Hirai

NC: WHAT INFLUENCES YOUR WORK?

I'm a huge fan of video games and anime. But the biggest influence is probably music: "...when words fail, music speaks."

I love to explore fantasy worlds and go and adventures which give me beautiful memories and ideas.

There's nothing more beautiful than when you are hit with beautiful scenery coming out of a dark cave, and the epic music underlines the atmosphere of your new discovered world.

So if I listen to a beautiful / epic soundtrack, there are immediately so many pictures in my head, showing all kinds of things that fit the music. 

It's a bit hard to explain: it's as if the images are coming directly from my heart when I hear specific sounds.

NC: MOST UNDERRATED ARTIST ON NIGHTCAFE?

The creations of Mountain88 always catch my eye when I come across them.

A lot of his creations deserve much more attention with their creativity, great execution, beauty and magical feel to them.

Definitely go check him out if you haven't already!

NC: ANY TIPS FOR PROMPT WRITING?

I'm not an expert on this, but here are my thoughts.

One thing a lot of people underestimate, but which helps a lot in developing your creative flow, is brainstorming.

If you think about one single thing, there are so many different thoughts connected to it.

Follow a basic concept and make it more detailed. It doesn't have to be a crazy long prompt, sometimes less is more. Don't overthink it.

For example: let's say you want to make a creation with a castle.

You have the castle. Now what shall it look like? In what environment or atmosphere shall it be?

"a fantasy castle above the mountains, surrounded by cosmic clouds, magical sunset, epic"

What style do you want it to be? More realistic? Or maybe more like a drawing?

Using different artist names as style can also have a huge impact:

"line art, vibrant colors, by (artist name)"

Add more details and get even more specific if you want:

"a stone path above the mountains that leads to the castle, cherry blossom trees looking through the clouds"

Here's the final result. 

For some last words on this topic. AI is still pretty unpredictable, so don't feel frustrated if things might not work out as you wish.

 Experiment with the different models as one might work better for your style than another. Evolve your creations, play around with the settings, and try putting some randomness into your prompt to just see what happens. You might be surprised sometimes!

NC: WHAT LED YOU TO USING NIGHTCAFE?

I searched for a website that would allow me to create AI art for free, in an uncomplicated.

After discovering NightCafe and learning how the credit system works, I found the models used here were interesting and appealing, and the community is very nice.

So here I am, two years later, still loving this site and the people here!