Create Digital Art with AI: Styles, Prompts, and Best Practices

AI art generators have opened up digital art creation to everyone — not just those who spent years learning to draw. Whether you want anime-style illustrations, oil painting reproductions, watercolor landscapes, or pixel art characters, the right combination of tool and prompt can produce results that genuinely impress.

This guide covers the major digital art styles you can create with AI, the specific prompt techniques for each, post-processing tips, and important details about commercial use rights.

Choosing Your AI Art Tool

Different tools have different artistic strengths:

For most digital art styles, BestPNG's generator provides a reliable starting point with clean output and no watermarks.

Art Style Guide with Prompts

Anime and Manga

Anime is one of the most popular AI art styles. The key is using specific anime-related keywords and referencing the visual conventions of Japanese animation.

Key prompt terms:

• anime style, manga style, anime illustration
• cel shading, flat color, vibrant colors
• Studio Ghibli style, shonen style, shoujo style
• detailed anime eyes, dynamic pose

Example prompt:

An anime girl with long silver hair and blue eyes, wearing a school uniform, standing on a rooftop at sunset, cherry blossom petals floating in the wind, anime style, vibrant colors, detailed, Studio Ghibli inspired

Tips for anime:

• Specify eye color and hair style — these define anime characters
• Mention specific sub-styles (shonen for action, shoujo for romance, chibi for cute)
• "Cel shading" produces the classic flat-color anime look
• Adding "dynamic pose" or "action scene" creates more energetic compositions

Oil Painting

AI can replicate the rich texture and depth of traditional oil paintings with remarkable accuracy.

Key prompt terms:

• oil painting, oil on canvas
• visible brushstrokes, impasto technique
• rich color palette, warm tones
• classical painting, Baroque style, Impressionist
• chiaroscuro lighting

Example prompt:

A still life of autumn fruits and copper vessels on a dark wooden table, oil painting, visible brushstrokes, warm candlelight, rich shadows, classical Dutch Golden Age style, impasto technique

Tips for oil painting:

• Reference specific art movements (Impressionism, Baroque, Renaissance) for distinct looks
• "Impasto" creates thick, textured brushstrokes
• "Chiaroscuro" produces dramatic light-and-shadow contrast
• Dark backgrounds with warm light subjects evoke classical painting

Watercolor

Watercolor style creates soft, flowing, translucent images with a handmade feel.

Key prompt terms:

• watercolor painting, watercolor illustration
• soft washes, wet-on-wet technique
• translucent, bleeding colors
• paper texture, white space
• loose brushwork, delicate

Example prompt:

A quaint European village street with flower boxes and cobblestones, watercolor painting, soft washes, delicate line work, muted pastel colors, paper texture visible, loose brushwork

Tips for watercolor:

• Mention "white space" or "negative space" — real watercolors leave areas of paper unpainted
• "Wet-on-wet" creates the characteristic bleeding edges
• Pastel and muted color palettes feel more authentic than saturated ones
• Light subjects on white backgrounds work best

Pixel Art

Pixel art creates retro, game-inspired visuals with deliberately limited resolution and color palettes.

Key prompt terms:

• pixel art, 16-bit, 8-bit
• retro game style, sprite
• limited color palette
• dithering, isometric
• SNES style, Game Boy style

Example prompt:

A pixel art medieval castle on a hilltop, 16-bit SNES style, limited color palette, green hills and blue sky, retro game background, detailed pixel work, isometric view

Tips for pixel art:

• Specify bit-depth (8-bit for simpler, 16-bit for more detailed)
• "Isometric" view is classic for game asset-style art
• Mention specific retro console styles for authentic feels
• Simple compositions with clear subjects work best

Digital Painting / Concept Art

This is the polished, professional style used in game and film production.

Key prompt terms:

• digital painting, concept art
• highly detailed, matte painting
• cinematic, epic scale
• dramatic lighting
• character design, environment design

Example prompt:

A massive ancient library carved into a mountainside, endless bookshelves visible through arched windows, warm torchlight, concept art, digital painting, epic scale, highly detailed, cinematic atmosphere

Tips for concept art:

• "Matte painting" creates sweeping, cinematic landscapes
• "Character design" or "character sheet" for character-focused pieces
• "Environment design" signals detailed world-building
• Dramatic lighting and epic scale elevate the results

Minimalist and Flat Illustration

Clean, modern illustrations perfect for blogs, presentations, and UI design.

