Welcome to the 4th in a series of posts where I will test AI image generators and see how they handle making maze art. I will be asking 10 prompts and seeing what gets generated. My goal is to evaluate different AI image sites against each other to see how they perform. If you need to catch-up here is the series so far:
An exploration into Al Image Maze Generation
Making mazes with AI: DallE2 (includes 2026 update)
Making mazes with AI: Stable Diffusion (includes 2024 and 2026 update)
Update from 2026:
When I did this series in Spring of 2023 I found that none of the text to image generators were able to generate actual mazes, including this one. They were able to make images that looked maze-like, but none were solvable puzzles. The 10 prompts below are a record of what was possible then, but each generation of AI pushes the limit further on what is possible. All of these “mazes” were made using text to image generation and not coding.
Making Maze Art with Craiyon
2023: Today I test out Craiyon. You can access the Craiyon website here. You can try the site for free without signing in. Each prompt, or generation will generate 9 image options ! Wow, 9. Most AI generators give you 4 images. For this exercise I chose the one closest to what I had asked, or the most interesting. All prompts I use are the same for each site !
2026: I did not have to sign-in, but was limited to 4 generations in total. This allowed me to generate 1 option per prompt, so there was no choice this time. I initially struggled with the site, but eventually got what I needed for this blog post. All images come tagged with the Craiyon logo.
Prompt 1 - Make a medium difficulty maze of the Eiffel Tower in black and white with arrows at the start and finish
2023: Good luck finding the Eiffel Tower in that. If I had said make a black and white maze that looks like a paint pallet that has been disturbed it would win. But I didn’t. Fail.
2026: Anyone would know that is the Eiffel Tower. Looks mazelike internally, but not a true maze. The arrow makes no sense. All said though this is a massive improvement !
Prompt 2 - Draw a medium difficulty large maze of the Empire State Building with the start and goal embedded in the structure
2023: But it does know what the ESB looks like ! Seems like something drawn quickly with a marker, surrounded by a maze kind of ?
2026: A very interesting look with a 3D building against a flat background maze. I see the goal (that does not make sense). The maze is not a real maze. Overall - much better generation.
Prompt 3 - Draw a difficult maze of the White House pixel art style
2023: Interesting. Not what I was looking for but fun to look at !
2026: That White House is outstanding. The maze surrounding it is interesting. Close. Another outstanding improvement.
Prompt 4 - Draw a difficult maze that looks like a drawing of a famous building in sketch style
2023: Looks like a hand drawn maze. No building. But I do see openings for a start and goal…probably only 2 would have been better, but 5 is…..something.
2026: So, it decided to make the very famous building The Eiffel Colosseum ? This might be the best thing I ever generated if it was just the Colosseum with the top mazed. This would be a good image to play with !
Prompt 5 - Draw a maze in the style of doyoumaze.com of a skyscraper in NYC
2023: Not my style, but it does look like a building.
2026: What an interesting take on a maze on a building. Bad traffic on those wide streets. I like it although I have never made anything in this style.
Prompt 6 - Draw a maze in the style of Sean C Jackson of a scene from a large outdoor market
2023: Not sure what is going on in the corner. A body with the legs and stomach separated from the head and chest. Maybe.
2026: Beautiful view of a traditional outdoor market. I like the stone ground that is made to look like a swirling labyrinth maybe ? Much better generation !
Prompt 7 - Make a maze of a slice of an orange in color
2023: Where is the maze ? Nice slice of orange though !
2026: This seems like what was asked for, just not a real maze, but excellent.
Prompt 8 - Make a maze integrated on top of a photograph of a king sitting on his throne looking cantankerous beside his beautiful queen
2023: Didn’t get the maze again. A photo from a horror movie?
2026: Wow. Excellent generation. I like the circular maze on the marble floor. This might be the best version of this prompt I have seen yet ! Great improvement.
Prompt 9 - Make a solvable maze that is very large and very difficult to solve because it is so complex
2023: At least when you prompt complex maze it knows to make the pathways smaller.
2026: That looks like a maze planet. I love that image.
Prompt 10 - Make a 3d render of a red and blue glossy cube maze
2023: Interesting that none of them are perfect cubes. And that all the pathways/walls are wavy and not straight.
2026: Looks fun. No maze.
Summary and Conclusion:
2023: How did Craiyon do ? Ok. It is certainly easy to use and I love that it gave me 9 images to choose from, even if the output wasn’t what I expected. I think this site has potential.
2026: I am sure you agree that the improvement between the 3 years is outstanding. Still no actual mazes, but some very nice generations. I was impressed overall.
Coming Next: Dream by Wombo
