Ever since I started generating images with AI, I’ve been hooked on trying out different artistic styles. There’s just something amazing about how the right style can transform even the simplest prompt. It still surprises me how much the vibe can change. That’s exactly what keeps me hunting for new trending AI art styles that I can try out with Tengr.ai.
And now that Quantum 3.0 is here? It’s a whole different experience. Creating images in all these exciting styles has never been this easy and satisfying. The results are on another level, seriously stunning. And with so many trending AI art styles popping up across different platforms all the time, it’s a fun adventure to try them out.
So today I thought I’d share some of the top trending AI art styles I’ve come across lately. These are the ones that made me stop, stare, and immediately want to test them out myself.
Let’s Explore Together
If you’re anything like me, you love exploring the vast and endlessly creative universe of AI-generated art. From dreamy surrealism to gritty dystopias, there’s always something new to try. Tengr.ai is a great tool for that. Now, all you need is some inspiration and, of course, a dose of imagination.
This time, I’m here to share some of my favorite styles. Some of these styles are dark and moody, others are a little weird or dreamy, but all of them are worth experimenting with. Especially if you want to push your prompts further, into a more edgy direction.
Quick Tip: If you’re testing out styles, I highly recommend using the Default style in Quantum 3.0. That way, you’ll get the most accurate results, without any extra presets interfering with the unique characteristics of the style itself.
By the way, if you’re new here or just looking for more artistic inspiration, check out these earlier posts with similar topics:
These trending AI art styles aren’t just a lot of fun to explore, but they’re also a great way to push your prompts to bolder and more creative directions.
Note: Most of the images in this post were made with Tengr.ai’s Quantum Lite or Max, all in the Default style, except for a few where I used Horror or Fairytale. I wanted to keep the authentic look of each artistic style, without any presets.
1. Epic Fantasy Anime
A combination of Anime and Fantasy – honestly, what could be cooler? This style takes the iconic anime visuals and expressive characters we love and puts them into a fantasy world full of glowing swords, enchanted armors, floating islands, and more. If you’re someone who enjoys fantasy and storytelling in their AI art, mixed with some anime aesthetics, this style will seriously captivate your imagination.
Let me show you how amazing it is through a few examples:
“(Epic Fantasy Anime), a young warrior princess rides a luminous dragon over a sky filled with floating islands and flying dragons, cel-shaded magic aura, intense anime emotion, and emotional expression.“
“(Epic Fantasy Anime), a masked knight with a shattered blade walks across a battlefield of crystal shards, blood-red moon overhead, aura glowing through torn armor, ultra-stylized anime drama.”
“(Epic Fantasy Anime), a silver-haired mage with a flaming staff and flowing cape stands atop a ruined citadel as phoenix-shaped energy spirals around him, epic lighting, glowing spell glyphs.”
However, if you prefer your fantasy art with a darker, more painterly aesthetic, you’ll love the Arcane Illustrative Style:
2. Arcane Illustrative Style
If you’re captured by the visuals of Netflix’s Arcane series, you’ll instantly love this one. This style combines painterly textures, bold colors, and cinematic lighting to create these visually rich and emotionally compelling characters that almost feel like they’ve stepped out of a storybook. It just adds a touch of beautiful depth to your AI-generated art that makes it really captivating.
“(Arcane Illustrative Style), a mysterious orphaned thief crouching on a gargoyle above a bustling neon-lit marketplace, highly detailed cloak fluttering, eyes showing quiet determination, dramatic city ambiance, Arcane-style painterly depth.“
“(Arcane Illustrative Style), a mischievous street performer juggling luminous rune-etched orbs beneath a cracked streetlamp, face painted with glowing symbols, detailed painterly textures, playful yet gritty atmosphere, dynamic cinematic lighting.“
“A streetwise young alchemist with bright, determined eyes and paint-streaked cheeks holds a glowing vial atop a neon-lit rooftop, in (Arcane Illustrative Style), painterly textures, cinematic rim lighting, gritty and futuristic city backdrop.“
Next, let’s turn our attention to mysterious places and high-tech atmospheres filled with tension:
3. Tech-Noir Sci-Fi
If you’re into that moody, neon-lit futuristic vibe (think Blade Runner), you’re going to enjoy playing around with Tech Noir Sci-fi. It fuses classic detective noir aesthetics with neon-lit, futuristic, high-tech elements. This futuristic city vibe with androids, rainy alleys, and shadowy streets just pulls you into a nostalgic sci-fi atmosphere.
“(Tech-Noir Sci-Fi), a detective interrogates a hologram in a smokey synthwave diner, red-blue hue separation, low light, dramatic edge lighting, futuristic retro tension.“
“(Tech-Noir Sci-Fi), a female android with one cracked lens stares from a rooftop as electric storms pulse behind her, noir-style lighting, cybernetic scars, dusty haze.”
After Tech-Noir‘s neon-lit world, let’s take a step into the shadows and gritty stories of detective drama:
4. Graphic Novel Noir
I feel like there’s something irresistibly stylish about Graphic Novel Noir. Maybe it’s the dramatic black-and-white contrasts, or the moody shadowy scenes with trenchcoats, or the mysterious glances. It’s quite an intriguing world, that’s for sure. It has an effortlessly cool, edgy vibe, like you’ve just stepped into the pages of an old-school comic book.
