Stable Diffusion Negative Prompts: The Ultimate Collection
Here is the rewritten blog post, edited to sound more natural and human-written.
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Stable Diffusion Negative Prompts: The Ultimate Collection
A Guide to Fixing Bad Hands, Ugly Faces, and More
Oh, we've all been there. You craft the perfect, poetic prompt describing a "breathtaking photorealistic portrait of an elven queen in a sun-dappled forest." You hit "generate," wait with that familiar mix of hope and anxiety, and the result is... almost perfect. The lighting is magical, the armor is stunningly intricate, but she has seven fingers on one hand and her eyes are looking in two different directions.
It's the uncanny valley nightmare that haunts every single one of us in the AI art world.
But this is where the unsung hero of image generation comes in: the negative prompt. While your main prompt tells the AI "what to create," the negative prompt is the equally crucial "what to avoid" command. In my experience, it's the secret sauce that separates a good generation from a truly great one. It’s how you tell Stable Diffusion, "No thanks, I'm not in the mood for mangled anatomy, blurry backgrounds, or weird text artifacts today."
Think of yourself as a sculptor. Your positive prompt is the raw block of marble—it holds all the potential for your masterpiece. The negative prompt is your chisel, letting you chip away all the unwanted bits and pieces, refining the form until you reveal the beauty inside. So, think of this guide as your complete chisel set. We'll cover everything from my favorite universal starter templates to super-specific commands that will help you take full control of Stable Diffusion, SDXL, and other AI image models.
*What Are Negative Prompts, Really? 🤔
On the surface, it’s simple: a negative prompt is just a box where you list all the things you
don't want to see in your image. Generating a cat? You might add "dog" to the negative prompt to keep any canine features from creeping in. But under the hood, it's a bit more clever than that.During the generation process (the "diffusion" part of Stable Diffusion), the AI starts with pure noise and slowly, step-by-step, refines it to match your prompt. A negative prompt guides this process by actively steering the AI
away from concepts you specify. It essentially tells the model, "In the massive universe of possible images, just avoid the neighborhoods that contain these unwanted things."This is an incredibly powerful tool. It's not just about excluding objects; it's about improving the overall quality by telling the AI to avoid its own common, frustrating flaws.
Why Negative Prompts Are Your Best Friend
Let me be clear: getting good with negative prompts is a core skill for any serious AI artist. It's the difference between passively accepting whatever the AI spits out and actively directing it toward your actual vision.
Here’s why I use them in almost every single generation:
Quality Control: This is the big one. Seriously. Negative prompts are your first and best line of defense against AI artifacts like mutated hands, extra limbs, distorted faces, and just general anatomical weirdness. Artistic Style Refinement: You can use them to really dial in your aesthetic. Want a clean, 2D vector logo? Addphotorealistic, 3d, shadow, glossy to the negative prompt. Going for a gritty, realistic photo? Your negative prompt can be cartoon, anime, drawing, illustration. It's like putting stylistic guardrails on your creation.
Compositional Control: Tidy up your scenes by removing things you don't want. Generating a serene, empty beach? Your negative prompt can include people, boats, footprints, crowd. Easy.
Eliminating Distractions: This is perfect for getting rid of those ugly watermarks, random artist signatures, blurry bits, or nonsense text that the AI sometimes hallucinates into the image.
By mastering negative prompts, you'll spend way less time re-rolling and more time creating polished art that looks exactly how you imagined it.
Essential Negative Prompt Templates
Every artist needs a solid starting point. These are the templates I've personally refined and now use as my go-to, copy-paste solution for probably 80% of my generations. Use them as-is or tweak them to fit your own style.
