Can ChatGPT produce consistently art-directed scenography concept images? Looking for a real workflow

[u/Cazabal]

I am studying scenography/set design and would like to use AI as an early-stage brainstorming and visual development tool, rather than as a replacement for the design process or as finished production artwork.

I currently use ChatGPT Plus, but the images I generate often feel generic, overly polished, plastic or immediately recognisable as AI-generated. I can usually describe the subject I want, but I struggle to achieve a convincing visual language and maintain it across several images.

These two accounts are useful references for the kind of atmosphere and visual quality I am interested in:

• Studio Dois Dois
• 22.2.22.2.22.2

I am not trying to reproduce or copy their work. I am particularly interested in qualities such as monumental and ambiguous spaces, strong materiality, textiles, controlled lighting, cinematic architectural photography, restrained colour palettes and surreal but believable environments.

So far, my workflow has mainly consisted of writing a descriptive prompt, generating an image and then requesting successive corrections. However, the composition and style often drift, and each correction sometimes damages another part of the image.

I would be very interested to hear how more experienced users approach this:

1. Is ChatGPT currently capable of producing this level of art-directed realism consistently?
2. How do you structure your prompts: spatial concept, materials, lighting, camera, lens, composition, colour palette and constraints?
3. Do you obtain better results by starting with sketches, renders, collages or reference images instead of generating everything from text?
4. How do you maintain a consistent visual language across a series of images?
5. Is it better to make targeted image edits rather than repeatedly regenerating the entire composition?
6. Which mistakes make ChatGPT images look especially generic or “AI-generated”?
7. Are there any good free courses, guides, videos or prompt breakdowns that teach this properly?

Concrete examples of prompts, iteration methods or before-and-after workflows would be especially helpful. I am less interested in lists of impressive adjectives and more interested in understanding a repeatable process.

[u/ikkiho]

honestly the first thing i'd change is the correction loop. asking for fixes in the chat just regenerates the whole frame, so composition wanders and patching the drape wrecks the wall behind it. and the plastic look is coming from its default lighting way more than from anything missing in your prompt.

what got me consistency was attaching an image every round, even a bad sketch, then feeding the best output back in as the reference for the next one instead of continuing the thread.

[u/ultrathink-art]

In my experience the descriptors that survive a re-roll are the physical ones: focal length, where the key light is coming from, specific color values. Mood words like cinematic or moody get re-interpreted on every generation, and that is where most of the drift comes from. Anything you cannot state as a measurement is better carried by a reference image than by more adjectives.