If you love AI creations with an edgy, comic-book feel, then this style is a gem for you:
“(Graphic Novel Noir), a detective with a broken nose stares down a smoking revolver in his hand, stark noir lighting, crosshatched textures, cigarette smoke curling toward spotlight.“
Additionally, you can add some text as well to it if you want to get an even stronger comic-book feel:
“(Graphic Novel Noir), a detective stares at a terrified suspect, with a smoking revolver in his hand, stark noir lighting, crosshatched textures, cigarette smoke curling toward spotlight. A graphic-novel-style caption hovers: “Bang. Truth hurts.“
“(Graphic Novel Noir), a femme fatale lights a cigarette under flickering neon in a rainy alley, harsh silhouette contrast, inked shadows, 1-tone splash color noir aesthetic.”
Things are about to get a darker turn now. Let’s look into the haunting world of Grimdark realism. I think, surprisingly, this style became my favorite of all:
5. Dark Fantasy Realism (Grimdark)
If you like getting lost in gritty textures and haunting atmospheres, Grimdark might just become your new favorite, too. This style blends realism with fantasy’s darker side: eerie landscapes, hints of horror, and cursed warrior figures who look like they’re from your favorite dark RPG. It’s edgy, intense, it’s dramatic, but honestly, sometimes it’s fun to embrace your darker side.
“Dark Fantasy Realism (Grimdark), a cursed king with obsidian armor and a bleeding crown stands in a battlefield of ash and bones, blackened sky above, embers floating, ultra-detailed armor textures, hyper-real lighting, dramatic contrast, grim medieval mood.”
And the Horror style version:
“Dark Fantasy Realism (Grimdark), a blind prophet stands atop a tower of skulls, crows circling, medieval horror realism, harsh lighting contrast, hopeless ruinous tone.”
However, if this style is too grim for you, this next retro style will lighten the mood:
6. Retro Sci-Fi Line Art (Moebius-Inspired)
Channeling the classic visuals of legendary artist Moebius, this retro sci-fi style features detailed line art, muted palettes, and surreal worlds. Ideal if you love vintage sci-fi vibes paired with a clean, illustrative feel. It brings that retro feeling, while still being futuristic and charming.
“Retro Sci-Fi Line Art (Moebius-Inspired), a cloaked traveler wanders a desert planet with floating mechanical whales in the sky, clean Moebius line art, surreal tech-organic mix, vintage comic tones.”
Meanwhile, the next one is truly out of this world:
7. Biomechanical Surrealism
Biomechanical Surrealism is exactly as intriguing as it sounds. It beautifully combines organic elements with complex mechanical details. Characters might have metallic ribs, clockwork hearts, or transparent skin showing inner gears. In short, it’s a style that’s equally beautiful and unsettling. If you want images that are out of the ordinary, you’re in the right place:
“(Biomechanical Surrealism), a biomechanical queen with ribcage-like armor and glowing mechanical wings stands amidst a foggy alien wasteland, dark chrome textures, intricate organo-tech details, haunting sci-fi horror mood.”
After the cold chrome, let’s see some interesting culture-related style:
8. Afrofuturism
Afrofuturism is an interesting combination of tradition and futurism. It blends technologically rich imagery with African-inspired aesthetics. It’s a celebration of African heritage with a sci-fi visual. It delivers bold tribal patterns, strong colors, cybernetic elements, and landscapes.
“(Afrofuturism style), a high priestess in glowing nanotech robes stands before a luminous starlit savanna, cybernetic tribal markings, intricate details, cosmic halo, futuristic African metropolis in the background, vivid neon color palette, cultural symbolism.”
“(In the style of Afrofuturism), a cyber-shaman with glowing dreadlocks manipulates holographic tribal glyphs in a neon desert, Afrobeat-inspired colors, techno-spiritual energy, bold futuristic design.”
Plus, if you like this charming and hopeful direction, the next style is for you:
9. Solarpunk
If you’re tired of gloomy and dark atmospheres, and you want something bright and optimistic, definitely take a look at Solarpunk. This is just a bright, hopeful art style. Picture lush vertical gardens, warm sunlight, sustainable technology, and optimistic characters. It’s futurism, but happy.
“(Solarpunk), a joyful engineer with braided-neon-cables walks a moss-covered bridge between wind-turbine towers, flanked by biomechanical-birds and floating flower-drones.”
“(Solarpunk), a serene gardener with bioluminescent tattoos and solar circuitry arms tends floating vine-orchids atop a bamboo skyscraper, glowing greenhouse dome, sun-drenched palette, utopian green-tech ambiance, soft cinematic haze.“
And finally, let’s see some mind-bending surrealism. You know, just to keep our imagination flexible and our minds a bit confused:
10. Psychedelic Surrealism
This style is a visual candy: dreamlike, colorful, hypnotic, surreal, making you feel like in a dream. If you like the effect of visual mind-bending, then this style will be your favorite. It’s mostly characterized by vivid neon colors, fluid forms, and surreal imagery. It can help you create images with a strong visual impact.
“(Psychedelic Surrealism), a child with butterfly wings walks upside down on a glowing spiral staircase to nowhere, dream logic geometry, hypercolor bloom, DMT-inspired textures.“
“(Psychedelic Surrealism), a crystal-eyed panther emerges from a galaxy-shaped portal in a jungle of melting candy trees, glowing tribal patterns on its body, surreal lighting, kaleidoscope tones, deep textures.“
Ready to Experiment?
So, there you have it, ten amazing, fresh styles to elevate your AI art experiments. From dark fantasy realms to psychedelic dreams, there’s a style here for every kind of creative mood. I really hope this collection of trending AI art styles gave you a spark (or ten). Try them, remix them, or even combine two or three in a single prompt and see where it takes you. That’s how the most unique creations are born.
Have you already tried any of these? Which one is your favorite? And what style would you like to see featured next? Or do you have a hidden gem of a style you think I absolutely have to try next? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to share your creations on social media!