### The Universal "Fix-It" Template (For Realism & General Use)
This is my workhorse. It targets the most common headaches in photorealistic models, from bad anatomy to poor image quality. It’s a fantastic starting point for portraits, characters, and realistic scenes.
ugly, tiling, poorly drawn hands, poorly drawn feet, poorly drawn face, out of frame, extra limbs, disfigured, deformed, body out of frame, bad anatomy, watermark, signature, cut off, low contrast, underexposed, overexposed, bad art, beginner, amateur, distorted face, blurry, draft, grainy### The "Clean Illustration" Template (For Anime & 2D Art)
When I'm working with anime or illustrative models, the last thing I want is for realistic textures or 3D lighting to "bleed" into the style. This template helps keep everything looking clean, crisp, and consistent.
photorealistic, 3d, realistic, ugly, disfigured, deformed, blurry, grainy, low resolution, duplicate, morbid, mutilated, extra fingers, mutated hands, poorly drawn hands, bad anatomy, malformed limbs, extra limbs, missing arms, missing legs, fused fingers, too many fingers, long neck### The Minimalist "Just the Basics" Template
Sometimes, a huge negative prompt can be too restrictive and can kind of suck the soul out of your images. If you find your generations are feeling a bit generic, try this shorter, more targeted template that only fights the absolute worst offenders.
deformed, bad anatomy, disfigured, poorly drawn face, poorly drawn hands, blurry, low resolutionCategory-Specific Negative Prompts 🎨
While the templates above are great all-rounders, a truly professional result often requires a more tailored approach. When you want to go from "good" to "absolutely stunning," you need to get specific.
For Portraits & Characters 🤌
The human form is ridiculously complex, and AI often fumbles the details (especially hands, we all know about the hands). These negatives target specific anatomical and aesthetic problems.
Anatomy:mutated hands, fused fingers, too many fingers, extra limbs, malformed limbs, missing arms, missing legs, cross-eyed, disfigured, poorly drawn face, bad anatomy
Aesthetics: ugly, deformed, disfigured, childish, cartoon, anime, weird colors, blurry, jpeg artifacts
Example Use Case: Creating a professional headshot. You want to avoid even a hint of digital weirdness.
For Photography 📷
When you're aiming for photorealism, the goal is to eliminate anything that shatters the illusion. This includes digital artifacts and common camera flaws.
Quality:blurry, grainy, low resolution, noise, jpeg artifacts, compression artifacts
Style: drawing, painting, illustration, cartoon, 3d, render, CGI
Composition: out of frame, cropped, cut off, bad lighting, harsh shadows, overexposed, underexposed
Example Use Case: Generating a "National Geographic" style wildlife photo. It needs to look sharp, well-lit, and 100% real.
For Landscapes & Architecture 🏞️
Here, the goal is usually a clean, epic, or serene view. These negative prompts help me clear out all the distracting clutter that can ruin a scene.
Unwanted Objects:people, crowd, cars, vehicles, text, watermark, signature, power lines, roads
Atmosphere: blurry background, hazy, foggy (unless intended), unnatural colors, oversaturated
Example Use Case: A fantasy landscape of a pristine, untouched mountain valley. You have to make sure no signs of modern life sneak in.
For Graphic Design & Logos ✨
Clarity and simplicity are everything in design. These negatives help strip away visual noise and maintain a clean, vector-like style.
Complexity:complex, busy, cluttered, detailed, realistic, photorealistic, shadow, texture
Artifacts: text, letters, words, watermark, blurry, messy, ugly, dirty
Example Use Case: Creating a minimalist logo for a tech company. The output has to be simple, sharp, and easily scalable.
Practical Examples You Can Use Today
Alright, theory is great, but let's see this stuff in action. Here are five examples showing how a good positive prompt becomes great with a carefully chosen negative prompt.
#### Example 1: The Perfect Fantasy Portrait
Goal: A high-quality, realistic portrait of a fantasy character without the classic AI hand/face problems.// Positive Prompt
photorealistic portrait of a female elven warrior, intricate silver armor, long white hair, determined expression, forest background, cinematic lighting, ultra detailed, 8k
// Negative Prompt
(deformed, distorted, disfigured:1.3), poorly drawn, bad anatomy, wrong anatomy, extra limb, missing limb, floating limbs, (mutated hands and fingers:1.4), disconnected limbs, mutation, mutated, ugly, disgusting, blurry, amputation
Why it works: This negative prompt gets aggressive. It heavily weights (
:1.3, :1.4) the most critical terms for fixing anatomy, basically screaming at the AI to prioritize getting the hands and face right.
