Palette Knife Painting
AI Prompt Inspiration
Learn keywords to create textured palette knife paintings in Firefly and Midjourney.
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with marbling”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair that mixes paint directly on the canvas”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street using circular strokes ”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow, thick impasto effect”
~Built in Midjourney
Midjourney & Firefly Tested Keywords
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How It Works
I’ve select some base prompts of common pallet painting subjects. Then I’ll apply each keyword to the base prompt so you can see how the keyword changes the resulting images.
See below how the base prompts look without any extra keywords.
Crashing Wave
A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves
Flowers in Hair
A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair
Meadow Flowers
A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow
Umbrella City Street
A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street
Quick Links
Descriptors
Techniques
Artists
Palette Knife Painting Description Prompts
These keywords are commonly used to describe pallet knife paintings so they make great AI prompts.
AI learn by looking at how people describe an image and connecting that with how the image looks. So these keywords are a pretty natural fit to prompt engineering.
Marbling
Odd Color Combinations
Fragmented Depth
Paint Mixes
Chalky Effect
Marbling
This was my favourite prompt to come out of my research! That’s why I’ve put it first!
This keyword creates images far different and more interesting than any other keyword I tried. While many may imagine a palette knife painting with thick impasto, and dabbed on paint, many forget you can use the tools to create a fascinating marbling effect!
And the image generators rise to the challenge creating beautiful, abstract paintings.
Firefly Effects: Art, Painting, Palette Knife, Marble
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with marbling”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair with marbling”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with marbling”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair with marbling”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street with marbling”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow with marbling”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street with marbling”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow with marbling”
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with marbling”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair with marbling “
~Built in Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with marbling”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair with marbling”
~Built in Firefly
Odd Color Combinations
This prompt’s effect on image generators kind of speaks for itself: it creates artwork with odd color combinations.
These weird, yet wonderful palette make the artwork more engaging, and sets itself apart from more generic commercial work.
Firefly Effects: Art, Painting, Palette Knife
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with odd color combinations”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “An illustrative collage of a cowboy in the style of pop art “
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with odd color combinations”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “An illustrative collage of a cowboy in the style of pop art”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street with odd color combinations”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow with odd color combinations”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street with odd color combinations”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow with odd color combinations”
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with odd color combinations”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair with odd color combinations”
~Built in Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with odd color combinations”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair with odd color combinations “
~Built in Firefly
Fragmented Depth
The fragmented depth prompt puts emphasis on the layering of different colors of paint. This way, the artwork looks like it has so much more depth as the colors shine through the background.
Firefly Effects: Art, Painting, Palette Knife
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with fragmented depth”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “An illustrative collage of a cowboy in the style of pop art “
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with fragmented depth”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “An illustrative collage of a cowboy in the style of pop art”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street with fragmented depth”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow with fragmented depth“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street with fragmented depth”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow with fragmented depth“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with fragmented depth”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair with fragmented depth”
~Built in Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with fragmented depth”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair with fragmented depth”
~Built in Firefly
Mixes Paint Directly on the Canvas
Traditionally, palette knives were created to help Artis mix paints on their pallet board. Some artists in the 14th century took this to a new level and decided to mix the paints directly on the canvas!
This prompt gives the artwork more depth, as the partially visible colors shine through the upper layers making the paintings more interesting to dissect.
Firefly Effects: Art, Painting, Palette Knife
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves that mixes paint directly on the canvas”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair that mixes paint directly on the canvas”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves that mixes paint directly on the canvas”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair that mixes paint directly on the canvas”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street that mixes paint directly on the canvas”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow that mixes paint directly on the canvas”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street that mixes paint directly on the canvas”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow that mixes paint directly on the canvas”
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves that mixes paint directly on the canvas”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair that mixes paint directly on the canvas”
~Built in Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves that mixes paint directly on the canvas”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair that mixes paint directly on the canvas”
~Built in Firefly
Chalky Effect
Palette Knives are also often used to give a painting a chalky, dusty effect.
AI run wild with this prompt changing the color pallet and its subject to have a chalk-like texture and feel.
Firefly Effects: Art, Painting, Palette Knife
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with a chalky effect”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair with a chalky effect“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with a chalky effect“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair with a chalky effect“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street with a chalky effect“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow with a chalky effect“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street with a chalky effect“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow with a chalky effect“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with a chalky effect“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair with a chalky effect“
~Built in Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves with a chalky effect“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair with a chalky effect“
~Built in Firefly
Sponsored
Palette Knife Painting Technique Prompts
As with brushes, you can use different palette knife techniques to create art with various visual effects. You can use these technique names to simulate these effects in your AI images.
Impasto
Circular Strokes
Dabbed
Succumbing
Impasto
Impasto is an art technique where you purposefully glob paint on the canvas to give your art a more textured 3D look. While you can do it with brushes, it is more commonly used with palette knifes.
This prompt keyword ensures your generated images have more paint ridges, and a more 3-dimensional feel often associated with pallet knife paintings.
Firefly Effects: Art, Painting, Palette Knife
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves, thick impasto effect“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair, thick impasto effect“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves, thick impasto effect“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair, thick impasto effect“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street, thick impasto effect“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow, thick impasto effect“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street, thick impasto effect“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow, thick impasto effect“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves, thick impasto effect“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair, thick impasto effect“
~Built in Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves, thick impasto effect“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair, thick impasto effect“
~Built in Firefly
Circular Strokes
AI’s really key on the “circular” word in this prompt, often generating art on circular canvases.
