Prompt Engineering Guide Vol. 10 - Retrofuturism

Welcome to the Prompt Engineering Guide, a carefully curated toolkit of sample prompts designed to inspire and empower you to generate visually compelling historical imagery using AI-powered text-to-image platforms like MidJourney.

This guide is not a rigid recipe book, but rather a flexible starting point. Each prompt included here is a window into the past. Think of it as a snapshot of people, places, and cultures that shaped human civilization. From the lost cities of antiquity to the vibrant markets of colonial towns, these samples are crafted to help you evoke emotion, capture context, and portray culture.

A Note on Accuracy

While text-to-image generative AI tools, like Midjourney and similar models, are powerful platforms, they do not always get history right. You may encounter:

• Visual Anomalies (inaccurate objects, tools, or materials)
• Anachronisms (clothing or architecture from the wrong period)
• Cultural Inconsistencies (merged aesthetics or generalized traits)
• Bias (training data will probably have that)
• Censorship (some controversial and divisive topics are blocked)
• Hallucinations (AI tends to make up details that don’t exist)

These prompts are artistic interpretations and not substitutes for academic accuracy. They are best used for visual storytelling, mood boards, and inspiration, not for scholarly reconstructions.

In This Volume

Explore alternate futures imagined by the past

Visit the futures that never were where flying cars hum over art deco skylines, cybernetic citizens stroll beneath neon-lit zeppelins, and space colonies follow mid-century design principles.