What is AI Art? How to Create AI Art For Free (2024)

AI Art has taken the world by storm! You might’ve noticed the internet overflowing with AI paintings and thousands of illustrations. Sometimes they’re so good that you can’t even tell them apart from real art!

Let’s admit – most of us are not much of an artist! We usually rely on online platforms, designers, and artists to get our images designed. But what if you need an artistic drawing and have no time or resources to hire a designer?

Well, this is where AI art generators will help you out. With AI Art Generation tools, you can easily create a digital piece of art for free, and that too within minutes! Wondering how? Well, this is our topic for today!

In this blog post, we will dive deeper into the world of AI-generated art and images. We will begin by discussing what is AI Art and how is it created. Then, we will discuss some significant benefits of AI artwork and how to supply detailed prompts for accurate image generation.

Finally, I will share some of my favorite free AI art generators and also show you how to create AI art for free. This article is going to be a complete guide and tutorial around AI art.

So, are you ready to design some unique and fascinating images with me? With no more delay, let’s dive right in!

What is AI Art?

AI art basically refers to images, music, or any kind of creative digital assets generated by using artificial intelligence algorithms.

What is AI ART

When it comes to AI images, they can be digital drawings, realistic images, illustrations, paintings, and more.

Similar to AI Writing, you’ll find a range of AI Art Generation tools on the Internet. We’ve discussed the popular ones in our list below. But first, let’s understand how AI artwork is created.

How Does an AI Art Generator Work?

We’ve all seen unique images and illustrations designed by AI art generators. But have you considered how these images are actually designed? What’s the working mechanism behind it all?

The process of AI art generation involves multiple steps. Let’s look at them below.

Step 1: Selecting a Dataset

To begin with, a dataset of images and artworks is selected that will be provided to our AI model. This will help it learn and equip itself with the styles, patterns, and nuances of different kinds of art.

Step 2: Training the AI model

Then, the AI learning model is exposed to an extensive amount of training data. This data comprises images, paintings, photographs, and all kinds of art already created by real artists.

The AI model learns this data and identifies different patterns, styles, color schemes, and art techniques repeated in the thousands of images it is subjected to.

Step 3: Providing a Text-Based Prompt

In the next step, it is supplied with a text-based prompt that it analyzes and generates relevant images according to its training data.

Step 4: Refining the Output

Usually, the generated images are not quite refined, which is why they are subjected to some additional AI algorithm that makes them more polished and aesthetic.

OpenAI’s Dall.E 2, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney are some of the most popular deep learning models designed to generate AI art.

Dall-E has been trained on over 12 billion parameters to effectively generate digital image outputs by analyzing text inputs!

https://youtu.be/T3Lr9tWfguY

Advantages of AI Art

The advent of AI Art has really changed the way we create and perceive images. It has a range of benefits for beginners as well as professionals. Let’s take a look at them below. 

Advantages of AI ART

It’s Fast and Efficient

Creating art in real life requires a lot of time, resources, and energy. AI art helps you minimize the time required to generate simple to complex art styles without using up any art supplies at all!

Endless Variations Possible

Real art took hours and hours of effort to create. Once it was finished, you could make no edits to it without bearing the risk of spoiling it. But AI art can create unlimited variations of a particular image in different styles!

Widens Imagination and Creativity

If you’re an artist struggling with ideas, AI art generators could be a goldmine of content for you!

You can experiment with different prompts and color palettes to find some inspiration and creative ideas before creating your next masterpiece!

Constantly Evolving

The field of artificial intelligence is constantly evolving. This means it will only keep learning more art styles and getting better and more refined with time. It is somewhat of a challenge for human artists to stay updated with all the latest advancements.

Helps Explore New Styles

There are hundreds of different styles of art and being skilled at each one is impossible for a human artist! This is where AI art can be beneficial.

It can help you explore and experiment with different styles, textures, colors, and patterns, and even combine multiple styles together to produce unique art.

The best part is, you don’t require any technical skills to get started with generating AI art. And if you want to mimic the art styles of unmatched artists like Vincent Van Gogh or Leonardo Da Vinci, AI art generators can do that as well!

