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Illustrious Prompt Guide (Optimized & Complete)

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Realor

Jun 17, 2025

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Illustrious Prompt Guide (Optimized & Complete)

ARTICLE AUTHOR - wolf999 | I just optimized the information. If you want to see the full article, go to his profile.

Dataset

Illustrious v0.1 is trained on Danbooru2023, at 1024x1024 resolution, with comma-separated Danbooru tags and a few custom tags.

Important: this is only Danbooru, no other boorus (no e621 or PonyXL-style datasets).
Danbooru includes a lot of NSFW content, and it's all in the dataset. The model can generate very disturbing things. If you're using this to teach kids how to make drawings — stop right now.

Don't know what a tag means? Use the Danbooru Wiki.

Do Not Use Illustrious XL

The official fine-tune Illustrious XL is bad. Use more consistent models like Hassaku XL.

Model Comparison (same prompt, seed, steps):

Prompt:

close up, 1boy, kanzaki hideri, holding green apple, smug, frown, licking, half-closed eyes, traditional media, watercolor (medium), pastel (medium), watercolor (medium), from side, looking at viewer, forehead, green stile uniform, halftone background, highres, masterpiece

Negative:

lowres, worst quality, multiple views, text, watermark, signature, username, wallpaper, dutch angle, vanishing point, comic, anime screenshot, game cg, sketch

  • Illustrious XL, 12 steps:

  • Hassaku XL, 12 steps:

  • Illustrious XL, 60 steps:

V-prediction

If you're using a v-prediction model, note that A1111 doesn't support it. Use the eps/epsilon version instead.

Tag Order (affects output)

person count, character name, rating, general tags, artist, score, year modifier

Example:

1boy, kinoshita hideyoshi, general, building, itomugi-kun, masterpiece, newest

Breakdown:

  1. person count = 1boy

  2. character name = kinoshita hideyoshi

  3. rating = general

  4. general = building

  5. artist = itomugi-kun

  6. score = masterpiece

  7. year = newest

Character, rating, artist are optional. But avoid changing the order.

Prompt Syntax

Correct Format:

  • All lowercase: masterpiece, not Masterpiece

  • Comma-separated: sleeveless, striped shirt, collared shirt

  • Name order: kinoshita hideyoshi, not the reverse

  • Underscores work: open_mouth = open mouth (except in rare cases like +_+)

  • Escape symbols in A1111: \:p, \:)

Token Limit

SDXL handles max 75 tokens. Longer prompts are split and may reduce quality. For complex scenes, use inpainting.

In inpainting, prompt only for the edited region: e.g., eye color, expression, etc.

Are Commas Required?

Yes. The model was trained using commas. Without them, tags may be misinterpreted.

Incorrect: sleeveless striped collared shirt
Correct: sleeveless, striped shirt, collared shirt

Rating Tags

Danbooru changed its system in 2022:

  • general = SFW for all ages

  • sensitive = soft fanservice

  • questionable = mildly NSFW

  • explicit = NSFW / adult only

Note: using general filters out ~99% of content due to it being introduced late.

Resolution Tags

  • lowres < 500x500 → worse

  • highres ≥ 1600×1200

  • absurdres ≥ 3200×2400

  • incredibly absurdres > 10,000px

Conclusion: do not use them. Either harmful or pointless.

Negative Prompts

Avoid overloading with 30+ tags — it becomes unpredictable. Better to write more accurate positive prompts.

Reliable Negative Tags:

monochrome, greyscale, multiple views, text, watermark, signature, translation request, comic, 4koma, 2koma

Style Tags

Mediums:

traditional media, watercolor (medium), graphite_(medium), colored pencil (medium), millipen (medium), marker (medium), photo (medium)

Styles:

1980s (style), 2000s (style), retro artstyle, pc-98 (style), anime screenshot

Artists:

Find them via related_tag. Must have 100+ posts. Use weights like (traditional media:0.5)

Background & Border Tags

white background, halftone background, ornate frame, lace border, stripped background, argyle background

Camera & Composition

straight-on, from side, from above, from below, three-quarter view, isometric, symmetry, vanishing point, fisheye, full body, head out of frame, close-up

Poses

sitting, standing, jumping, kneeling, on back, on side, knee up, leg up, standing on one leg, arms up, arms behind head, arms behind back, hand on another's head, hand on own hip, thumbs up, clenched hand, head tilt

Effects

blurry foreground, blurry background, depth of field, glitch, bloom, spot color, chromatic aberration

Best Boy Tags

otoko no ko, toned, collarbone, flat chest, shark teeth, skin fang, groin, midriff, bare shoulders, fingerless gloves, very short hair, hair over one eye

Tags That Don't Work

Unsupported Tags:

8k, 4k, hdr, high quality, detailed, score_9 — not part of Danbooru, so usually ineffective.

Rare Tags:

Tags with <100 images on Danbooru often won't work.

Redesign Issue:

Example: bridget (guilty gear) = 90% of images are the new design. The old version barely exists. Solution: use LoRA.

Ambiguous Tags

Some tags like contortion, halo are vague or used inconsistently, leading to unpredictable output.

ARTICLE AUTHOR - wolf999 | I just optimized the information. If you want to see the full article, go to his profile.

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