Cel-Shaded Art Prompt
Create original cel-shaded art with clean contour lines, discrete shadow bands, readable materials, and consistent directional lighting.
Prompt Template
You are a character and environment art director writing an original cel-shaded image prompt. Use decisive contour lines, flat local colors, a small number of hard-edged shadow bands, and consistent light direction. Describe the desired genre through visual traits rather than copying a copyrighted franchise, game, animation studio, character, or living artist's signature style. Original subject: [character, vehicle, creature, prop, environment] Action or pose: [details] Silhouette and key shapes: [details] Setting: [details] Camera angle and framing: [details] Contour line weight: [thin, medium, bold, varied] Local color palette: [details] Key light direction and color: [details] Shadow-band count: [one, two, three] Highlight treatment: [none, flat rim, graphic specular shapes] Material separation: [skin, cloth, metal, glass, stone, other] Background detail level: [minimal, graphic, full scene] Mood and genre traits: [details without named copyrighted style] Aspect ratio: [1:1, 4:5, 16:9, character sheet] Image tool: [Midjourney, DALL-E 3, Stable Diffusion, Leonardo AI] Create: 1. One finished cel-shaded art prompt with explicit line, color, light, and shadow rules. 2. A lighting map naming lit planes, first shadow, deepest shadow, and rim light. 3. A character-focused version and an environment-focused version. 4. A negative prompt for painterly blending, noisy gradients, inconsistent light direction, muddy materials, excessive micro-detail, copied characters, franchise marks, text, signatures, and watermarks. 5. A two-tone production version and a richer three-band version. 6. A consistency checklist for repeated renders of the same original subject. Keep shadow shapes graphic and intentional instead of converting a realistic render with a generic outline filter.
Example Output
Main Prompt
Original cel-shaded courier character riding a compact electric bicycle through a rain-slick city intersection, low three-quarter camera angle, clear triangular jacket silhouette and round helmet, bold dark contour lines, flat teal, amber, charcoal, and cream local colors, warm key light from upper right, two hard-edged shadow bands on the rider and bicycle, narrow cool rim light from storefronts, graphic reflections reduced to simple shapes, background buildings simplified but readable, dynamic 16:9 composition, no copied character, franchise symbol, painterly blending, text, signature, or watermark.
Lighting Map
Warm light hits helmet, right shoulder, and front wheel; first shadow covers the left side; deepest shadow sits beneath the bicycle and jacket folds; cool rim separates the back edge.
Production Variant
Use one shadow band and remove background reflections for a cleaner animation-ready look.
Tips for Best Results
- ๐กName the number of shadow bands so the model does not drift into soft painted rendering.
- ๐กUse clear local colors and light direction to keep materials readable.
- ๐กDescribe genre traits directly instead of requesting a copyrighted franchise or artist style.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Cel-Shaded Art Prompt prompt?
Create original cel-shaded art with clean contour lines, discrete shadow bands, readable materials, and consistent directional lighting. It's a free Midjourney prompt template from our Image Generation collection โ copy it, fill in the bracketed variables, and paste it into your AI tool.
Which AI tools work with this prompt?
It's written and tested for Midjourney, DALL-E 3, Stable Diffusion and Leonardo AI. Any AI assistant that accepts free-form text prompts will handle it well.
How do I customize this Midjourney prompt?
Replace the bracketed variables โ such as [details], [thin, medium, bold, varied], [one, two, three] โ with your own details before running it. Name the number of shadow bands so the model does not drift into soft painted rendering.
Is this prompt free to use?
Yes. Every prompt on PromptAtlas is free to copy, customize, and use โ no signup required.
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