AI Art is Affordable

Where hiring professional artists can be a blow to your wallet, AI art generators are comparatively inexpensive. Some art generators are even available free of cost. (We’ll be discussing them below!)

Understanding Text Prompts

The entire process of generating AI art revolves around prompts. Prompts are a bunch of text descriptions and keywords provided as inputs to the AI model for generating AI art and images.

For instance, if I type in the query “Panda on Mars eating noodles”, it would be a text prompt the AI uses to generate relevant images. Ultimately, the final image is only as good as the inputs supplied to it.

4 Best Free AI Art Generators

If you simply wish to explore and experiment with AI images, there are many AI art generators available on the Internet. After thorough testing and research, I have listed 4 of my favorite free AI art tools below. Let’s check them out!

1. Midjourney

This is a renowned AI art generator available on the Internet. In order to use Midjourney, you need to join their Beta version on Discord. For that, you’ll need to create your free Discord account and join the Midjourney server.

Joining newbie rooms on Midjourney Discord server

Once you join their server, you can join their ‘Newbies’ Rooms and specify your input prompts in the text field. All you have to do is start by entering /imagine and it will let you enter your prompt. 

Imaging Prompt in Midjourney

Once you hit enter, your AI image will be generated within 60 seconds. With the free version, you can create 25 images only. Though the free version is pretty limited, the image creation of Midjourney is exceptionally creative!

Midjourney AI Art results

It generates exceptionally beautiful artwork within seconds. Once the art is generated, you get options to upscale it or generate variations. 

Additional options in Midjourney

However, the impressive option is that it also offers additional options for upscaled images. For instance, you can request variations, light upscale redo, beta upscale redo, etc. 

2. Dall.E 2

Dall-E is an AI art generation model developed by OpenAI Labs. (This is the same company that developed ChatGPT as well!) 

Here, you simply need to log in through your Open AI account and enter your text prompt in the search bar on top. It will generate relevant images for you.

Dall E AI image

With the free version of Dall E, you get 15 AI credits every month. Once those are used up, you need to subscribe to their paid plan for generating more images.

3. Bing Image Creator

Bing Image Creator is Microsoft’s AI Art Generator that’s based on Dall-E AI technology. It makes art creation easy and accessible.

Microsoft Bing Image Creator

The best thing about this art generator app is that it lets you generate unlimited AI images for free! It displays 100 image credits per day on its home page. 

However, the implication is that the first 100 image results will be generated quickly. Once the 100 images are generated, the speed of outputs will be a little slower. Nonetheless, you will be able to produce unlimited images with it.

Bing Image Creator AI Art

For every query, it generates a grid of 4 images. You can click on any of your choices and download them to your device.

4. BlueWillow AI

BlueWillow is another popular AI Art Generator that makes use of Dall-E and Stable Diffusion models to generate images. It’s a mind-blowing alternative to Midjourney and lets you generate unlimited AI images.

Joining a BlueWillow Discord Room

All you need to do is join their Discord server and enter any channel, starting with the term ‘Rookie’. Then, type in /imagine in the search bar and enter your text prompt. It will generate 4 AI images for you.

Bluewillow Ai art results

An interesting thing to note here is that it also features various options under the images. If you wish to upscale any image and download it in full resolution, you can click on the U1, U2, U3, or U4 options as per the image you want.

And if you need the AI to generate similar or enhanced versions of a specific image, you can click on the V1, V2, V3, or V4 options according to your image position. Overall, this is a great tool. I loved the results that it produced.

 

Now, if you’re wondering how you can create AI images, here’s a step-by-step guide for you! 

Step By Step Guide To Creating AI Art

Here, I’m going to demonstrate the process of creating AI-generated images using the Bing AI Image Creator. Let’s get started!

Step 1: Sign Up on Microsoft Bing

Sign up on Microsoft Bing

First, you need to sign up for Microsoft Bing Image Creator with your email id. It’s completely free. 

Step 2: Enter Your Text Prompt

Next, you need to enter a prompt for generating your image. For instance, here are the results when I enter the prompt “A cat in school uniform waiting for the bus”. 

