PixAI SDXL Prompting Guide — Foundations: Mastering Male Characters

Editor’s note (PixAI)
This guide was written by one of our community’s standout creators, 阿童 (ATone), and is republished here with credit to the original author.

Say goodbye to “girls with male faces”! This guide focuses on field-tested techniques to help you master weight adjustments, fix perspective biases, and use specific tags to control age and aesthetics. Let’s solve the “not masculine enough” problem once and for all.


Common Issues & Solutions

⚠️ Note: Generated results are for reference only; actual outcomes may vary slightly depending on the specific model used.

Problem 1: I wrote “1boy,” but a girl appeared

The Cause: The weight of 1boy isn’t strong enough. It’s being drowned out by hidden female-leaning biases in the model.

The Fix:Correct Prompting:

1boy, solo, male focus, short hair

Essential Negatives:

1girl, breasts

Problem 2: Aiming for ‘Mature,’ but getting ‘Senior’

The Cause: In many training sets, the term mature male is heavily associated with the elderly.

The Fix: Use physical traits to imply age rather than describing age directly.

Desired VibeSuggested Tags (Effective Danbooru Tags)Output(PixAI)
Youthful (Bishounen)bishounen🖼️ Example
Young Adult (Type 1)manly🖼️ Example
Young Adult (Type 2)tall maletoned malenarrowed eyes🖼️ Example
Mature/Ruggedtall malestubblemuscular male🖼️ Example
‘Daddy’mature malebeardmuscular male🖼️ Example
Elderlyold mangrey hairwrinkles🖼️ Example

⚠️ Avoid “Model-Blind” Words:

  • adult maleyoung manyoung adult — Not valid Danbooru tags.
  • middle-agedteenteenage — Not valid Danbooru tags.
  • handsomeikemen — Not valid Danbooru tags.

The Key: Express age through concrete features (hair, build, beard) rather than abstract nouns.

Problem 3: I wanted “Pretty,” but he’s too rugged.

The Fix: Incorporate specific “Pretty Boy” Danbooru tags.

Bishounen Style:

1boy, bishounen, androgynous

⚠️ Note:pretty boy, delicate features, and soft features are not effective tags.

💡 Pro Tip: While slim and slender are deprecated on Danbooru, e621-based models (like NoobAI-XL) support slim_male.

Problem 4: The facial structure looks generic

The Fix: Use verified tags to describe specific features.

✅ Effective Facial Tags:

narrowed eyes (Sharp/Cool)
half-closed eyes (Sleepy/Sultry)
empty eyes (Gloomy/Vacant)
thick eyebrows (Masculine/Bold)

⚠️ Note:sharp jawline,high nose and gentle eyes are not effective tags.

Sample Outputs

narrowed eyes

half-closed eyes

empty eyes

thick eyebrows


The Universal Male Template

The Foundation:

1boy, solo, male focus, [Vibe], [Hairstyle], [Hair Color], [Eye Color], [Body Type], [Clothing], [Setting]

Example: The “Clean & Elegant” Youth

Positive:

1boy, solo, male focus, bishounen,
short hair, black hair, blue eyes, smile,
school uniform, classroom

Negative:

1girl, female, breasts

Example: The “Cool & Sharp” Young Man

Positive:

1boy, solo, male focus,
short hair, black hair, narrowed eyes,
tall male, toned male, suit, office

Negative:

1girl, female, breasts

Example: The “Gloomy” Aesthetic Boy

Positive:

1boy, solo, male focus, bishounen,
pale skin, white hair, red eyes,
expressionless, black shirt, simple background

Negative:

1girl, female, breasts, smile

Advanced Techniques

The Perspective Problem: Why am I looking down at him?

Because Danbooru is filled with “cute girls,” the default perspective is often a high-angle (bird’s-eye) view to make characters look smaller and “cuter.” Models carry this habit over to men, making them look less imposing.

The Fix: Explicitly define the camera angle.

Desired EffectSuggested Tag實際生成效果
Eye-Level (Equal feeling)straight-onstraight-on
Low-Angle (Heroic/Tall feeling)from belowfrom below
High-Angle (If specifically desired)from abovefrom above

Example: Achieving a Tall, Sharp, and Impressive Look

1boy, solo, male focus, tall male,
from below, looking at viewer,
...

Weight Adjustment

If a feature refuses to show up, boost its weight.

(male focus:1.3), (1boy:1.2), (flat chest:1.2)

Suggested Range: 1.1 to 1.4. Going higher often “breaks” the image (artifacting).

Mastering the “manly” Tag

The manly  tag is great for adding ruggedness, but its intensity varies by model:

Model ResponseRecommended Syntax
Weak response(manly:1.5) ~ (manly:1.8)
Moderate responsemanly or (manly:1.2)
Over-responsive: Results in unwanted aging(manly:0.6) ~ (manly:0.8)

Recommended Approach:

  1. Start with the default weight: Test using the manly tag without modifiers first.
  2. If not masculine enough: Gradually increase the weight.
  3. If unintended aging occurs: Lower the weight or remove the tag entirely.

Bonus: While masculine doesn’t exist on Danbooru, it does exist on e621. For models like NoobAI, try combining them: manly, masculine.

The Power of Negative Prompts

When drawing men, the Negative Prompt is actually more critical than it is for women. Always include:

1girl, female, breasts, girl, woman, skirt, dress, makeup, lipstick

Note: feminine is deprecated on Danbooru and can yield unstable results, so it is no longer recommended for the Negative Prompt.


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