Quick Answer
To create Studio Ghibli-style images with OpenAI, use GPT-4o (requires a ChatGPT Plus or Pro subscription). Upload your image, select “Create Image,” and enter the prompt: “Turn this into Studio Ghibli style.” Free alternatives include Grok 3, Fotor, and Craiyon, though results may vary.
The trend became a hot topic as soon as OpenAI opened the gates to GPT-4o, which allows users to upload their photos and turn them into Studio Ghibli animation style. Users across social media platforms are sharing their creations, and by the looks of it, people are obsessed with them. Not only normal users but even popular names like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Airbus’s official X handle, the world’s richest man and business tycoon Elon Musk, and even the world’s most popular leader, PM of India Shri Narendra Modi, also joining the trend. Well, that’s the beauty of the Studio Ghibli style that lures users to create animated characters of themselves and their loved ones.
If you are late to this trend and want to know how you have landed in the right place. In this guide, we will share the steps you need to follow to create Studio Ghibli images for yourself. Since at TechPP, we aim to provide you always with something extra, we have also listed down the free alternatives that you can try out. Let’s jump right into it and join the Ghibli trend.
Table of Contents
A rundown of Studio Ghibli’s history
Studio Ghibli was founded on June 15, 1985, in Japan by directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki after acquiring Topcraft’s assets. Studio Ghibli has been involved in some of the most popular anime movies and series, including Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, and Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Ghibli style is a style of animation that involves hand-drawn characters, richly detailed animation, expressive characters, and a deep sense of fantasy. It also includes granular details in the backgrounds, soft and rounded character designs, smooth animations, and minimal CGI. It is mostly used in series and movies related to environmental and anti-war themes.
While the creation of Studio Ghibli-style images has now become as easy as entering a single prompt, it also raised some ethical concerns by the Ghibli-style animation founder, Miyazaki. He raised questions about the future of the livelihoods of human artists and expressed skepticism about how AI could ruin millions of livelihoods.
How to create Studio Ghibli images
Note: ChatGPT now lets free users create Ghibli images. But there are limitations to creating five images per day on ChatGPT free tier. Also, you need to wait between every creation for about 5-10 minutes.
OpenAI’s GPT-4o is capable of letting users create Studio Ghibli-style images that do as many as they like. However, the only thing that you need to remember aside from the steps below is that GPT-4o is not free, and you need either a $20/month ChatGPT Plus subscription or a $200/month ChatGPT Pro subscription for generating Ghibli-style images. With that out of the way, and assuming you have a subscription, here’s what you need to do:
- Visit ChatGPT website.
- Make sure GPT-4o is selected by clicking on the ChatGPT button on the top left and choosing GPT-4o from the list of options.
- Upload your image.
- Next to the Deepsearch button in the prompt bar, tap on the three-dot menu icon and select Create Image.
- Upload an image.
- Enter this prompt: Turn this into Studio Ghibli style
- Wait for ChatGPT to turn your image into a Ghibli-style image.
- Download and share.
The Studio Ghibli-style image generation was initially also available for free ChatGPT users. However, seeing the surge in the number of creations, ChatGPT decided to put this behind a paywall. But don’t worry, as the OpenAI CEO on X announced, “Images in chatgpt are wayyyy more popular than we expected (and we had pretty high expectations). rollout to our free tier is unfortunately going to be delayed for a while.”
Free alternative to create Studio Ghibli images
- Visit the Grok website.
- Make sure the Grok 3 model is selected.
- Click the attachment icon and upload an image you wish to convert to Studio Ghibli style.
- Enter this prompt: Turn this into Studio Ghibli style.
- Wait for Grok to produce the output. The best part is that Grok 3 is faster than GPT-4o.
- Download and share your image.
You can further enhance the details in your image by explaining things in additional prompts. I tried several images of myself. However, I noticed that Grok 3 didn’t recognize my thick beard, and I always skipped it. It gave me a clean-shaven face in Studio Ghibli-style images. It might just have happened to me, but do let us know in the comments below if this happened to you as well.
Turn your images into art
In our tests, we found that the images generated by ChatGPT are far superior to the ones generated by Grok 3; for instance, GPT-4o showed me with a beard in all of the images that I generated using the model. But that’s the downside of getting things for free. However, the results aren’t that bad, either. You can also try out other options, such as Fotor, Craiyon, etc., to create Studio Ghibli images, but you may need to be precise in inputting your prompt, as in our tests, they failed to produce results as intended.
The best part is that not only Studio Ghibli style, but you can also generate images like South Park, Minecraft, Lego, voxel art, watercolor, marionette, and more. Multiple AI image generator apps can also let you explore other styles of art. We also have a guide that lists some of the best AI art generators for PC. In this world of AI, you should stay vigilant and not fall prey to AI-generated images. For that, you can read our guide to learn how you can detect AI images.
Let us know in the comments below which one produced better results for you, ChatGPT or Grok.
FAQs on Converting Images to Studio Ghibli
1. Why does ChatGPT not generate Ghibli images?
Since the trend took a sharp takeoff, ChatGPT servers started “to melt” because of the number of requests to create Studio Ghibli images. To overcome this problem and give the servers a breather, OpenAI decided to delay the generation of Ghibli images for free users.
2. What animation software is used by Studio Ghibli?
According to official information, Studio Ghibli makes use of OpenToonz, a software by Digital Video S.p.A. in Italy.
3. Are Studio Ghibli images generated by ChatGPT copyright-free?
Based on the information available, ChatGPT has restricted free users from generating Studio Ghibli-like images using the DALL-E 3 model. If you try to create one, the model simply refuses. The free ChatGPT version says it cannot produce images similar to Studio Ghibli because it “is a copyrighted animation studio, and its artistic style is protected.”
