Grim Darkness Illu Edition

• Notes: This one was a bit finicky. I recommend using Soph's Sinistrella Illu at .7 weight, preferably with fantasy/realistic tags and 'dark theme'. If you use a different model I recommend a low weight like .4 as it tends to be too noisy.

• Check out these websites for tags used in Illustrious and Pony (keep in mind they are NSFW but you can change the settings as necessary): https://e621.net/ (furry) https://danbooru.donmai.us/ https://gelbooru.com/

• Please click on the preview images to check out my recommended prompting style. The prompts contain keywords which you will use for this lora. In this case:

• Recommended Weight: 0.1 to 1

• Trigger words : gdv2-illu

• Sampler: Euler A (ancestral) / beta : 25 to 40 steps.

• CFG Scale: 5.5 to 7.

• Clip Skip: 2.

• FLAT ANIME STYLE: flat_colors, anime_coloring, anime_style

• 3D STYLE: render, realistic (negatives: cartoon, anime)

• REALISTIC: Realistic, photorealistic (negative: cartoon, anime) Negate 3D if you want it to be less shiny as well.

• Shiny Skin: The amount of people who tell me they don't like shiny skin! I like it a lot myself but to negate shiny skin literally put "shiny_skin" into negatives, also you can add "render" or "3D" to reduce shininess. :3

• Noisy Output: If your output is noisy and you see a lot of weirdness decrease the weight of the lora and/or switch to a different model. Sometimes you may have to go as low as .3 to get a lora to 'calm down', or even swap a to a different model that plays more nicely. If you find that you are getting strange body morphs, decrease your 'denoise' slowly, (usually starting at .35), also make sure you don't have more than one of things like 'stomach', 'navel', etc that confuses the model and causes overlapping strange anatomy. Also try negatives: "anatomical_nonsense".

Creator's Guide: Grim Darkness Style

Overview:
The "Grim Darkness" style blends gothic, post-apocalyptic, and infernal aesthetics with a focus on antiheroes, urban decay, and occult symbolism. It draws inspiration from sources like Warhammer 40k, Bloodborne, Diablo, and Dark Souls, but with a cinematic, character-driven twist. This style is often used in concept art, dark fantasy games, and heavy metal album illustrations.

Core Elements:

• Color Palette:

  • Dominated by black, slate grey, rust, blood red, desaturated blue, ash white.

  • Cyan or blue glow for magic/tattoo effects.

  • Occasional high-contrast red or orange lighting (e.g., fire, glowing runes).

• Lighting:

  • Harsh backlighting, under-lighting, or bioluminescent glow.

  • Moody shadows and limited ambient light.

  • Glows often appear around weapons, runes, magical effects, or eyes.

• Character Design:

  • Gothic or apocalyptic armor: straps, buckles, leather, spikes, metal studs.

  • Dark makeup, piercings, scars, and tribal/magic tattoos.

  • Weapons: oversized blades, jagged daggers, cursed relics, ritual staffs.

  • Hair is usually unkempt, short, or slicked back; undercuts common.

  • Female characters may have a mix of sensuality and savagery—corsets, claws, and dark accessories.

• Setting Elements:

  • Cities in ruin, broken cathedrals, abandoned gothic spires.

  • Hellish wastelands, foggy woods, industrial backstreets.

  • Gothic, medieval, or Lovecraftian architecture with grotesque detailing.

• Themes:

  • Decay, corruption, forbidden magic, blood rites, vengeance.

  • Tragedy, betrayal, war, survival, ancient curses.

  • Power at a price — visually conveyed by runes, cursed markings, or blood.

Visual Tags for Generation (AI Prompting):
1girl, 1boy, dark_fantasy, tattoos, black_leather, armor, dark_magic, glowing_eyes, chains, skulls, horns, spikes, gothic_architecture, night, cursed_weapon, post_apocalyptic, blood, blue_glow, glowing_runes, underlighting, cinematic_lighting, heavy_shadow, evil_smile, battle_damage, ruins, smoke, magic_circle

Best Use Cases:

• Villain-focused stories (dark antiheroes, corrupted royalty, rogue witches)

• Cinematic splash art

• Character-driven card/RPG illustrations

• Horror fantasy book covers

• Game loading screens or grim faction introductions

Style Balance:
This style works best when beauty and rot are layered together—e.g., an elegant assassin in an apocalyptic hellscape, or a demon queen with regal poise and bone armor. Overdoing gore can tilt the tone toward horror instead of dark fantasy, so emphasize narrative and mood.

Beneath a sky that bleeds its ancient ash,
The sun—a ghostly orb, a memory dim—
The world is fettered by a silent lash,
Where shadows rise, and hope is worn and slim.

A castle looms with spires of jagged bone,
Its halls alive with whispers, hoarse and deep,
A throne where horrors crown themselves alone,
Their laughter curdling through eternal sleep.

The plague-ward masks of faceless hunters roam,
With lanterns flickering through churning mist,
Their blades bite deep, though death will never come—
This land is cursed; no soul can still exist.

The eldritch moon betrays the monstrous tide,
Tentacular and writhing in decay,
The saints once prayed, but even gods have died,
Their bones consumed by creatures born of clay.

Yet in the muck, defiance softly burns,
A figure clad in mail, with bloodied hands,
They carve through horrors, knowing naught returns,
But still they rise against the cursed lands.

The grim and dark shall crush, but not destroy—
For in despair, there still remains a spark,
A fleeting glimpse, a fractured, trembling joy,
To light the void, and pierce eternal dark.