Supplying a prompt in Bing Image Creator

You can also supply advanced prompts to generate better outputs. For instance, these are the outputs when I edit the previous prompt to “A cat in school uniform waiting for the bus – photorealistic, cute, cinematic, 4k”.

Bing Ouput with Advanced Prompts

Some users even supply links to an existing image for the AI to generate more accurate results. 

You can experiment with generating images with different kinds of prompts. (Keep reading to know more about highly detailed AI image generation using advanced prompts.)

 

Step 3: Download the Image

Downloading Bing Images

Now, click on any of the images you like from the grid, and save, share, or download them on your device. This is how you can use Bing Image Creator to generate AI art.

Tips for Creating Stunning AI Art

Then why are your images so average and boring? Well, it depends on what you provide in the text prompts. The more detailed prompt you provide, the more captivating the image would be!

So, if you’re looking to create some advanced prompts, you can include the following factors in your inputs. This would improve the output image quality considerably.

Specify a Format

By default, the images produced by AI art generators are in the 1:1 (square) format. However, you can specify the format (portrait, landscape, or a certain aspect ratio) in your prompt.

Define Image Quality

Here, you can specify the quality of the image you want to generate. For this, you can employ keywords like high resolution, 4k, 8k, ultra-detailed, unreal engine, photorealistic, ultra-photoreal, 8k octane render, etc.

Set an Image Style

This refers to the type of images you want to generate. You can include keywords like digital art, cinematic, abstract art, pixel art, doodle, hyperrealistic, geometric, minimalistic, oil painting, watercolor painting, sketch, vector art, etc.

Choose an Artist

If you need to replicate the art style of a specific artist, you can type in the name of a painter or artist in the prompt. It will perform a style transfer and generate art paintings in the style of your chosen artist. 

By implementing these factors in your AI prompts, you can generate significantly improved and professional-looking designs.

Examples of AI-Generated Artwork

Wondering what kind of images you can generate with these AI Art tools? Check out some examples that we created using all the AI Art Generators mentioned above.

1. Panda Eating Noodles via Bing Image Creator

 Input Prompt: Panda on Mars eating noodles

Bing - Panda image

2. Blonde Female Image via Midjourney

Input Prompt: Female who is injured and has a ripped shirt, blood on her face, 30 years old, blonde short hair, strong, charismatic, cinematic atmosphere, photo-realistic, highly detailed, unreal engine, octane render

Midjourney - Blonde Female Image

3. Cute Girl Digital Art via Midjourney

Input Prompt: Digital art of blueberry bush in jungle, 3D render 4k, artstation, cute 8-year girl wearing white t-shirt and red long skirt, blue slipper, cute pixar character, Indian face, 3D render 4k, black hair plait, pixar quality–ar 3:2

Midjourney - Cute girl digital art

 

4. Car Driving into the Sunset via BlueWillow

Input Prompt: Red Cabrio car in long American style is driving into sunset over the hilly mountains on a straight road, symmetry, photograph 3:2

Bluewillow - Car driving into the sunset

All of these pieces of art can be generated within seconds with no artistic skills at all! You simply need to know how to write great prompts!

Conclusion

In this article, we looked at the Best AI Art Generators that you can use for free! I hope you found this article informative and got to learn something new. AI Writers and AI image generators are the latest trends in the digital world and they’re developing at a fast pace. 

You can try out the above tools for generating beautiful images for your blogging websites, professional or business sites, or other creative projects. They would also work really well for illustrated books, children’s story books, comics, game characters, brand logos, etc. 

Along with these art generators, you can also check out this curated list of free AI content generators that can help you churn out creative content and ideas for your blogs and other projects.

Anyway, have you used any other AI art generators before? How was your experience with them? Let me know in the comments section below. This is Kripesh signing off! Take care and keep learning. Cheers! 🙂

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Kripesh Adwani

Kripesh Adwani is a digital tool expert who buys, tests, and reviews SAAS tools for small businesses. Based on 10+ years of experience in tech he provides insightful reviews. His content is widely consumed, serving millions of users each month. Kripesh has also been featured in more than 50 publications, including The Economic Times, The Free Press Journal & Cloudways.

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