#### Example 2: A Serene, Untouched Beach
Goal: A beautiful, empty beach landscape that feels peaceful and isolated.// Positive Prompt
breathtaking wide-angle photograph of a tropical beach at sunset, calm turquoise water, white sand, palm trees, golden hour, hyperrealistic, National Geographic
// Negative Prompt
people, crowd, footprints, boats, ships, buildings, trash, pollution, text, watermark, blurry, oversaturated
Why it works: This is all about removal. It systematically eliminates any sign of human activity, which is key to creating that pristine, "lost island" feeling the positive prompt is aiming for.
#### Example 3: Clean & Stylized Anime Character
Goal: A vibrant 2D anime character without any unwanted 3D or realistic elements.// Positive Prompt
masterpiece, best quality, 1girl, solo, cute anime girl with pink hair and blue eyes, school uniform, standing in a classroom, cherry blossoms falling outside the window, dynamic angle
// Negative Prompt
photorealistic, realistic, 3d, ugly, deformed, morbid, duplicate, bad anatomy, poorly drawn hands, text, signature, watermark, nsfw
Why it works: Here, the negative prompt acts as a stylistic gatekeeper. It forces the AI to stick to the "anime" aesthetic by explicitly forbidding realism and 3D rendering.
#### Example 4: Professional Product Photography
Goal: A sharp, clean, studio-lit photo of a product on a plain background.// Positive Prompt
professional studio photograph of a luxury wristwatch on a black marble surface, macro lens, sharp focus, elegant lighting, commercial photography
// Negative Prompt
blurry, grainy, out of focus, bad lighting, harsh shadows, reflections, text, logo, watermark, dirty, dust, scratches, amateur, busy background
Why it works: This prompt is obsessed with technical perfection. It removes any visual imperfections (like dust or scratches) and technical flaws (bad lighting, blur) that would absolutely ruin a commercial shot.
#### Example 5: Minimalist Vector Logo
Goal: A simple, flat vector logo of a fox.// Positive Prompt
minimalist vector logo, a simple icon of a fox head, geometric shapes, flat design, single color, on a white background
// Negative Prompt
photorealistic, 3d render, shadow, gradient, texture, detailed, complex, busy, text, letters, ugly, messy, blurry
Why it works: This negative prompt is ruthless. It strips away any and every element that would contradict the "minimalist vector" style, ensuring the output is clean, simple, and professional.
Common Mistakes to Avoid ❌
While they're powerful, you can definitely shoot yourself in the foot with negative prompts. Trust me, I've made all of these mistakes so you don't have to.
dark or shadows in your negative prompt. The AI will just get confused and give you a muddy, nonsensical mess.
bad isn't very helpful. It's far less effective than deformed hands, blurry face, bad anatomy. Be specific about the "bad" things you want the AI to avoid.
Pro Tips & Best Practices ✅
Ready to really level up your negative prompt game? Here are a few advanced techniques I use all the time.
Start Simple, Then Iterate: My best advice is to start with a minimal negative prompt. Generate an image. See a problem? Add a negative term to fix it. For instance, if a weird signature appears, addsignature, watermark to your negative prompt and generate again. This iterative process gives you so much more control and, in my experience, leads to better results.
Use Emphasis (Weighting): Most UIs (like Automatic1111) let you add weight to a term using parentheses and a colon, like (ugly:1.3). This tells the AI to try extra hard to avoid that concept. This is a lifesaver for stubborn problems like messed-up hands: (mutated hands:1.4).
Leverage Negative Embeddings: For you advanced users out there (especially if you're on Automatic1111), you can use "textual inversion" embeddings that have been trained specifically on thousands of bad images. These are little trigger words (like EasyNegative or bad-prompt-v2) that pack a powerful, pre-trained negative prompt into a single keyword. They're incredibly convenient.
Remember SDXL is Different: Stable Diffusion XL is a huge leap forward. It understands natural language much better and has far fewer issues with hands and anatomy from the get-go. For SDXL, your negative prompts can often be much shorter and more focused on style (anime, cartoon, 3d) rather than fixing fundamental flaws.
Negative prompting is a skill, and like any skill, it gets better and more intuitive with practice. You'll start to anticipate the AI's potential slip-ups and preemptively guide it toward a better outcome, saving yourself a ton of time and frustration.
Feeling inspired but want a head start on crafting the perfect prompt? Try our Visual Prompt Generator—it can help you build amazing positive
and* negative prompts tailored to your exact vision, giving you a powerful foundation for your creations.Happy generating
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