How to Generate (Good) AI Images
Plus, an entire new world will be coming in September. Here's a sneak peak
Dear Prompt Experimenters,
Want to make some visual magic with AI?
We do a lot of text here. Long prompts that ask you questions, probe hidden corners, research the living hell out of whatever you want to know.
Yes, a great deal of words.
There’s been some feedback: What about image generation? Do you have prompts for that?
I didn’t. My image prompts were basic. The results were mediocre. Nothing screaming to be shared.
It felt like time to learn. On September 25th, I’ll be launching Thought Experiments. It’s a philosophical novel, an immersive open world, a self-transformation choose-your-own adventure. You are the main character. It’s completely human-written (by me!) but comes with TOD, a very special AI guide.
Words, words, words! Images were promised. Where are they?
Coming. Here’s what we’ll do today:
Thought Experiments sneak peak: A teaser in three scenes. I’ll share brief excerpts from my upcoming work with accompanying AI illustration.
Image prompts: I’ll give you the exact prompts I used for each image.
Your own personal AI image generator: For paid subscribers, I’m including the link to DOT-IMG, who wrote all the prompts for all the images in this post. She’s waiting to capture your own vision.
Assorted weird AI art: Image generation is somewhat addictive, so I kept on going beyond today’s scheduled programming.
THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS: the cubes
The sky is clear, and it’s almost night. There’s just barely enough light to see. It must be twilight, or maybe early morning. The small open space in which you find yourself is surrounded by dense trees, and it’s quiet, with no sounds of birds or bugs, only a gentle breeze, and your thoughts, and your footsteps, and that voice. Twenty feet in front of you, there is a most remarkable structure.
Image generation prompt: Please draw this: A surreal fairy-tale structure rises from a quiet forest clearing: a monumental tower built from five colossal unsolved Rubik’s cubes, each cube the size of a small house. Their colors are vivid but weathered, edges chipped, as though they have stood for centuries. The cubes are stacked vertically, with minor rotations and offsets. A small white rectangular door glows faintly at the base. Around it, dense twilight forest closes in, shrouded in soft mist. Above, indigo sky with first stars emerging. Render with cinematic twilight lighting, wide-angle view from below to emphasize grandeur, volumetric rays through trees, ultra-detailed cube textures, moss and leaves scattered at the base. Myst-inspired surrealism, Final Fantasy cinematic epic feel, Brueghel’s painterly detail. 8k ultra-detailed, hyper-realistic textures, ray-traced reflections, sharp focus, immersive atmosphere, fairy-tale mystery. --ar 9:16 --q 5 --v 6 --upbeta --no cartoon, blur, distortion, duplicate cubes, melted surfaces
THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS: you are, therefore you fly
“Passengers to Phoenix,” announces a female voice, “On behalf of Rene, and our entire team, welcome to Cartesian Air, where you are, therefore you fly. At this time, we would like to provide some important pre-flight information and also invite any passengers needing a bit of extra time to begin their boarding.”
Image generation prompt: Please draw this: A surreal airport gate scene bathed in cinematic twilight. Overhead, a glowing departure sign reads in bold serif letters: “Cartesian Air — Where You Are, Therefore You Fly.” Rows of weary but strangely serene passengers filter toward a futuristic jetway, yet none carry luggage; they move as if in a trance, each framed by soft shafts of volumetric light from the terminal’s high windows. The architecture feels impossible: part sleek glass-and-steel modernism, part cathedral nave, with shadows that stretch too far. In the gate area, a large digital mural shifts: René Descartes in 17th-century garb, illuminated like a saint, points skyward while shadowy demonic silhouettes curl behind him, whispering illusions. Above the jetway entrance, a glowing clock melts Dali-like, its numbers dissolving into mist. Atmosphere: hushed, uncanny, contemplative. Lighting: cinematic chiaroscuro, with pools of warm terminal light contrasting against indigo night beyond the windows. Visual style: Myst-inspired surrealism, Brueghel’s painterly texture, Final Fantasy cinematic epic mood. Hyper-detailed reflections on polished floor tiles, ghostlike passengers blurred at the edges, sharp focus on the glowing gate sign and the mural of Descartes. A scene of intellectual mystery masquerading as an ordinary boarding call. --ar 16:9 --q 5 --v 6 --upbeta --no cartoon, blur, distortion, empty chairs, low-res signage
THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS: the mall
It’s fun to work inside an old shopping mall. Your workstation is in the Menswear section formerly belonging to Sears. The infrastructure has been modernized, but the retro 80s vibe carefully preserved and polished, just as it might have been back in the glory days. There isn’t a lot of actual menswear, but there are a few racks, and some mannequins, all part of the décor. Sharmila started out long ago at a Baskin-Robbins in a mall just like this one. She is often lampooned for converting dying malls into the office campuses of her very high-tech company, but it’s actually a sound business decision. The property is cheap, and the Lifers have come to love it.
Image generation prompt: Please draw this: Inside an old shopping mall converted into offices: a vast, echoing retail floor once belonging to Sears Menswear, now functioning as a surreal workstation. The infrastructure is modernized with glowing digital screens, polished steel desk pods, and sleek lighting rails, yet the retro 1980s vibe remains carefully preserved — geometric pastel tiling, chrome accents, neon highlights, and a faintly nostalgic mall atrium ambience. Around the workstation area: a few lonely clothing racks stand in precise formation, each holding neatly arranged but outdated suits. Among them, several store mannequins remain as part of the décor, illuminated by spotlights like artifacts in a museum. The ceiling looms high, with traces of fluorescent light grids and exposed HVAC ducts now blended with futuristic fiber-optic cables. Reflections glisten across the shiny marble floor, perfectly polished but faintly scuffed in places from decades of shoppers. Atmosphere: uncanny yet alive with nostalgia, blending mall culture and tech-futurism. Composition: wide-angle cinematic view, as if standing at the entrance looking across the workspace with racks and mannequins in the foreground, glowing screens and modern infrastructure stretching behind. Lighting: balanced between warm mall fluorescents and cold futuristic LED glow. Style: Myst-inspired surrealism, Brueghel-like texture, Final Fantasy cinematic grandeur. Ultra-detailed: reflections, mannequin surfaces, neon edges, fabric textures on the racks, all rendered in maximum fidelity. --ar 16:9 --q 5 --v 6 --upbeta --no cartoon, blur, distortion, empty plain walls, low-res textures
SINCE I BUILT MYSELF AN IMAGE GENERATOR…
Isn’t it amazing what strange things pop into one’s mind?
DOT, if KFC were popular in the time of Cezanne…
DOT, Chomsky posed “colorless green ideas sleep furiously” as a grammatically correct sentence which is semantically nonsensical. Can you help me imagine what it might look like?
DOT, show me a bar scene in the mid-1980’s. Think hard about the hair.
Want to generate your own optimized image prompts? Meet DOT-IMG. Paid subscribers read on…