Watercolour Palms
Adding some heat to this weeks Prompt of the Week
It’s been bone-chillingly cold in Hobart this past week, so what I was looking for in a prompt-of-the-week this week was something warm, to remind us of long lost summer days. After last week i’m still carrying some of that faux-80s nostalgia as well, and I like to mix things up with different styles.
Mix all that together and we’re looking for some synthwave inspired watercolour warmth this week.
Lets break it down!
Key Elements
Style
“A watercolor painting, unexpectedly infused with synthwave elements”
Keeping the style prompt fairly short and sweet, we are unambiguous about what we want (a watercolour painting) but leaving plenty of the room for the model to interpret.
Subject
“palm trees silhouetted against a hazy, gradient sky of teal, fuchsia, and lemon yellow, with soft, diffused light and subtle geometric patterns overlaid”
Still in that synthwave mode, a synthwave summer is all about palm trees and the beach, and some nice pastel colours to ramp up that nostalgia vibe.
Mood
“establishing a dreamlike and slightly surreal atmosphere”
We’re not looking for realism, this should be escapist, dreamy, surreal, a summer lost long ago waiting to be remembered.
Composition
“A full scene, slightly high angle”
We don’t want a macro picture this time in extreme closeup, we’re looking for a full scene captured slightly tilted to exaggerate the size of the elements.
Bring it all together and we get:
Picture a watercolor painting, unexpectedly infused with synthwave elements, of palm trees silhouetted against a hazy, gradient sky of teal, fuchsia, and lemon yellow, with soft, diffused light and subtle geometric patterns overlaid, establishing a dreamlike and slightly surreal atmosphere with a full scene, slightly high angle.
Variations
Where’s the Heat?
These initial generations are quite lovely, dreamy, nostalgic… but the colour palette chosen leaves a bit to be desired when it comes to warming things up. Those blues in particular still have me shivering a bit, reminiscent of a dawn morning when the fog runs along the river and the dew beads on the grass. Fresh, lovely, but not warm.
So, lets have a shot at warming things up.
Picture a watercolor painting, unexpectedly infused with synthwave elements, of palm trees silhouetted against a hazy, gradient sky of
teal, fuchsia, and lemon yellowwarm colours with soft, diffused light and subtle geometric patterns overlaid, establishing a dreamlike and slightly surreal atmosphere reminiscent of a hot summer's day with a full scene, slightly high angle.
A few quick additions, allowing the model to choose its own palette with the instruction to make it warm, and adding that we want the atmosphere to be hot and summery as well as dreamlike and surreal, and there we have a much warmer picture. You can almost see the heat-waves shimmering off the pavement and feel the warmth sinking into your bones.
Now cool it off a bit
In fact, perhaps its now a bit too hot. Sweltering in a hot car, sunburn and heatstroke. We need to cool it off a bit; and there are few better ways to cool things down than a trip to the beach.
Picture a watercolor painting, unexpectedly infused with synthwave elements, of palm trees silhouetted against a hazy, gradient sky of warm colours with soft, diffused light and subtle geometric patterns overlaid and ocean waves crashing against a beach in the background, establishing a dreamlike and slightly surreal atmosphere reminiscent of a hot summer's day with a full scene, slightly high angle.
That’s done the trick. Still nice and warm, especially with that sun blazing low in the sky, but there’s nothing so cooling as a soft ocean breeze.
Adding this element has changed the type of image we’re getting however, we’re seeing much more detail; not quite photorealistic but a lot less loose than we were seeing in the earlier images. Lets see if we can counteract that a little.
Keep it rough
Picture a watercolor painting painted in a rapid and rough sketchy style, unexpectedly infused with synthwave elements, of palm trees silhouetted against a hazy, gradient sky of warm colours with soft, diffused light and subtle geometric patterns overlaid and ocean waves crashing against a beach in the background, establishing a dreamlike and slightly surreal atmosphere reminiscent of a hot summer's day with a full scene, slightly high angle.
That’s a bit better. The rougher style emphasises the watercolour nature of the image whilst still keeping the elements recognisable. It looks like a scorcher there on that beach, but waves means a cooling ocean wind as well; could there be a more perfect summer’s day?
It’s all very relaxing. Maybe a little too relaxing, perhaps we need some drama. Something to spark a bit more interest.
Wild Nature
Picture a watercolor painting painted in a rapid and rough sketchy style, unexpectedly infused with synthwave elements, of palm trees silhouetted against a hazy, gradient sky of warm colours with soft, diffused light and subtle geometric patterns overlaid and ocean waves crashing against a beach in the background while a vicious thunderstorm pounds down on the earth with driving rain and lightning, establishing a dreamlike and slightly surreal atmosphere reminiscent of a hot summer's day with a full scene, slightly high angle.
Well, we lost a bit of heat, as was bound to happen when a storm rolled in, even a tropical one. It’s a powerful composition none-the-less, divided unevenly down the middle where the dark of the storm pushes against the bright heat of the day, while the trees lean inwards like spectators at a grand spectacle.
Between the heat, the waves, the storm, the excitement, these are scenes that really cry out for company, so lets switch things up one last time.
Postcards from imaginary worlds
Picture a postcard featuring a watercolor painting painted in a rapid and rough sketchy style, unexpectedly infused with synthwave elements, of palm trees silhouetted against a hazy, gradient sky of warm colours with soft, diffused light and subtle geometric patterns overlaid and ocean waves crashing against a beach in the background while a vicious thunderstorm pounds down on the earth with driving rain and lightning, establishing a dreamlike and slightly surreal atmosphere reminiscent of a hot summer's day with a full scene, slightly high angle. In a cheerful font, the words "Wish you were here!" flow across the bottom corner.
Well, we didn’t get the bottom corner, but Flux managed to get all the words right, which isn’t always a guaranteed thing. It’s often easier to manually add typography in post-processing but in prompt of the week, the prompt is the thing!
A pretty picture postcard to end things on, composed with laudable symmetry, framed by a pair of inward-tilting palm trees as the sun sets behind the waves.
Next Steps
Your turn! Take this prompt, tinker with it, experiment, and see what you can create on your own.
If you enjoy the prompt, hit me up on social media with a picture of what you’ve created, I’d love to see it. Post to Instagram or Bluesky with #HTCWeeklyPrompt and tag me directly, @hightechcreative on Instagram or @hightechcreative.bsky.social on Bluesky.
See you next time!
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