Illustrious XL is an advanced anime model optimized specifically for illustration and animation tasks. Illustrious works best with Danbooru tags.
New to Illustrious tags? The Illustrious Prompt Guide explains quality, artist and character tags and gives a negative prompt.
Here are a few suggestions from the Illustrious XL Official Release Page.
We do not recommend overusing critical composition tags such as 'close-up', 'upside-down', or 'cowboy shot', as they can be conflicting and lead to confusion, affecting model results.
We suggest using suitable composition tags like "upper body," "cowboy shot," "portrait," or "full body" depending on your use case.
The model supports quality tags such as: "worst quality," "bad quality," "average quality," "good quality," "best quality," and "masterpiece (quality)."
Recommended Steps: 20–28
Recommended CFG: 5–7.5
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Illustrious can create many anime characters and artist's styles. Check out this MonAI Artist Study using Animagine XL v3.1 for some artist style examples. The artist's styles are more well-defined in Illustrious. Many of these examples have artist's names at the end of the prompts.
 Prompt: 1girl, laughing, cute sweater, fuzzy sweater, pleated skirt, flared skirt, pink hair, ice skating, spinning on 1 foot, motion lines, on an icy pond, at dusk, starry sky, masterpiece, best quality, very aesthetic, (artpatient) Negative Prompt: lowres, ugly, fewer digits, extra digit, missing fingers, bad hands, blurry, (bad quality, worst quality:1.3), displeasing, bad anatomy Guidance Scale: 7.0 |
 Prompt: 1girl, bending forward, blush, plaid wool coat, pink curly hair, sparkly eyes, snowfall, winter forest background, masterpiece, best quality Negative Prompt: lowres, ugly, fewer digits, extra digit, missing fingers, bad hands, blurry, (bad quality, worst quality:1.3), displeasing, bad anatomy Guidance Scale: 6.8 |
 Prompt: 1kitten, on a wildflower hill, long whiskers, cat eyes, cute kitten behind wildflowers, cloudy sky, masterpiece, (keinesandayoooo), (wewe:1.2) Negative Prompt: lowres, ugly, fewer digits, extra digit, missing fingers, bad hands, blurry, (bad quality, worst quality:1.3), displeasing Guidance Scale: 6.5 |
_b_b3b8f.jpg) Prompt: (by mzet:1.2), by sincos, (by jiao_chang:1.2), beautiful, upper body shot, scenery, outdoors, detailed background, gradient_background, narrowed eyes, 1girl, short hair, blonde hair, skinny body, (mechanical parts:1.3), empty field, winter, snow, masterpiece, best quality, very aesthetic, Negative Prompt: lowres, ugly, fewer digits, extra digit, missing fingers, bad hands, blurry, (bad quality, worst quality:1.3), displeasing Guidance Scale: 7.0 |
.jpg) Prompt: 1girl, pink hair, twin drills, sleeveless dress, laughing, open mouth, from above, masterpiece, best quality, very aesthetic, (tobimura:1.3) Negative Prompt: lowres, ugly, fewer digits, extra digit, missing fingers, bad hands, blurry, (bad quality, worst quality:1.3), displeasing Guidance Scale: 7.5 |
 Prompt: 1girl, solo, blonde hair, short hair, tshirt, denim shorts, in the desert, sitting, hugging own legs, scenic background, masterpiece, best quality, (kurororo_rororo:1.3) Negative Prompt: lowres, (low quality, worst quality:1.3), bad anatomy, displeasing, ugly, fewer digit, extra digit, missing fingers, bad hands, blurry Guidance Scale: 6.8 |
 Prompt: 1girl, solo, smiling, halter blouse, ruffled skirt, braided hair, reaching for a butterfly, cowboy shot, on a hill, wildflowers, scenic, at dawn, masterpiece, best quality, (kisetsu:1.3) Negative Prompt: lowres, (low quality, worst quality:1.3), bad anatomy, displeasing, ugly, fewer digit, extra digit, missing fingers, bad hands, blurry Guidance Scale: 6.8 |
 Prompt: 1girl, looking to the side, laughing, cute sweater, fuzzy sweater, pleated skirt, flared skirt, dark hair, curly hair, ice skating, spinning on 1 foot, motion lines, on an icy pond, at dusk, starry sky, masterpiece, best quality, very aesthetic, (wewe) Negative Prompt: lowres, ugly, fewer digits, extra digit, missing fingers, bad hands, blurry, (bad quality, worst quality:1.3), displeasing, bad anatomy Guidance Scale: 7.0 |
