Best negative prompts for Stable Diffusion

In this article, you will learn what is Stable Diffusion negative prompts, how they work, and how to use them in your prompts. Also, you will find ready to use list of negative prompt templates.

What is a Negative Prompt In Stable Diffusion

Stable Diffusion is using your prompt to know what image to generate. The negative prompt tells what you don't want to see in the image. It's a powerful tool to use correctly. You can fix mistakes or remove unwanted objects from an image. Or you can enforce your selected style by having a negative prompt with keywords opposite to the wanted style.

You need to know and understand that a negative prompt is just a guide for Stable Diffusion and what to avoid in the image. It's not magic and will not solve core problems you will face while creating more complex prompts. For example, Stable Diffusion still has issues with hands. SDXL model makes this problem less noticeable, but still, you will get deformed hands. By using a negative prompt, you can try to make the problem less visible or hide hands if they are not important. However, negative prompts are not a magical solution.

Here in AUTOMATIC1111 documentation, you can find more technical explanations of negative prompts with even more examples.

How to correctly use negative prompts in Stable Diffusion

All images in this article are generated by A.I.C. mobile app using the Stable Diffusion XL model. In the app, you can find a negative prompt text field under "Advance Settings".

Download A.I.C.

Tip: Before buying the app, check first if it supports negative prompt and other settings for image generation like steps, guidance scale, seed

Creating a negative prompt is simple: you write all the keywords you don't want to see in your image. But don't put all known keywords in a negative prompt. Going step by step lets you understand your prompt and what is changing. Putting too many keywords at once will introduce new issues. Or you can use one of the given templates in this article. For example, deformed hands, ugly face, extra limbs, bad anatomy these keywords are a good base for creating an image with people.

• Be Clear – Say precisely what you don't want. Instead of the hand looks weird, say deformed hand
• Go Step by Step – Add one negative prompt at a time to fix problems incrementally. Don't use too many at once.
• Watch for New Problems – When you fix one thing, sometimes another problem pops up. Make sure your fix didn't mess up something else.
• Just Describe – Use words that describe the problem, like "fuzzy face" instead of "ugly face."
• Try Different Words – If the problem doesn't go away, say it in another way. Instead deformed hands you can try mutated hands.
• Keep a balance – Too many negative prompt keywords can stop the AI from being creative. So keep the balance between prompt and negative prompt.
• Start Fresh When Needed – If things aren't working out, it's okay to stop and begin again with a new prompt.

Most used negative prompts list

Here is a commonly used list of negative prompt keywords. They are general and can be used in most images and with all AI image generation tools.

Negative prompts for Stable Diffusion

Landscapes

Use this template to clear up outdoor scenes, making sure they're crisp and natural-looking.

grainy, surreal, low quality, multiple views, uncreative, monochrome, macro, lowres, distorted details, underexposed, simple background, homogenous, blurry, overexposed, close-up, dark, unattractive, low contrast, grains, multiple angles, plain background, details are low, standard, foggy, gloomy, oversaturated, opaque, grayscale, portrait, plain.

Cityscapes and Street Views

This template helps keep urban shots realistic, with balanced lighting and no distortion.

unreal sky, blurry, lowres, pets, multiple angles, surreal, grainy, asymmetrical buildings, low quality, macro, close-up, solid background, weird colors, cars, plain background, overexposed, low contrast, deformed structures, multiple views, underexposed, animals, people, oversaturated, unreal architecture.

Images with Portrait Shots of People and Pets

Use these prompts to fix portraits, ensuring faces and bodies look normal and in proportion.

bad proportions, asymmetric ears, broken wrist, additional limbs, asymmetric, collapsed eyeshadow, altered appendages, broken finger, bad anatomy, elongated throat, double face, conjoined, bad face, broken hand, out of frame, disconnected limb, 3d, bad ears, amputee, cross-eyed, disfigured, cartoon, bad eyes, cloned face, combined appendages, broken leg, copied visage, absent limbs, childish, cropped head, cloned head, desiccated, duplicated features, dismembered, disproportionate, cripple.

Inanimate Objects

This set of prompts helps tidy up shots of objects, making sure they look like they should.

misshapen, added components, broken, surreal, cloned, kitsch, over-saturated color, asymmetrical design, extra pieces, incomplete, incorrect geometry, low quality, faded, cartoonish, oversized, low resolution, absent parts, flipped, folded, macabre, overexposed, underexposed, out of focus, complex background, distorted perspective, flawed shape, missing parts, collapsed, off-center, inverted, poorly rendered replica, misaligned parts, tilted, upside down, improper proportion, mutated, unrealistic.

Nature and Wildlife Photography

Keep your nature shots true to life and free of any oddities with this template.

anime, malformed, lowres, over-saturated color, surreal, artificial, asymmetrical, low quality, animal face, incomplete, twisted, monochrome, bad anatomy, grainy, extra limbs, cartoon, foggy, human face, abstract, amputated, cloned, unreal engine, overexposed, underexposed, fantasy, deformed, photoshopped, missing parts, low resolution, unfocused, distorted, collapsed, mutated, scary, silhouette, sketch, cgi, bad.

Abstract Art

For art that's meant to be abstract, this template keeps the focus on creativity without confusing elements.

photorealistic, monochrome, 3d render, symmetrical, detailed faces, cartoon characters, lowres, cityscape, anatomically correct animals, landscape, figurative human figure, concrete, realistic scenery, body parts, low resolution, sharp edges, sketch, literal, portrait, buildings, text, people.

Pictures of Food

Make sure your food photos are appealing and look ready to eat with these prompts.

unfocused, lowres, sour, stale, mutated, sculpture, low resolution, dark, oversaturated, grainy, cartoon, incomplete, overcooked, undercooked, black and white, distorted, asymmetrical, expired, rotten, soggy, sketch, cgi, blurry, cold, human parts, badly cooked, burnt, unrealistic, upside down.

Animated character

This template helps animated characters stay on-model and avoids common drawing mistakes.

missing arms, three feet, bad face, extra fingers, fused crus, ugly fingers, three hands, fused face, extra eyes, bad hands, worst thigh, fused thigh, extra thigh, long fingers, three legs, missing fingers, cloned face, disconnected limbs, bad anatomy, huge eyes, three crus, worst face, amputation, 2girl, missing legs, poorly drawn face, horn, realistic photo, fused feet, worst feet, three thigh, extra crus.

Realistic character

For lifelike character images, this template helps iron out any unnatural features.

unreal, missing arms, three hands, bad face, extra fingers, cartoon, fused face, cg, ugly fingers, three legs, bad hands, fused feet, worst face, extra eyes, long fingers, three feet, missing legs, cloned face, worst feet, extra crus, huge eyes, fused crus, three thigh, bad anatomy, disconnected limbs, animate, 3d, worst thigh, extra thigh, fused thigh, missing fingers, amputation, poorly drawn face, three crus, horn, 2girl, bad arms.

Don’t forget this are just templates of Stable Diffusion xl negative prompts. You can use them in any AI image generator who is support negative prompts, but don’t copy it blindly. You should do changes to templates considering your prompt.

If you want to learn more about prompt creation, you can check this Stable Diffusion Tutorial. If you want to try out what you learned, you can download A.I.C. and use free credits to test your knowledge.

Download A.I.C.