Key prompt terms:

• flat illustration, vector style
• minimalist, clean lines
• geometric, modern design
• limited color palette, pastel colors
• editorial illustration

Example prompt:

A flat illustration of a person working at a desk with a laptop and coffee, minimalist style, clean lines, pastel color palette, geometric shapes, modern editorial illustration, white background

Tips for flat illustration:

• Keep compositions simple — flat illustration is about clarity
• Mention "white background" or "clean background" for usable assets
• Pastel or limited color palettes look more professional
• "Editorial illustration" produces magazine-style artwork

Combining Styles

One of the most creative uses of AI art is combining styles that wouldn't normally mix:

• Anime + watercolor: anime character, watercolor painting style, soft washes
• Pixel art + isometric + sci-fi: isometric pixel art space station, 16-bit, retro sci-fi
• Oil painting + surrealism: surreal landscape with floating islands, oil painting, Dali-inspired
• Flat illustration + dark theme: flat illustration of a haunted house, dark color palette, minimal, geometric

Experiment with unexpected combinations — the results are often the most interesting.

Post-Processing Your AI Art

After generating your art, you can refine it further:

1. Remove the background — get a clean transparent PNG with BestPNG's background remover, perfect for stickers, overlays, or compositing
2. Resize without quality loss — use BestPNG's resize tool for specific dimensions
3. Convert formats — PNG for quality, JPG for smaller files
4. Add text overlays — use BestPNG's text tool for titles, captions, or watermarks
5. Adjust and crop — frame your art exactly how you want it

Commercial Use: What You Need to Know

This varies by platform:

Important considerations:

• Don't generate art that closely imitates a living artist's recognizable style
• Avoid generating images of real, identifiable people without consent
• Some jurisdictions have evolving regulations around AI art — stay informed
• If selling AI art, transparency about its AI-generated nature builds trust

Sharing and Community

AI art has a vibrant community. Places to share your work and find inspiration:

• Reddit — r/aiArt, r/StableDiffusion, r/midjourney
• DeviantArt — has an active AI art section
• Twitter/X — #AIArt, #AIGenerated
• Discord — most AI tools have active community servers
• ArtStation — professional portfolio platform (has AI art policies to follow)

Sharing your prompts alongside your art helps others learn and builds community goodwill.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which AI tool is best for anime-style art? For quick, high-quality anime art, BestPNG and Midjourney both produce excellent results. Stable Diffusion with anime-specific models (like Anything V5 or Niji) offers the most control if you're willing to set it up locally.

Can AI art be sold as prints or merchandise? Yes, on most platforms — provided you have a commercial license (usually a paid plan). Check the specific terms of the tool you used. Many artists successfully sell AI-generated prints, phone cases, and other merchandise.

Is AI art "real" art? This is a philosophical debate without a single answer. What's clear is that AI art requires creative intent, prompt crafting skill, curation, and often post-processing. The tool is new, but the creative process is real.

How do I make AI art look less "AI-generated"? Use specific style references instead of generic terms. Add imperfections like "slight texture variation" or "hand-drawn feel." Post-process with slight adjustments. Avoid over-polished, symmetrical compositions that scream "AI."

Can I create a consistent character across multiple images? This is challenging with most tools. Stable Diffusion with IP-Adapter or character LoRAs offers the best consistency. For other tools, use extremely detailed character descriptions and keep them identical across prompts.

Conclusion

AI art generation puts an incredible range of digital art styles at your fingertips. From anime to oil paintings, pixel art to concept art, the key is learning which prompt keywords trigger which visual effects — and that knowledge comes from experimentation.

Start by picking one style from this guide, copy the example prompt, and try it on BestPNG's AI generator. Then modify it, mix styles, and make something uniquely yours.

Create AI digital art on BestPNG →