More interestingly, it generates the subject out of circular shapes. This makes the work look more geometrical and has notes of Vincent Van Gogh.
Firefly Effects: Art, Painting, Palette Knife
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves using circular strokes“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair using circular strokes“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves using circular strokes“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair using circular strokes“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street using circular strokes“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow using circular strokes“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street using circular strokes“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow using circular strokes“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves using circular strokes“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair using circular strokes“
~Built in Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves using circular strokes“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair using circular strokes“
~Built in Firefly
Dabbing
This one is similar to the impasto effect prompt, it generates images with thick globs of paint as if the artist just dapped it on the canvas.
Firefly Effects: Art, Painting, Palette Knife
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A dabbed pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A dabbed pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A dabbed pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A dabbed pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A dabbed pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A dabbed pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A dabbed pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A dabbed pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “A dabbed pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A dabbed pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair“
~Built in Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A dabbed pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A dabbed pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair“
~Built in Firefly
Succumbing
Scumbing is an art technique where an artist lightly scraps light paint over a dark background so that the darker colour shines through the lighter one. This gives the painting more depth.
Firefly Effects: Art, Painting, Palette Knife
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves, succumbing“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair, scumbling“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves, succumbing“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair, scumbling“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street, scumbling“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow, scumbling“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street, scumbling“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife landscape painting of wildflowers in a meadow, scumbling“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves, succumbing“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair, scumbling“
~Built in Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves, succumbing“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair, scumbling“
~Built in Firefly
Sponsored
Pallet Knife Artist Prompts
Most of the artists on this list don’t create purely palette knife paintings but are known to use pallet knives in at least a portion of their work.
It’s important to call out here, that not all of these artists have consented for their work to be used in Midjourny. If you are going to use their name in your prompt, try to steal like an artist. Meaning, use their work as inspiration, don’t just replicate it.
*Artist Names Don’t Work in Firefly
Adobe doesn’t train its AI on artist names so Firefly images have been removed from this section.
Leonid Afremov
Vincent van Gogh
Camille Pissarro
Rembrandt
Francisco Goya
Leonid Afremov
1955-2019 Mexico–Israel
Bio
Afremov is a palette knife artist famous for his bright and colourful landscapes, cityscapes, flowers, and portraits. He was a pioneer at using the internet to sell his paintings, hardly ever holding a gallery to sell his art.
Effect on Midjourney
- Use his distinctive red, yellow, and blue color palette
- Dabbed skylines
- Unique layering of colors
Original Works
Midjourny Images
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves By Leonid Afremov“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair by Leonid Afremov“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street by Leonid Afremov“
~Built in Midjourney
Vincent van Gogh
1583-1890 Netherlands
Bio
Although he wasn’t well known during his lifetime, Van Gogh is arguably one of the most famous artists throughout history. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t know him and just Starry Nights painting.
Van Gogh’s bright palettes and distinctive geometric brushwork have captured the attention of generations. Although Vincent is famous for his brushwork, he incorporated pallet knives to create his distinctive impasto style.
Effect on Midjourney
- Midjourney tries to mimic the circular strokes famous in Starry Nights
- Blues and bright yellows are pulled from Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings
- Thicker application of paint
Original Works
Midjourny Images
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves By Vincent van Gogh“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair by Vincent van Gogh“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street by Vincent van Gogh“
~Built in Midjourney
Camille Pissarro
1830-1903 France
Bio
Pissarro was a Danish-French impressionist and neo-impressionist painter. He helped create the impressionist group in France the late 1800’s that helped many great artists grow.
Rather than staying entrenched in the impressionist ways, Pissarro was happy to join the neo-impressionist movement.
Effect on Midjourney
- Similar light blue pallet
- French landscapes even though they are not prompted for
Original Works
Midjourny Images
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves by Camille Pissarro“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair by Camille Pissarro“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street by Camille Pissarro“
~Built in Midjourney
Rembrandt
1830-1903 France
Bio
Rembrandt is know as one of the greatest artists throughout history. His style is so distinct, and his paintings are so thought out, he even has a style of lighting named after him.
He, like many others on this list, primarily used a brush to paint, but was also know to use palette knives in his work.
Effect on Midjourney
- Uses Rembrandt style lighting
- Thick oil paint
- Dark compositions
Original Works
Midjourny Images
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves By Rembrandt“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair by Rembrandt“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street by Rembrandt“
~Built in Midjourney
Francisco Goya
1746-1827 Spain
Bio
Francisco Goya was an influential Spanish painter. Although he was born to a middle-class painter, he climbed the ranks to eventually become the Prime Court Painter, the highest rank a painter could achieve at the time.
Goya started by painting royal portraits, but as he became sicker with an unknown disease, he lost his hearing. Because of this his paintings became progressively darker as did his social and political outlook.
Effect on Midjourney
- Dark color pallets
- Oil paint
Original Works
Midjourny Images
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of frothy sea waves by Francisco Goya“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of A portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair by Francisco Goya“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “A pallet knife painting of a woman with an umbrella walking down the city street by Francisco Goya“
~Built in Midjourney
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