If you are into digital graphics, creating art can be a lengthy and tedious process. However, Midjourney has made it quicker, simpler, and more efficient to create stunning digital art if you can imagine it.

The AI tool generates graphics using prompts. All you need is a Discord account and join the beta program the company is currently developing. After rendering your image, you can use it or get inspiration to create your next masterpiece. Here’s everything you need to know about Midjourney.

What Is Midjourney?

Midjourney is an independent lab that works in AI, design, and human infrastructure, and is considered one of the top AI text-to-art generators. It uses text prompts to create digital art, and you can customize it with detailed instructions and advanced rendering commands.

The bot works through a Discord server. You can visit the official Midjourney server or set up their bot on your Discord server to utilize the AI for your artwork.

Although the program is still developing, the AI understands your command and generates praiseworthy digital art. The website showcases your creations openly. Similarly, you can see what other users have created by visiting the Midjourney Community Showcase.

Midjourney provides you an asset license for your creation which means you can use your image anywhere for a non-commercial purpose. However, the corporate plan gives you an exception; you can find it in detail in the paid plan section of this article.

How to Get Started With Midjourney

Since the AI works through a discord server, you first need to have a Discord account. You can get started with Discord in a few minutes from the official website. Then, either download the Discord app or log in through a browser. Once you are ready with your Discord account, follow the below steps to create your Midjourney account.

Create Your Midjourney Account

1. Go to the Midjourney website from your browser.
2. Click on Sign In. It will redirect you to your Discord account for signing in.

3. Once signed in, click on Authorize, go back to the Midjourney homepage, and click Join the beta.

4. Confirm your choice by clicking Accept Invite on the prompt.

That’s all. Midjourney will now take you to your Discord account, where you can find the dedicated MidJjurney server.

Creating Art Using Text Prompts

If you are not automatically redirected to the Discord website, you can scroll down on the left panel in your Midjourney account and click the Discord logo. It will take you to the Midjourney server on Discord.

1. Once on the Midjourney Discord server, scroll down on the left panel and open any newbies channel.

2. Type “/imagine” followed by a space and start writing your prompt. A prompt can be any text instruction you want the AI to turn into an image.

3. Press the Enter key to submit your prompt and wait for the rendering.

The free version of the service is bulky, and you may lose your design in hundreds of messages. For now, manually scroll to find your design; you can find your messages highlighted in orange.

Similar to how DALL-E 2 works, the bot will provide you with four iterations of the design. You can either upscale a particular design or get more versions of it. To upscale any iteration, tap on the U button followed by the respective quadrant number. Similarly, to get variations of any iteration, tap on the V button followed by the respective quadrant number.

When you are satisfied with your art, you can download and use it.

The upscaled versions are a better rendition of one of the designs made using your prompt. In contrast, the variations keep the subject image as the base and develop more similar images for you. All your creations are available on your Midjourney account.

Tips for Using Midjourney Effectively

There are some useful parameters that will help you take your image to the next level. You can use one or more parameters to enhance or personalize your image. Keep in mind to add these parameters at the end of your prompt.

To add a parameter, you must first enter two hyphen lines (–) followed by the parameter.

Aspect Ratio: Use the “–aspect” or “–ar” parameter to define the desired aspect ratio for your image. For instance, you can insert “–ar 3:2” or “–ar 2:1” at the end of your prompt to generate the images with the mentioned ratio. The first digit will be the width of your image and the second one is the height.

Negative Prompting: You can use the parameter “–no” to eliminate any elements from the image. For instance, if your prompt is “Children’s playground –no children,” the generated image will show a playground but won’t show any kids in it.

Limit Details: If you want a blur or unfinished image, you can use the “–stop” parameter. It will stop the processing of the image at the mentioned percentage. For instance, if you write “Flowers –stop 50,” the AI will generate an image with only 50% details.

Stylize: The “–stylize <number>”, or “–s <number>” parameter adds an artistic style to your image. The Stylize value is at 2500 by default. You can either decrease or increase the number to get a minimal or strong stylization in your image.

High Definition: Midjourney lets you use a different algorithm to generate high-definition images. While using the “–hd” parameter, the four quadrants will have inconsistent images. However, you will get a detailed image, which can be difficult with the standard algorithm.

Find your image: Although it is not a parameter, this command will help you find your image in the chat if you lose it. Use the “/show <jobid>” command to summon your image. You can find the job ID in your gallery on the Midjourney website. Go to the gallery, click on the three horizontal dots below your image, and select the Copy job ID option.

You can read about a few more parameters on the official Midjourney documentation.

Another helpful feature while adding a prompt is the image prompt option. You can upload an image on the Discord server and copy the image URL at the start of your prompt. Midjourney will then use the image as inspiration to create the variations. The correct way to use the prompt is Image URL > Text > Parameters.

You can also use a few keywords in your text to create better images. For instance, adding keywords like “octane render”, “realistic”, “hyperrealistic”, “cinematic”, “painted”, “cartoon style”, etc. in your prompt will ask the AI to use the mentioned style for the image.

Midjourney Pricing

Midjourney provides both free and paid plans. There are some limitations in the free plan; you can use only 25 prompts and can’t use some of the features. However, the affordable paid plan can solve it without putting a dent in your pocket. Here are the paid plans and what comes with them:

Basic Membership ($10/month): You get 200 GPU minutes on the Midjourney server. However, you don’t get access to relax mode, which can save your GPU minutes.

Standard Membership ($30/month): In the standard plan, you get 900 GPU minutes or 15 hours. In addition, you also get access to relax mode. You can use the “/relax” command to use the feature, resulting in additional time to create your image.

Private Visibility ($20/month): For an additional cost of $20, Midjourney allows you to keep your artwork private, it won’t be publicly available for others to see.

Incremental Billing ($4/hour): If you have exhausted your plan, you can add one hour of GPU at a minimal cost of $4 to your plan. You can use this upgrade with any existing plan. Midjourney will ask you to use the metered fast minutes, and you can set a spending limit. The tool will only charge you for the GPU time you have used. For instance, if you set your spending limit to $20 and used only $15 worth of GPU minutes, you will be charged $15.

Corporate Membership ($600/year): For an upfront amount of $600, you can get a corporate membership that allows you to use the generated images commercially. However, your company must have a gross revenue of $1 million/year. The corporate plan also provides the private mode at no extra cost.

Is Midjourney the Best AI Text-to-Image Generator?

Midjourney proves to be a better AI text-to-image generator than its competitors like DALL-E 2. The tool provides top-notch AI image generation at affordable prices. You can also take advantage of the commands and parameters to get more accurate results.

In addition, since you can install the Midjourney bot on your private Discord server, it becomes exponentially easy to have a dedicated workspace for creating your art. Overall, Midjourney is one of the best text-to-image generators in the industry right now.