Part 2: Basic Tips

Use a prompt generator

Egg threw together this script for me in Python, which you can run even if you've never used code before. It's very simple and writes you a basic prompt that combines a shape (lines, circles, rectangles, or triangles) with a random series of effects. Every time you hit the green "run" button, it'll give you another combination.

Here's an example of a prompt that I generated with no further edits, which Claude turned into the stunning piece Blueprint for a State of Mind (prompts, generator):

"Please create some incredible generative art. Give me controls for the key parameters. Make sure I have a control for the overall speed or timestep. The controls should disappear when the mouse hasn't moved in a few seconds. Use a subtle and restrained colour palette. Start with some lines. Then apply triangle waves to the x dimension. Then apply some distortion to the y dimension."

You can modify the prompt generator by putting new information into the "starters" list, such as more shapes and equations, or any other text that you want to include. Egg invited me to tweak it to my liking, and I extend that same invitation to you. That is how you make this artform your own: by combining bits and pieces of existing tools with your own ideas.

Keep in mind that this prompt generator already contains an enormous range of prompts that you can create if you use it as is. There are 4 * 8 * 8 = 256 distinct sequences of a starting shape plus two effects, such as circles + perlin noise + distortion. And, when you add your own tweaks, it really unlocks the possibilities that you can create.

I like to "write over"' the prompts after I’ve generated them and give them my own flair. Sometimes I'll add something convoluted like "have a second and third fractal animation running through the first one," just to see what Claude will do, or finish my instructions with "etc etc etc" to gesture to Claude that these are merely starting points and that I'd like it to do something imaginative and unexpected.