How to Create AI Art with Midjourney

How to Create AI Art with Midjourney

In this article and accompanying video, we’ll be walking through how to use Midjourney to create AI art. This will include signing up, getting prepared, and then actually creating the art. It’s fairly easy to use, but requires a few unconventional steps to get started.

Watch the full tutorial:

Sign Up for Discord

Midjourney works entirely through Discord. For those that don’t know, Discord is a communications tool in the same vein as Slack or Teams. It is commonly associated with gaming, but plenty of businesses and other interest groups use Discord to chat and form a community.

Discord is free and easy to use, and you don’t need to talk to any other humans if you don’t want to. Once you’ve registered for Discord, you can go to the Midjourney website and click on “Join The Beta”. This will give you an invitation to join the Midjourney Discord server.

Join the Proper Discord Channel

When you join the Discord server, you’ll need to find and enter one of the “Newcomer Rooms”. Enter any of the channels in this category by clicking on the name. You’ll now be able to send prompts, or you can type /help to get a list of tips on how to use the tool. When you’re ready to generate an image, type /imagine in the chat box. This will then create a prompt field where you can type your image description.

As a free user, you will only get 25 image generations, so you’ll want to be as descriptive as possible with your prompt. Use precise language about content, style, colors, actions, and anything else you can think of. When you’re done, press enter to send your message. Keep in mind that other users are present in these channels and can see your username, so don’t generate anything you’d be too embarrassed by.

Refine the Image

Midjourney will take about a minute to think about and generate your images and will then deliver four different interpretations of your prompt. The message will include several possible buttons to react with, which will tell the AI what action to take next.

Each image is labeled one through four, and has a corresponding U and V button. The U button will upscale the chosen image into a larger and higher-quality version. The V button will create a new image that is another iteration of the image you chose. You can also select the refresh button to generate a new set of images based on the same prompt. Just remember that all of these responses will use up your free prompts. If you choose to upscale an image, you can choose from a variety of additional options.

You can generate additional variations, upscale to maximum size, or redo the upscale. You will also see a range of emojis, which let you rate images that you like or dislike. You can add these rankings to your own images or to ones that other users have generated.

DM the image to yourself

Finally you can use the envelope emoji to send the image to yourself in a private message. From there you can download the image and use it wherever you like by clicking on the image then right-clicking and choose Save Image. You can also view the image and download it on the Midjourney website in your gallery.

Considerations

There are a few things to consider when using Midjourney to generate images. While there are filters in place that prevent prohibited content from being generated, you are not allowed to use the AI tool to generate images of content like gore or adult images, or content images that could be harmful or inflammatory to others.

While you do get 25 free actions, it is more based on time than actions, and 25 is an estimate. To get an exact update of how much trial time you have you can use the /info command.

If you’d like to subscribe, you can type /subscribe and receive a personalized link to the Midjourney account page. Midjourney has several paid plans that currently cost between $10 – $60 per month depending on what quantity of images you need to generate.

Other ways to use Midjourney

The Midjourney bot works across all of Discord, so if you are in another server that the Midjourney bot has been invited to, you can use it in that server. So if you’re not comfortable using it in a place where others could see your prompts, you could create your own Discord server or start a server with a few friends, and use the bot there. You can also use the /imagine command while directly messaging the Midjourney bot. Keep in mind that the content and moderation rules still apply even if you’re generating images within a private channel. To use the bot commands in a direct message however, you will need to subscribe to a paid plan.

And that is how to use Midjourney. It’s surprisingly easy to get started, despite requiring a Discord account and the Discord app to access it. But after just a little bit of setup, you can be on your way to creating AI art, getting inspired by what others are creating, and learning how best to direct the AI tool to create the image you want. Try out Midjourney here.

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