Master Midjourney: Unleash Your Creativity with These Image Generation Tips & Tricks!

"I've started using Midjourney, but I'm having trouble getting the hang of it..."

"I want to know the secrets to creating images that match my vision!"

If this sounds like you, you're not alone.

If you're struggling to even get started with Midjourney, check out "What is Midjourney? Basic Features, Characteristics, and How to Use It" for a beginner's guide.

A Quick Review of How to Get Started with Midjourney

As we covered in our previous article, let's quickly recap the steps to get Midjourney up and running.

You need to prepare these three things before you can start creating images with Midjourney:

① Prepare a Discord Account

Midjourney is a tool that runs on Discord, a voice chat service, so registration is required!

② Get an Invitation

Go to the Midjourney homepage, enter the required information, and receive an invitation email.

③ Log in to Midjourney

Click the link in the invitation email you received at the email address you entered to complete the login process.

※ If you already have a Discord account, log in from "Sign In" on the Midjourney homepage.

How to Use Midjourney

Enter a "newbies-○○" Beginner Room

After logging in, click on [newbies-〇〇] in the menu on the left. (Any of the 〇〇 numbers is fine.) This seems to be a thread where beginners create and post images. Be careful, you cannot issue drawing instructions on the screen immediately after logging in, so you need to move to a thread.

Enter Keywords for Your Image

Enter commands in the text box at the bottom right that says "Send a message to newbies-○○".

① Enter /imagine.

② /imagine prompt will appear. Enter keywords in English in the square brackets after prompt, as shown in the image below.

　※ If you enter multiple words, separate them with ",".

This time, I entered "cool man with glasses" to generate an image.

After entering the keywords, press Enter to start generating the image!

The image will be completed in a few seconds to a minute. You'll hear a "ping" and the progress display will reach 100% when it's done!

Don't Lose Track of Your Created Images

The Midjourney newbie channel is like a shared room used by multiple users.

People from all over the world are using the chat in real time, so the chat flows quickly and it's easy to lose track of messages you've sent.

In such cases, it's convenient to click the "Inbox" icon (red circle in the image) in the upper right → "Mentions" → "Jump to chat for you" to jump to your chat in the channel.

※ Also, the free trial version is currently suspended, and if you enter a command in the trial version, the following error message will appear.

Basic Structure and Application of Prompts

Basic Structure of Prompts

The basic structure of a prompt needed to create a picture is:

"What you want to depict + State (description of what you want to depict, location, etc.) + Theme Style + Aspect Ratio"

However, as I mentioned earlier, you can create an image with just one word.

(※ If you create with a single word, you cannot specify a specific composition or image taste.)

Types of Things That Can Be Specified with Prompts

The main things that can be specified with prompts are style, artist, lighting, and composition.

Style

• vintage

• anime portrait

• cyberpunk

• Studio Ghibli

• cartoon (overseas comic style)

• kawaii

• realism

• coloring book

• paper art

• patchwork collage

• kaleidoscopic

• gothic

• 8-bit pixel art

• diagrammatic drawing

Artist

• ☆ Artists representing Ukiyo-e

  • Katsushika Hokusai

  • Utagawa Hiroshige

• ☆ Artists representing Wash drawing, Ink brush painting

  • Tanomura Chikuden

  • Shōhaku

• ☆ Artists representing Landscape painting

  • Huang Gongwang

  • Xu Beihong

• ☆ Artists representing abstract painting

  • Wassily Kandinsky

  • Pablo Picasso

  • Kazimir Malevich

• ☆ Artists representing Realism

  • Johannes Vermeer

  • Caravaggio

• ☆ Artists representing Impressionism

  • Claude Monet

  • Edgar Degas

• ☆ Artists representing Post-Impressionism

  • Paul Cézanne

  • Henri Rousseau

• ☆ Artists representing Cubism

  • Giorgio de Chirico

  • Pablo Picasso

• ☆ Artists representing Surrealism

  • Joan Miró

  • Max Ernst

• ☆ Artists representing Pop Art

  • Andy Warhol

  • Roy Lichtenstein

• ☆ Artists representing Minimalism

  • Donald Judd

  • Dan Flavin

Lighting

• rembrandt lighting

• beautiful detailed glow

• colorful refraction

• lens flare

• neon lighting

• natural lighting

• soft light

• light rays

• morning light

• twilight

• golden hour

Composition

• full body standing

• wide shot

• close up

• from below

• back view, from behind

• from above

• fisheye lens

Tips for Generating Images as Intended

When the Expression Isn't Communicated Well

It takes some practice to create images that match the image in your head.

The image below is the result of outputting "Beautiful young Japanese farmer," which is a direct translation of "美しい日本人の農家". The [Beautiful] target was judged to include the background rather than the person.

Therefore, I added [cool], which is a more appropriate adjective for appearance, and specified the location [in the mountain] at the same time. When I generated it with "cool & young japanese farmer in the mountain", the image below was completed!

I was able to get it much closer to the image. Since the definition and standards of [beautiful] vary depending on the country, care must be taken when dealing with such conceptual words.

About the Quality Improvement Function

In Midjourney, multiple buttons appear below the generated image.

◇ Upscaling (U1~4) ... Increases the resolution of a specific image from the 4 generated images.

◇ Valuation Generation (V1~4) ... Generates 4 other proposals while following the layout of the favorite image among the 4 generated images.

Troubleshooting

What If I Want to Use It From My Smartphone?

Actually, Midjourney can be used from your smartphone!

Download the app and log in, and the image screen will appear, so tap the three lines in the upper left.

(※ Basic registration and login methods are the same as the PC version, so I will omit them.)

Tap "newbies-○○○" (○○○ is any number) in the same way as the PC version, and enter the selected room.

What If the Beginner Room Isn't Displayed?

It seems that the beginner room "NEWCOMER ROOMS" "newbies-○○" may not be displayed.

At this time, the error is caused by the concentration of simultaneous access from a large number of users, so it seems that it can be solved by reloading.

Summary

Midjourney continues to evolve day by day, and recently, version 4 has been updated to version 5.

The output results of faces and hands, which were a problem, have been improved, and it seems that it is now possible to create images of sufficient quality even with only words instead of complex keywords.

Please pay attention to the regulations regarding AI and copyright and commercial use, and please use the prompt examples introduced this time as a reference.