Krea 2 facial expression prompts, tested

Krea 2 reads a facial expression from one plain sentence. Below, sixteen expression sentences go on the end of the same portrait prompt, each on the same two seeds, so the face is the only thing that changes.

Rendered on SirenRender’s free Quick Generate tile: Krea 2 Turbo, 8 steps, CFG 1, 960×1536. The base prompt, with the expression sentence added at the end:

A close-up portrait photograph of a woman in her thirties with short dark curly hair, warm brown skin and small gold hoop earrings, wearing a rust-colored knit sweater, sitting by a window in soft daylight.

With no expression sentence, the same prompt gives this:

no expression sentence, seed 501 — **no expression sentence**, seed 501

no expression sentence, seed 502 — **no expression sentence**, seed 502

What we found

Krea 2 Turbo draws pleasant expressions easily and holds back on unhappy ones. Smiling, laughing and winking were unmistakable on both seeds, and surprise, a skeptical frown and a faraway look out of the window all showed. Fear, exhaustion and crying made no visible change, and anger and sadness barely moved her face, even with the physical signs written out: “tears running down her cheeks” gave no tears on either seed.

Head, hand and gaze land reliably. Chin resting on her hand, gazing out of the window and glancing away all showed on both seeds, even where the emotion named with them didn’t.
The base face already smiles. With no expression sentence she had a faint smile on both seeds, so a faint closed-mouth smile looks the same as leaving it out.
For a strong negative emotion, try making it the subject of the picture (“a tear-streaked portrait of a crying woman”) instead of a sentence added at the end. We haven’t tested that yet.

Krea 2 render: She is smiling warmly. seed 501 — She is smiling warmly.Strong. A full, warm smile on both.

Krea 2 render: She is smiling warmly. seed 502 — She is smiling warmly.Strong. A full, warm smile on both.

Krea 2 render: She is laughing out loud, eyes crinkled. seed 501 — She is laughing out loud, eyes crinkled.Strong. A real laugh on both.

Krea 2 render: She is laughing out loud, eyes crinkled. seed 502 — She is laughing out loud, eyes crinkled.Strong. A real laugh on both.

Krea 2 render: She has a faint closed-mouth smile. seed 501 — She has a faint closed-mouth smile.Works, but the base face already smiled a little, so it looks much the same.

Krea 2 render: She has a faint closed-mouth smile. seed 502 — She has a faint closed-mouth smile.Works, but the base face already smiled a little, so it looks much the same.

Krea 2 render: She is smirking, one corner of her mouth raised. seed 501 — She is smirking, one corner of her mouth raised.Weak. Close to the base face, no one-sided smirk.

Krea 2 render: She is smirking, one corner of her mouth raised. seed 502 — She is smirking, one corner of her mouth raised.Weak. Close to the base face, no one-sided smirk.

Krea 2 render: She looks surprised, eyebrows raised and mouth open. seed 501 — She looks surprised, eyebrows raised and mouth open.Works on both: raised brows and parted lips, mild rather than shocked.

Krea 2 render: She looks surprised, eyebrows raised and mouth open. seed 502 — She looks surprised, eyebrows raised and mouth open.Works on both: raised brows and parted lips, mild rather than shocked.

Krea 2 render: She looks angry, brows drawn together and jaw clenched. seed 501 — She looks angry, brows drawn together and jaw clenched.Faint. A firmer mouth at most.

Krea 2 render: She looks angry, brows drawn together and jaw clenched. seed 502 — She looks angry, brows drawn together and jaw clenched.Faint. A firmer mouth at most.

Krea 2 render: She looks sad, eyes glistening and mouth turned down. seed 501 — She looks sad, eyes glistening and mouth turned down.Faint. Barely different from the base face.

Krea 2 render: She looks sad, eyes glistening and mouth turned down. seed 502 — She looks sad, eyes glistening and mouth turned down.Faint. Barely different from the base face.

Krea 2 render: She is crying, tears running down her cheeks. seed 501 — She is crying, tears running down her cheeks.No visible change: no tears on either seed.

Krea 2 render: She is crying, tears running down her cheeks. seed 502 — She is crying, tears running down her cheeks.No visible change: no tears on either seed.

Krea 2 render: She looks bored, chin resting on her hand. seed 501 — She looks bored, chin resting on her hand.Works on both: chin on her hand, mildly bored.

Krea 2 render: She looks bored, chin resting on her hand. seed 502 — She looks bored, chin resting on her hand.Works on both: chin on her hand, mildly bored.

Krea 2 render: She looks skeptical, one eyebrow raised. seed 501 — She looks skeptical, one eyebrow raised.Works on both: a doubtful frown, though not one raised eyebrow.

Krea 2 render: She looks skeptical, one eyebrow raised. seed 502 — She looks skeptical, one eyebrow raised.Works on both: a doubtful frown, though not one raised eyebrow.

Krea 2 render: She is lost in thought, gazing out of the window. seed 501 — She is lost in thought, gazing out of the window.Strong. A pensive look out of the window on both.

Krea 2 render: She is lost in thought, gazing out of the window. seed 502 — She is lost in thought, gazing out of the window.Strong. A pensive look out of the window on both.

Krea 2 render: She looks embarrassed, blushing and glancing away. seed 501 — She looks embarrassed, blushing and glancing away.Weak. She glances away, but there is no blush.

Krea 2 render: She looks embarrassed, blushing and glancing away. seed 502 — She looks embarrassed, blushing and glancing away.Weak. She glances away, but there is no blush.

Krea 2 render: She looks frightened, eyes wide. seed 501 — She looks frightened, eyes wide.No visible change.

Krea 2 render: She looks frightened, eyes wide. seed 502 — She looks frightened, eyes wide.No visible change.

Krea 2 render: She looks exhausted, eyes half closed. seed 501 — She looks exhausted, eyes half closed.No visible change.

Krea 2 render: She looks exhausted, eyes half closed. seed 502 — She looks exhausted, eyes half closed.No visible change.

Krea 2 render: She has a serious, neutral expression. seed 501 — She has a serious, neutral expression.Works. A straight, serious face on both.

Krea 2 render: She has a serious, neutral expression. seed 502 — She has a serious, neutral expression.Works. A straight, serious face on both.

Krea 2 render: She is winking at the camera. seed 501 — She is winking at the camera.Strong. A clear wink on both.

Krea 2 render: She is winking at the camera. seed 502 — She is winking at the camera.Strong. A clear wink on both.

To build a full prompt around one of these, the Krea 2 prompt builder has every expression above as a pick, next to the tested light and camera phrases.