A still life of pink radishes on a cobalt plate, rendered as layered encaustic wax painting, with scraped edges, translucent colour and a single patch of afternoon light. It works because the prompt names one medium, a clear palette and one light source, so GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst has few places to drift into a generic look.
Encaustic looks like a painting built from warm, semi-clear wax layers. These traits come straight from the prompt wording.
- Palette
- Pink, cobalt, cream, plum and butter yellow are named outright. Strong, limited colour blocks make the radishes stand out and keep the image from turning muddy.
- Texture
- 'Layered encaustic wax' and 'handmade surface marks' produce a thick, slightly uneven, glossy-matte surface with visible brush or tool traces.
- Depth
- Scraped edges expose yellow beneath plum, and 'translucent pigment depth' adds a glowing, stacked-layer feeling that flat digital art lacks.
- Light
- A single window-shaped patch of afternoon light is a bold geometric shape across the objects, giving a clear focal sweep and a calm, homey mood.
Model and settings
Keep the 4:5 ratio, since the tall frame fits a single stacked arrangement and looks like a print. High quality helps the model hold fine wax texture and scraped edges. For a wide scene or a banner, change the ratio, but keep the style sentences unchanged. If you want a bigger print, raise the resolution if available and leave the prompt alone.
Seedream 5.0 ProPick it if you want richer detail in the surface marks, or if you want to add reference pictures to guide the palette or objects.- FLUX.2 ProBetter if you want to specify exact colours with hex codes for the cobalt, plum and butter yellow, though it leans more photoreal.
When the style drifts
- The style washes out into a smooth digital illustration with no wax feel.
- Strengthen the medium wording: add 'thick wax layers, visible tool scrapes, slightly glossy surface' and avoid words like 'clean' or 'sharp vector'.
- The radishes overpower the style and look photographic.
- Remove any photo-style words, keep 'painted in layered encaustic wax', and add 'simplified shapes, painterly edges'.
- Colours turn muddy brown where plum and yellow meet.
- Name the scrape as 'thin lines of butter yellow' only along edges, and keep the plum as one flat tone instead of 'mixed' colours.
- Stray letters or labels appear on the plate or napkin.
- Keep 'no text' at the end and add 'plain plate, plain napkin, no writing or patterns'.