 Prompt: 1girl, masterpiece, black background, colorful, dress, cosmic, ethereal, abstract, looking at viewer, floating, face focus, detailed eyes, solo, upper body portrait, naughty traditional art, lineart, THRD, BREAK An ethereal sketch using lineart techniques and wet on wet painting of a demoness, upper body, facing viewer, abstract, (fire:1.1), (charged:1.1), molten lava, lava splatters, fiery theme, detailed eyes, flames, fire hair, long hair, glossy skin, vinbrant hair, crying, crying fire, crying lava, abstract flames, surrealism, Negative Prompt: lowres, ugly, fewer digits, extra digit, missing fingers, bad hands, blurry, (bad quality, worst quality:1.3), displeasing Guidance Scale: 7.0 |
 Prompt: 1girl, solo, heart hands over chest, blush, blue blouse, pleated skirt, pink hair over one eye, beach background, masterpiece, best quality, (namori) Negative Prompt: lowres, (low quality, worst quality:1.3), bad anatomy, displeasing, ugly, fewer digit, extra digit, missing fingers, bad hands, blurry Guidance Scale: 6.9 |
 Prompt: 1girl, laughing, cute sweater, fuzzy sweater, pleated skirt, flared skirt, pink hair, ice skating, spinning on 1 foot, motion lines, on an icy pond, at dusk, starry sky, masterpiece, best quality, (tinnies) Negative Prompt: lowres, (low quality, worst quality:1.3), bad anatomy, displeasing, ugly, fewer digit, extra digit, missing fingers, bad hands, blurry Guidance Scale: 7.0 |
 Prompt: 1girl, pale pink hair, short hair, wavy hair, sleeveless blouse, sitting on a grassy hill, surrounded by wildflowers, close portrait, scenic background, masterpiece, best quality, (mochizuki_kei:1.2) Negative Prompt: bad anatomy, lowres, ugly, fewer digits, extra digit, missing fingers, bad hands, blurry, cropped, (worst quality, bad quality:1.3), very displeasing, signature, watermark Guidance Scale: 6.8 |
 Prompt: 1girl, solo, close up, rain coat, pink hair, short hair, wind, night, city, scenic background, wet, street, reflections, neon, looking at viewer, upper body, masterpiece, best quality, (amano_yoshitaka:1.2) Negative Prompt: lowres, (low quality, worst quality:1.3), bad anatomy, displeasing, ugly, fewer digits, extra digit, missing fingers, bad hands, blurry Guidance Scale: 6.8 |
 Prompt: 1girl, solo, heart hands over chest, blush, blue blouse, pleated skirt, pink hair over one eye, beach background, masterpiece, best quality, (tobimura) Negative Prompt: lowres, (low quality, worst quality:1.3), bad anatomy, displeasing, ugly, fewer digit, extra digit, missing fingers, bad hands, blurry Guidance Scale: 6.9 |
¶ Questions
¶ What is Illustrious XL?
Illustrious XL is an anime model optimized for illustration and animation. Popular anime models such as WAI-illustrious and Nova Anime are built on it, and it works best with Danbooru tags.
¶ What quality tags does Illustrious XL support?
Its official release page lists worst quality, bad quality, average quality, good quality, best quality and masterpiece. The MonAI Illustrious style includes MonAI's recommended quality prompts and negative prompts.
¶ What settings should I use for Illustrious XL?
The official release page recommends 20 to 28 steps and a guidance scale (CFG) of 5 to 7.5. The MonAI Illustrious style uses a guidance scale of 6.8 and 30 steps.
¶ How do I get an artist's style with Illustrious XL?
Add the artist's Danbooru tag, usually at the end of the prompt; many of the examples on this page end with an artist name. The Illustrious Prompt Guide explains how to weight artist tags and where to find them.
¶ Can I use Illustrious XL online for free?
Yes. MonAI runs Illustrious XL in your browser at app.monai.art, free to start, and the Try button at the top of this page opens it with the model selected.
Source: the MonAI wiki · Updated · First published