How to Use Midjourney to Create Stunning AI-Generated Artwork

Midjourney is an exciting new AI system that can generate beautiful artwork and imagery simply from text prompts. With its advanced neural networks, Midjourney has the astonishing ability to bring any concept you describe to life in intricate visual detail.

In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll provide everything you need to know to get started with Midjourney and use it to create your own unique AI art. Whether you‘re a digital artist looking to augment your skills or just want to experiment with AI creativity, Midjourney opens up incredible new possibilities. Let‘s dive in!

How Midjourney AI Art Generation Works

Before we get our hands dirty creating images, it helps to understand how Midjourney‘s AI technology actually works under the hood:

• Midjourney uses a trained generative adversarial network (GAN) – a type of deep learning algorithm specialized for generating new content like images. The GAN is trained on millions of photos and artworks to understand visual concepts.

• When you enter a text prompt, Midjourney encodes it into a mathematical representation that captures the meaning. This prompt encoding is matched against the GAN‘s learned knowledge.

• The GAN then generates an image that closely matches the prompt‘s meaning by recombining visual concepts it has learned. The image is synthesized pixel by pixel.

• A discriminative network checks the generated image matches the prompt. If not, it provides feedback to refine the image further by the GAN.

• This adversarial process repeats, becoming more precise with each iteration until Midjourney outputs a final image reflecting the text description.

This allows Midjourney to translate any idea you describe into a convincing image, tapping into its broad knowledge of concepts, contexts, aesthetics and styles derived from its training data.

Getting Started with Midjourney

To access Midjourney‘s AI art generator, you‘ll first need to join the closed beta and set up an account. Here‘s how:

1. Join the Midjourney Discord Server

Midjourney is currently only accessible through an invite-only Discord server. Go to midjourney.com and click "Join the beta" to receive an invite link.

Accept the invite and complete the human verification in Discord. You‘ll also need to agree to Midjourney‘s Terms of Service.

2. Subscribe to Midjourney

To actually generate images, you need to subscribe to one of Midjourney‘s paid plans which provide credits to use the AI:

• $10/month Basic Plan – 25 image credits per month
• $30/month Standard Plan – 200 image credits per month + relaxed mode
• $600 Lifetime Pro Plan – Unlimited image credits + relaxed mode

In the Discord, type /subscribe and follow the payment prompt to subscribe. Each image you generate will use 1 credit.

3. Join the #newbies Channel

This is the main channel where you‘ll be generating images. Use the left sidebar to find and join the #newbies channel.

And that‘s it – you‘re now ready to start creating AI art with Midjourney!

Generating Your First AI Images

With your account set up, let‘s walk through using Midjourney to generate your very first images:

1. In the #newbies channel, type /imagine followed by a detailed prompt describing the image you want to create.

2. For your first prompt, try something simple like: /imagine an oil painting of a small cottage by a lake at sunset.

3. Press enter and Midjourney will start generating an image! It may take up to a minute to complete.

4. Midjourney will display a grid of 4 image variations. Click the upscaling options below to enhance image quality.

5. When you‘re happy with a result, right click the image and "Save As" to download it.

That‘s it – you just created an AI artwork from a simple text description! Let‘s look at crafting better prompts to generate stunning images…

Prompt Engineering for Better Results

The key to getting top quality images from Midjourney lies in crafting detailed, descriptive prompts. Here are some tips:

• Include plenty of descriptive details – colors, lighting, shapes, materials, etc. Give Midjourney more to work with.

• Specify a clear subject/focal point – what‘s the main thing the image should contain?

• Set the mood and style – ominous, joyful, serene? Realistic or stylized?

• Mention styles from recognizable artists – Monet, Picasso, Studio Ghibli, etc.

• Use adjectives and adverbs – softly, smoothly, craggy, weathered, etc.

Some examples of excellent, detailed prompts:

/imagine a vibrantly colored graffiti mural with abstract shapes on a brick wall in a city, complex composition, highly detailed, digital art

/imagine an atmospheric lo-fi indie album cover, man sitting alone at a desk in a dusty room, light rays shining through a window, vintage retro style  

Try to tell a story and set the scene. The more you can describe what you want, the better results Midjourney will generate.

Here are some types of details to include in your prompts:

• Subject – Main focus? Person, animal, object?

• Style – Painting, drawing, anime, CGI? Any specific artist styles?

• Composition – Layout, arrangement of elements, framing, perspective

• Lighting – Time of day, intensity, direction, shadows

• Color palette – Specific colors and tones

• Textures and materials – Wood, metal, fur, cloth, shiny, glossy?

• Shapes – Geometric, organic, patterns, symmetry?

• Emotion and mood – Serene, ominous, joyful, melancholy?

The Midjourney Discord also has prompt channels for inspiration. Don‘t be afraid to experiment and refine your prompts over multiple generations.

Customizing Your Images

Beyond the initial prompt, Midjourney provides advanced controls to customize your images.

Aspect Ratio

By default, Midjourney generates square images. To adjust the aspect ratio, add -ar X:Y to your prompt:

-ar 4:3 - traditional TV ratio
-ar 16:9 - cinematic widescreen
-ar 9:16 - portrait framing 

Common aspect ratios:

Aspect Ratio	Use Case
1:1	Square images
4:5	Portrait photos
3:2	Landscape photos
16:9	Landscape widescreen

Image Size

Use the upscaling options U1 to U4 to increase output image size up to 2048x2048px:

• U1: 512x512px
• U2: 1024x1024px
• U3: 1536x1536px
• U4: 2048x2048px

For sizes larger than 2048px, add -upbeta to prompt which unlocks higher resolutions through beta upscaling.

