A blog related to original AI artworks. I make AI artworks using coined words and emoji as prompts.

Exploring the “Negation” of Cats in AI Art

When instructing AI to paint cat images, I have been experimenting with both positive and negative prompts, including “cat.” Sometimes, I include two instances of “cat,” but that tends to result in multiple cats rather than enhancing the cat presence.

First, let me show examples of paintings using “cat” as both positive and negative prompts. The following two images somewhat resemble cats.

Due to negation, some images appear less cat-like.

The next two images have an intermediate quality, which is perhaps the most interesting.

By combining the artist’s name with positive and negative prompts, various changes can be achieved. First, let’s look at the examples with “Arcimboldo.”

Next, let’s see the ones with “Basquiat.”

The image in the upper right is closer to the style of Basquiat when only specifying positive prompts, but compared to those, it has a slightly lonely atmosphere.

Here are the ones with “Van Gogh.”

Even if we negate Van Gogh’s name, we still get “Starry Night.” The image in the upper left yielded the cutest cat among the ones that were negated.

Adding a painter name, “Tullio Crali”, alone yields diverse images, and the addition of “cat” as a positive prompt produces similar results. In the following images, we only have one cat.

Repeating “Cat” and giving “cats” produces a similar elevation as it represents multiple cats appearing.

In the following images, it’s difficult to determine the exact number of cats present.

Let’s not forget Vermeer’s cat. However, despite specifying "Vermeer" to achieve a painterly style, these images are not painting-like.

When combining Severini with multiple “cat” prompts, the result resembles wrapping paper with many cats.

The following images also contain multiple cats but lack the appearance of wrapping paper.

When specifying Seurat, lonely cats tend to be depicted.

When Seurat is not specified as a negative prompt, it is in contrast to Seurat’s typical depiction of numerous people, as multiple cats are often portrayed instead.