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the best open source ai models

CounterfeitXL: clean, high-contrast anime on SDXL

gsdf's CounterfeitXL carries the beloved Counterfeit look to SDXL: crisp lines, vivid color, elegant characters. Learn its tag prompting, settings and ideas for striking anime scenes.
Topic: Models
By Captain
Published 2026-10-03

Overview

CounterfeitXL by gsdf is the
SDXL
successor to the popular Counterfeit series for
SD 1.5
. It produces sharp anime illustrations with clean line art, saturated but harmonious color and attractive character designs, and it was one of the first solid anime checkpoints on SDXL.
It uses Danbooru-style tags with standard SDXL settings.

Reference

Name
Type
What it is
Prompt
tags
Quality tags, then subject, appearance, clothing, setting, lighting.
Negative
tags
lowres, bad anatomy, bad hands, text, error, missing fingers, worst quality, low quality, jpeg artifacts, signature, watermark
CFG
6-8
7 default.
Steps / sampler
25-30, DPM++ 2M Karras
Or Euler a.
Resolution
1024
832x1216 for portraits.
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Step by step

  1. masterpiece, best quality, then subject tags.
  2. Add a setting and a lighting tag.
  3. Paste the negative list.
  4. 832x1216,
    CFG
    7, 28 steps.
  5. Hires fix 1.5x at 0.45 for crisp lines.

Examples

Portrait

masterpiece, best quality, 1girl, solo, long white hair, blue eyes, black coat, snowy city street at night, neon lights, floating hair, detailed background

Daylight

masterpiece, best quality, 1boy, solo, messenger bag, bicycle, seaside road, summer, bright sunlight, detailed background

Creative idea: cover illustration

masterpiece, best quality, 1girl, solo, violin, concert hall, spotlight, dramatic shadows, from below, detailed background

Tips

  • Night and neon scenes show its contrast well.
  • Add detailed background to avoid flat backdrops.
  • SDXL anime
    LoRAs
    load, though Illustrious-specific ones may drift.
  • Flowing hair and fabric motion tags (floating hair, wind) look great.

Troubleshooting

Over-saturated

Why it happens
CFG 8+.

How to fix it
CFG 6.

Hands

Why it happens
SDXL-era anatomy.

How to fix it
Inpaint hands or add a hand-fix LoRA.

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Questions

Illustrious or CounterfeitXL?

Illustrious
models know more characters; CounterfeitXL has its own clean look.

Clip Skip?

2 is typical.

Links and sources

Models in this guide

Written by
Captain

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