We built the underwater "be water, my friend" portrait entirely in AI
A GenAI workflows breakdown of the "be water, my friend" underwater portrait. The image prompt, the video prompt, and the one rule that kept it honest.
A GenAI workflows breakdown. The image prompt, the video prompt, and the rule that kept it honest.
No camera. No pool. No model. A still image first, then brought to life in Veo. This GenAI workflows breakdown gives you both prompts. Copy them, change the subject, keep the structure.
The image prompt
Static underwater close-up, a shirtless young man with short dark hair submerged just below the surface, eyes closed, holding his breath, calm and still, ordinary everyday face with no resemblance to any known figure, a subtle idle moment with slight muscle tension around the jaw and cheeks. Face and shoulders wrapped in shifting sunlight caustics. A slow, sparse stream of small silver air bubbles escapes from near his mouth and drifts leftward, the tiny bubbles gathering and settling into the shimmering shape of the words "BE WATER, MY FRIEND" stacked in four lines. The words hold in the frame, formed from clustered small bubbles, quivering gently as light ripples across them. After holding, the bubble letters slowly release and float upward, dissolving as they rise toward the bright surface above. Dappled sunlight filters down through moving water, refracted caustic patterns rippling across skin and letters, deep teal-green water fading to darkness in the background. Serene, meditative, cinematic underwater aesthetic, soft natural light, gentle buoyant motion throughout. SFX: soft trickle and gurgle of small rising bubbles, muffled low underwater pressure tone, faint distant water movement. No music.
Negative prompt: large single air burst, big bubble cloud, celebrity likeness, recognizable public figure, music, soundtrack, fast motion, harsh cutting, text distortion, extra limbs, glowing neon, floating debris, murky water, rapid bubble bursts, open mouth, strained expression.
The video prompt
Static underwater close-up, a shirtless young man with short dark hair submerged just below the surface, eyes closed, calm and still, ordinary everyday face with no resemblance to any known figure, face and shoulders wrapped in shifting sunlight caustics. A slow, sparse stream of small silver air bubbles escapes from near his mouth and drifts leftward, the tiny bubbles gathering and settling into the shimmering shape of the words "BE WATER, MY FRIEND" stacked in four lines. The words hold in the frame, formed from clustered small bubbles, alive with turbulent idle motion, the letters quivering and shifting as light ripples across them, individual bubbles trembling and drifting within each letter while the words stay readable. After holding, the bubble letters slowly release and float upward, dissolving as they rise toward the bright surface above. Dappled sunlight filters down through moving water, refracted caustic patterns rippling across skin and letters, deep teal-green water fading to darkness in the background. Serene, meditative, cinematic underwater aesthetic, soft natural light, gentle buoyant motion throughout. SFX: soft trickle and gurgle of small rising bubbles, muffled low underwater pressure tone, faint distant water movement. No music.
Negative prompt: large single bubble, big air burst, oversized bubbles, celebrity likeness, recognizable public figure, music, soundtrack, fast motion, harsh cutting, text distortion, extra limbs, glowing neon, floating debris, murky water, rapid bubble bursts, static frozen text.
The GenAI workflows rule
Keep the idea as the judge. Every polished version that stopped reading as water got thrown out. The tools were never the hard part. The idea was.
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Written with AI in the room, on a post about making with AI. The craft shown live, not hidden.
Written by Frederick Tadeo, GenAI Creative Lead based in Dubai. Founder of STIRMIND, a GenAI-native creative studio and platform since 2004.
STIRMIND Studio works with brands and agencies building real AI creative capability inside their teams.
Learn the GenAI craft at stirmind.com