Color and Style

Give Midjourney‘s AI art direction with these color/style modifiers:

• -vibrant – bold, intense colors
• -pastel – soft, faded colors
• -muted – subtle, earthy colors
• -dark – moody, low brightness
• -light – bright, well-lit
• -desaturated – faded, low saturation

You can also provide specific color palettes like red, blue, green palette.

For art styles, use -style: -style ghibli, -style pixar, -style van gogh, etc.

Variations

After generating an initial image, click the V1-V4 buttons to generate new variations. This keeps the overall composition but explores alternatives.

Mix and match variations from different images for a unique result.

Re-Rolls

If you want a completely new set of images, click the re-roll button after your initial generation. This re-runs the prompt from scratch.

Advanced Midjourney Features

Midjourney provides additional advanced features to unlock more control and capabilities when generating your AI art.

Relaxed Mode

By default, Midjourney uses "fast mode" which returns results quickly but limits total monthly image generation.

For unlimited requests, type /settings and toggle on relaxed mode. This queues generation behind others so may be slower.

Relaxed mode is included with Midjourney‘s Standard ($30/month) and Pro ($600 lifetime) subscription plans.

Seeds

You can provide an existing image as inspiration for new images. After typing /imagine, drag and drop an image file before entering your prompt.

Midjourney will stylize the new image based on visual elements recognized in the original seed image.

Embedding

To insert an AI image into a specific section of an existing image, use --ar x y --ii [image url] in your prompt. Replace x and y with coordinates.

This overlays the new image as a "patch" on the original. Useful for things like faces!

Upscaling Modes

Add these after /imagine to change Midjourney‘s upscaling algorithm:

• --test – new experimental upscaler
• --creative – prioritizes new details and high variation between scales
• --photorealistic – adds sharper detail and realism each scale

Settings Commands

Type /settings to access these options:

• /relax – Enable unlimited relaxed mode
• /fast – Switch back to limited fast mode
• /quality – Change image quality as 1-5 (higher = slower generation but better quality)
• /upbeta – Opt into experimental beta upscaling features

Explore the settings panel for other useful options like Mature Content Filter!

Comparing Midjourney to Other AI Art Models

How does Midjourney compare to other popular AI art generators like DALL-E 2, Stable Diffusion and StarryAI? Here‘s a quick rundown of the differences:

DALL-E 2

• Requires OpenAI approval, limited access
• Very high image quality and precision
• More focused on photorealism
• Excellent for natural images
• Less artistic control

Stable Diffusion

• Install locally or use web demos
• Fast generation of highly varied outputs
• More artifacting
• Low barrier to access
• Less coherence, struggles with details

StarryAI

• Web and mobile app access
• Simple and user-friendly UX
• Preset styles and filters
• Lower resolution results
• Very limited control over prompts

Midjourney

• Discord platform provides community
• Easy to learn and use
• Direct artistic control through prompts
• Great diversity of art styles
• Lower technical barrier than alternatives
• Powerful upscaling and customization

For most users, Midjourney hits the sweet spot between sophistication, ease-of-use and creative flexibility compared to other options currently available. The Discord community also sets it apart.

Troubleshooting Midjourney Issues

Here are some common issues and fixes when using Midjourney:

Prompt not generating an image – Ensure you have credits remaining on your plan. Check #site-status channel for any Midjourney service issues.

Bad quality images – Use upscaling options, add more details to prompt, try different variations. Ensure you‘re using full rendered image, not progress thumbnail.

Wrong subject/style – Reword prompt for clarity, include more descriptive details about desired output. Use style modifier like -style ghibli.

Generation taking too long – Switch from relaxed to fast mode. Or reduce quality level under /settings. Simple prompts generate faster.

No account credits remaining – Subscribe to a paid Midjourney plan to add more credits. Or switch to relaxed generation.

Can‘t view certain channels – Interact in #newbies first. Midjourney unlocks channels after activity to prevent spam.

For any other issues, ask the community in #help or check Midjourney‘s FAQ. The Discord is very active and helpful!

Inspiring Examples of Midjourney AI Artwork

To spark your creative juices, here are some examples of the incredible art and imagery you can generate with Midjourney:

Prompt: underwater fantasy scene, woman with long hair riding a majestic giant seahorse, swimming through the portholes and wreckage of an old wooden ship, visible sharks and fish, treasure chests, rays of sunlight beaming down through water

Prompt: future neon cityscape, towering skyscrapers, crowded streets, flying vehicles, steaming vents and pipes, bright neon signs, vibrant purple and cyan neon glow, nighttime, cinematic lighting, volumetric fog, in the style of Blade Runner

Prompt: solarpunk landscape, alien planet surface, pink and teal sky, twin moons, astronaut character sitting on cliff ledge overlooking mountains and waterfalls, detailed space helmet, intricate scene

These examples demonstrate the diversity of concepts and art styles Midjourney can generate – from fantastical to futuristic to sci-fi.

Try creating your own artworks in these themes and share your results!

Next Steps and Further Resources

That covers the basics of getting started with Midjourney and using it to generate a wide range of beautiful, evocative AI art. Here are some next steps to level up your skills:

• Practice crafting detailed, descriptive prompts – this is key to amazing generations!

• Explore Discord community channels for inspiration, collaborations, techniques

• Follow Midjourney on Twitter to see examples and announcements

• Check the Midjourney blog for release notes and feature updates

• Join the Midjourney subreddit to share your art and see what others create

• Study art and photography fundamentals – composition, color, lighting – to improve imagery

• Try integrating with apps using the Midjourney API and webhooks

The possibilities are endless with this new AI art medium – have fun exploring where Midjourney can take your creativity!