Illustrious style prompts, tested

Twenty-four art style and medium tags on the same scene. Some change the whole look, some barely register on WAI v17, and the notes say which.

The test

Every tile below uses the same prompt with one tag swapped in, on the same two seeds (1001 and 1002), on SirenRender’s free anime tile: WAI-Illustrious-SDXL v17 with the DMD2 LoRA, 8 steps, CFG 1, 832×1216. {TAG} marks where each tag goes:

general, solo, mature female, long black hair, amber eyes, white shirt, black jacket, upper body, city street, autumn, {TAG}

What we found

WAI-Illustrious v17 has a strong house style, and on the free tile almost nothing moves it. Of the 24 style and medium tags below, only greyscale, 1980s (style) and 1990s (style) clearly changed the picture. watercolor (medium), oil painting (medium), sketch, lineart, impressionism, traditional media, painterly and the rest left it looking the same, and monochrome stayed in full color. We dropped pixel art from the grid: it didn’t produce pixel art, and the one change it made was a rounder, younger-looking face.

We then ran eight of the tags on the HD anime tile, the full model at CFG 5 and 30 steps. It changes the overall look (cleaner lines and more contrast), but the medium still mostly doesn’t change: only flat color and ukiyo-e flattened the shading. The comparison is below the grid.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag anime coloring, seed 1001 — anime coloringNo visible change. This is already the model’s default look.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag anime coloring, seed 1002 — anime coloringNo visible change. This is already the model’s default look.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag anime screencap, seed 1001 — anime screencapNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag anime screencap, seed 1002 — anime screencapNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag flat color, seed 1001 — flat colorNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag flat color, seed 1002 — flat colorNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag watercolor (medium), seed 1001 — watercolor (medium)No visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag watercolor (medium), seed 1002 — watercolor (medium)No visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag oil painting (medium), seed 1001 — oil painting (medium)No visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag oil painting (medium), seed 1002 — oil painting (medium)No visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag sketch, seed 1001 — sketchNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag sketch, seed 1002 — sketchNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag lineart, seed 1001 — lineartNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag lineart, seed 1002 — lineartNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag monochrome, seed 1001 — monochromeDid not go monochrome. Still full color.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag monochrome, seed 1002 — monochromeDid not go monochrome. Still full color.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag greyscale, seed 1001 — greyscaleStrong. Fully grey on both seeds.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag greyscale, seed 1002 — greyscaleStrong. Fully grey on both seeds.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag pastel colors, seed 1001 — pastel colorsSlight. A little softer.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag pastel colors, seed 1002 — pastel colorsSlight. A little softer.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag colorful, seed 1001 — colorfulNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag colorful, seed 1002 — colorfulNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag retro artstyle, seed 1001 — retro artstyleSlight. A warmer, older look.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag retro artstyle, seed 1002 — retro artstyleSlight. A warmer, older look.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag 1990s (style), seed 1001 — 1990s (style)Medium. Warmer skin, sharper 90s faces.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag 1990s (style), seed 1002 — 1990s (style)Medium. Warmer skin, sharper 90s faces.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag 1980s (style), seed 1001 — 1980s (style)Strong. 80s hair, bangs and face shapes on both.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag 1980s (style), seed 1002 — 1980s (style)Strong. 80s hair, bangs and face shapes on both.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag realistic, seed 1001 — realisticSlight. More shading on the face.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag realistic, seed 1002 — realisticSlight. More shading on the face.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag impressionism, seed 1001 — impressionismNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag impressionism, seed 1002 — impressionismNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag ukiyo-e, seed 1001 — ukiyo-eOnly added a red seal stamp in the corner.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag ukiyo-e, seed 1002 — ukiyo-eOnly added a red seal stamp in the corner.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag traditional media, seed 1001 — traditional mediaNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag traditional media, seed 1002 — traditional mediaNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag limited palette, seed 1001 — limited paletteNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag limited palette, seed 1002 — limited paletteNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag chromatic aberration, seed 1001 — chromatic aberrationNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag chromatic aberration, seed 1002 — chromatic aberrationNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag film grain, seed 1001 — film grainNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag film grain, seed 1002 — film grainNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag painterly, seed 1001 — painterlyNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag painterly, seed 1002 — painterlyNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag thick outlines, seed 1001 — thick outlinesNo visible change.

WAI-Illustrious render with the tag thick outlines, seed 1002 — thick outlinesNo visible change.

Free tile vs HD tile

Same prompt, same seed (1001). The free tile is WAI v17 with the DMD2 speed LoRA at 8 steps and CFG 1; the HD tile (1 credit) runs the full model at 30 steps, CFG 5 and a hi-res pass.

no style tag, free tile — **no style tag**, free tile

no style tag, HD tile — **no style tag**, HD tile

watercolor (medium), free tile — **watercolor (medium)**, free tile

watercolor (medium), HD tile — **watercolor (medium)**, HD tile

oil painting (medium), free tile — **oil painting (medium)**, free tile

oil painting (medium), HD tile — **oil painting (medium)**, HD tile

sketch, free tile — **sketch**, free tile

ukiyo-e, free tile — **ukiyo-e**, free tile

flat color, free tile — **flat color**, free tile

flat color, HD tile — **flat color**, HD tile

When you need a different medium, use Krea 2

Krea 2 changes the medium from a single phrase. We ran the same character on SirenRender’s free Quick Generate tile, with the medium named at the start of the prompt, on two seeds each. All four came out in the medium we asked for, on both seeds: wet watercolor washes on visible paper, thick oil impasto, flat ukiyo-e color with seals and calligraphy, and graphite shading. The prompt:

A [medium] of a woman in her twenties with long black hair and amber eyes, wearing a black jacket over a white shirt, standing on a city street lined with autumn trees, upper body, looking at the viewer.

The four media we used: loose watercolor painting on textured paper, thick impasto oil painting, Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print and graphite pencil sketch. More Krea 2 prompts are in the Krea 2 library.

loose watercolor painting on textured paper, seed 1001 — **loose watercolor painting on textured paper**, seed 1001

loose watercolor painting on textured paper, seed 1002 — **loose watercolor painting on textured paper**, seed 1002

thick impasto oil painting, seed 1001 — **thick impasto oil painting**, seed 1001

thick impasto oil painting, seed 1002 — **thick impasto oil painting**, seed 1002

Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print, seed 1001 — **Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print**, seed 1001

Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print, seed 1002 — **Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print**, seed 1002

graphite pencil sketch, seed 1001 — **graphite pencil sketch**, seed 1001

graphite pencil sketch, seed 1002 — **graphite pencil sketch**, seed 1002