what you want.

3. Study the open prompts and play with them. Especially using the different artists. It's good to know which artists have similar styles or contrasting styles, depending on what you're going for.

Don't be afraid to ask for help. Most people on NC are really friendly. I've asked a few people for help with prompts, and everyone has been really helpful!

NC: WHAT LED YOU TO USING NIGHTCAFE?

A colleague of mine did an art exhibition here using AI (not NC), and it really intrigued me.

I have never been traditionally artistic, although everyone else in my family was.

It just kind of skipped me, and I always felt like the odd one out. So, when I saw what he had done, I thought... I can do that too.

I found NC online when searching for AI art generators two months ago, and I've been hooked ever since. It has allowed me to be creative in a way that I've never been able to be before.