t__k

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?

I draw inspiration from a variety of things:  music, books, films, other art I've seen, life experiences, emotions, or relationships. You name it.

Humor. Humor is very important to me.  

Most of my prompts contain large amounts of this mixture of influences. I just love to experiment with new ideas, phrases,  prompts & combinations of prompts, and silly start images. It's not all a joke, of course; I do a lot of serious work as well, but I try to have fun doing it at the same time.

I studied fine art in college and have my BFA in drawing & painting, but I also studied photography, 3D animation, glass blowing, and lithography.  

I draw on all that knowledge and experience, and I often treat prompt writing as a creative writing exercise as much as a way to make a picture.

NC: MOST UNDERRATED ARTIST ON NIGHTCAFE?

Oh, gosh I knew this one was coming! The easy answer is I'm worried I will leave someone out if I only name one - there are SO many talented people on here.  

Now the hard part:  

BrainTrust has always been one of my favorites.  He knows how to get spectacular results from the simplest text chain (I'm quite jealous, my prompts are total word salad!) and knows a boatload of good artists to use.  

I am also a big fan of Electra, A-touch-of-insanity, Trellis, Slosh, Siniextra, Atai... Too many to mention!  

I am always drawn to the most unique artists, people who walk their own path, do their own thing, and I am happy to see a growing number of them on here!  

Please forgive me if I left anyone out (I'm sure I did!).  And they're some of the nicest people!

NC: PROMPT THAT MOST SURPRISED YOU?

"alf".

NC: ANY TIPS FOR PROMPT WRITING?

You know, first and foremost, just be yourself. If you see a branch in a path, follow it.

Personally, I rely heavily on experimentation, chaos and intuition when I write my prompts.  

There's very little "technical" stuff in most of what I do. I'm actually quite surprised I was offered this Spotlight opportunity! Compared to a lot of other users, my technical skill and image quality can't hold a candle, but I try to make up for it by just being original.

Also, study your favorite artists on here. Read their prompts when open (I read almost every open prompt of a result I like). Ask questions - a lot of people are willing to share if you just ask!  If you're new to the site, follow & study dbfish. There is so much to learn by just seeing his prompts and the end result. If he hasn't been spotlighted yet, he should be.

Study art, art history, anything you're into, immerse yourself in it.  What can you contribute to it?

Experiment.  Don't be afraid to make mistakes.  Throw an emoji or two in there!  Word association?  Sure, why not!  Build a prompt around your favorite song, poem, movie quote, whatever.  

Don't forget about start images.  I know outside start images will disqualify you from entering daily challenges, but boy will they take your prompts on a journey!  I personally love the unpredictability of using different start images with the same prompt. 

I like to leave "easter eggs" for the people who take the time and look at my prompts and start images. So you'll see all kinds of humorous phrases and goofy start images in my stuff!  Just have fun. That's why we're here.

NC: WHAT LED YOU TO USING NIGHTCAFE?

About a year ago I read about being able to run Stable Diffusion on your home system and thought I could do something with it that was tied to my IRL drawings and paintings. 

But my computer couldn't handle it, and I didn't want to spend the money to just "check it out". So I searched different online avenues and ended up here.  

Then I injured my back and couldn't do much other than come home from work and lay on the couch in excruciating pain for 6 months. That's when I really got into writing prompts and learning what I, personally, could do with it.  

And I have to say, the community on this site is like no other, and that's what has kept me around more than anything.