The Pros and Cons of "Masterpiece" – Overcoming Perfection with the Help of Masters
- Masters have an exceptional sense of balance.
- You can recreate their unique styles by adding their names to prompts.
- Adjust the prompt’s weight to achieve the perfect balance.
Introduction
Hello, this is Easygoing.
Today, I’d like to explore the deep and intriguing issue of using "masterpiece" in AI-generated images.
AI Excels at High Resolution
In my previous post, I discussed how AI excels at generating high-resolution images.
AI can create high-res images without any blurring, resulting in crisp, clean visuals.
However, as the resolution increases, the flawlessness of AI-generated images becomes more apparent, especially with facial features. Faces can become unnervingly perfect.
Today, we’ll explore how to address this issue of AI-generated perfection.
What Is "Masterpiece Face"?
When a face is too perfectly constructed, it’s sometimes referred to as a "Masterpiece Face."
In AI image generation, adding the keyword "masterpiece" to the prompt enhances the overall quality of the image.
While this is a convenient keyword for improving any image, the problem arises when the faces become too perfectly symmetrical and end up looking alike.
The term "Masterpiece Face" originally came from the anime-focused NovelAI (which launched in October 2022) as a bit of a joke. But soon, the term spread to cover not just NovelAI but also Stable Diffusion and other AI image generation tools.
It’s mainly used to describe illustrations, though it can sometimes apply to photorealistic images as well.
Perfect Images Can Be Tiring
At first, a perfectly beautiful face might be captivating. But after prolonged exposure, it can become exhausting.
So how did the great masters of the past address this issue?
_-_The_Girl_With_The_Pearl_Earring_(1665).jpg)
The women depicted in these famous paintings are beautiful, but they are not flawless.
Surely, if the great masters wanted, they could have painted perfectly symmetrical and beautiful faces.
However, these masters knew that absolute perfection wasn’t always appealing to the human eye.
By avoiding complete perfection, they managed to captivate viewers with a delicate balance that draws them in.
Borrowing from the Masters
If the great masters understood this subtle balance, why not try to mimic it?
We can add the names of famous painters into our prompts to replicate their styles.
The Risk of Being Overpowered by a Master
However, borrowing the style of a master comes with its risks.
As I’ve previously mentioned, AI has learned from a massive dataset of 5 billion images, most of which come from modern smartphones or digital cameras.
Next in line are images from the film era, and far fewer come from traditional photography or painting since these mediums are not mass-produced.
Thus, AI has learned the strong and unique personalities of the great masters from a much smaller pool of paintings.
If you’re not careful with how much of their style you borrow, their influence can easily overpower the image.
Choosing a Master to Rely On
For this experiment, I’ll be borrowing from masters who specialized in portraiture.
Let’s focus on painters from the 1800s onward.
As for the style, I’ve noticed a few preferences from my previous posts:
- The "anima_pencil-XL" model I use tends to have thin lines for outlines.
- I also like slightly blurred backgrounds, as I’ve mentioned before.
These preferences will help guide my selection of a master from the 1800s onward.
Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917)
One famous 19th-century Impressionist painter is Edgar Degas.
Degas is well-known for his many paintings featuring ballet dancers.
While ballerinas often have a glamorous image, in Degas’ time, they were seen as somewhat low-class, with underlying suggestions of prostitution.
In Degas’ works, you can often see older, wealthy patrons in the background alongside the ballerinas.
What a Surprise!
Now, let’s add "Edgar Degas" to the prompt.
What happened?! The life has completely drained from their faces!
Even the people in the background seem devoid of any vitality.
While it does capture Degas’ style, the overall mood is far too gloomy for my taste.
It’s amazing how much influence just one keyword can have. The power of a master’s style is truly something!
Eugène Delacroix (1798 – 1863)
Eugène Delacroix is another famous French Romantic painter.
His most iconic work is undoubtedly Liberty Leading the People.
Delacroix personally witnessed the July Revolution of 1830, and it’s said that the man holding the rifle on the left is a self-portrait of the artist.
Is This the One?
Next, I’ll try adding "Eugène Delacroix" to the prompt.
Now this… this is quite good, isn’t it?
The whole image has a calmer feel. The eyes are slightly smaller, giving the face more character and humanity.
The painting style becomes more akin to oil paintings, losing some of the hair’s softness. But I personally like this heavier texture, so I’m okay with it.
The image might be a bit more ordinary, but it’s easier on the eyes. By switching between the versions with and without Delacroix’s influence, I think I can create a nice balance.
AI really allows you to merge the worlds of oil painting and anime-style art!
Adjusting the Strength of Delacroix’s Influence
Now, let’s adjust the weight of the prompt. Normally, the weight is set at 1, but by tweaking it, we can control how much influence the master’s style has.
Eugène Delacroix: 0.5
Eugène Delacroix: 1
Eugène Delacroix: 1.5
Eugène Delacroix: 2
Changing the Style with Prompt Weight!
As you adjust the prompt’s strength, the style noticeably changes.
Personally, I like it around 1.5, where the face has more character. However, when using such stylistic "spices," it’s best to be a bit subtle. So, I’ll go with a weight of 1.
Conclusion: Masters Are Incredible!
This time, I experimented with how dramatically a master’s name could alter an image.
- Masters have an exceptional sense of balance.
- You can recreate their unique styles by adding their names to prompts.
- Adjust the prompt’s weight to achieve the perfect balance.
By borrowing from the great masters, you can vastly expand your creative range.
There are many other captivating masters out there, so why not try using your favorite master’s style in your next AI-generated piece?
Thank you for reading until the end!