Where do I find AI art models and LoRAs?
The two main sources for AI art models are Civitai and Hugging Face.
Civitai - Community-focused model sharing
- Specializes in Stable Diffusion models and LoRAs
- User-friendly with image previews
- Ratings and reviews
- NSFW content available (filtered by default)
- Free to use
- Best for: LoRAs, character models, style models
Hugging Face - Developer-focused platform
- Hosts all types of AI models
- Official releases from major labs
- Technical documentation
- API access available
- Best for: Base models, Flux, research models
What to download:
| Type | File Extension | Size | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Checkpoint | .safetensors | 2-7GB | Base model |
| LoRA | .safetensors | 10-200MB | Style/character add-on |
| Embedding | .pt, .safetensors | <100KB | Trigger concepts |
| VAE | .safetensors | 300-800MB | Color/quality improvement |
Safety tips:
- Always use .safetensors (safer than .ckpt)
- Check ratings and comments before downloading
- Verify creator reputation
- Scan downloads with antivirus
Both platforms are free to use. Civitai is better for browsing; Hugging Face is better for official/technical models.