How to Get Midjourney AI - The Complete 2800 Word Guide

Hey there! Looking to get your hands on Midjourney – the incredible new AI art generator that‘s taking the world by storm? Well you‘ve come to the right place.

In this epic all-encompassing guide, I‘m going to walk you through everything you need to know to start creating jaw-dropping AI generated art with Midjourney.

By the end, you‘ll be a pro at unleashing the creative potential of this futuristic technology. So strap in and let‘s dive right in!

What Exactly is Midjourney?

Midjourney is an artificial intelligence system that can create astonishing works of art from scratch using nothing more than a text description.

Developed by startup Anthropic, it uses what‘s known as a diffusion model – a type of deep learning algorithm that has recently pushed AI art generation to a whole new level.

Unlike previous AI art tools, Midjourney generates images completely from imagination – it doesn‘t copy, mashup, or recycle existing artworks. The results are often photorealistic and difficult to distinguish from human creations.

Some standout capabilities of Midjourney include:

Generating landscapes, portraits, architecture, animals, space scenes, album covers, book illustrations – you name it.
Producing in a huge range of art styles – from impressionist to anime to steampunk.
Crafting shockingly high resolution images – up to 4096×4096 pixels.
Intelligently incorporating creative concepts like "hope", "mystery", "serenity" into its art.

Since launching in 2021, Midjourney has gone viral within digital art circles and become the poster child for the AI art revolution.

It‘s still in beta but accessible to anyone – and that‘s where our journey begins…

Step 1: Joining the Midjourney Discord Server

Midjourney is powered by a Discord bot. So the first step to using it is joining the Midjourney Discord server at:

https://discord.gg/midjourney

Discord is a popular chat app used by over 150 million users. Don‘t worry if you haven‘t used it before – signing up is quick and free.

Once you‘ve created a Discord account, accept the invite link above to join the Midjourney server. This is where you‘ll be able to chat with the Midjourney bot and prompt it to create images for you.

The Midjourney Discord has over 200,000 members and counting. It‘s both the official home of the Midjourney community and your gateway to generating AI art.

Step 2: Head to a Newbies Channel

Once you‘re inside the Midjourney Discord, you‘ll see a messy array of channels – don‘t let this intimidate you!

For starters, head to any channel called "newbies" such as #newbies-1 or #newbies-42.

These newbies channels provide a space where you can test out Midjourney without annoying more experienced users. Use them while you‘re getting the hang of things.

Later on you can explore channels like #showcase for inspiration, #techniques for tips, and #feedback for critique. But for now, a newbies channel is the perfect place to begin your AI art adventures.

Step 3: Prompt Midjourney with /imagine

This is where the magic happens! Inside a newbies channel, you can now start prompting Midjourney to generate images for you.

It‘s incredibly simple – just type "/imagine" followed by a description of what you want it to create.

For example:

/imagine an astronaut riding a horse on Mars, digital art

/imagine a cute baby panda eating bamboo, oil painting

/imagine a towering fantasy castle, HD illustration

Midjourney will then start cooking up images based on your prompt. The first time takes 2-3 minutes as it initializes, after that it generates in 15-30 seconds.

Once processing completes, Midjourney will post 4 images in the channel for you to check out. Amazing right? 🤯

At this point you can pick your favorite, or keep iterating by tweaking the prompt and trying again.

Step 4: Upscaling and Variations

You‘re not limited to just the initial 4 images Midjourney provides. You can further refine and evolve the art through upscaling and variations.

Upscaling increases the image resolution while preserving and enhancing details.

Type U1 to upscale to 1024×1024
U2 for 2048×2048
U3 for 3072×3072
U4 for 4096×4096 (maximum size!)

Higher upscaled versions can look positively stunning, almost print-quality.

Variations give you fresh takes by generating 4 new images in different styles.

Type V1 to see the first variation set
V2, V3, V4 to see more variety.

With practice, you‘ll get a feel for when upscaling vs variations is more effective depending on the image.

Pro tip: You can combine upscaling and variations, like U2 V3 to upscale then generate stylistic variants on the upscaled image!

Step 5: Favoriting and Downloading

Once you‘ve created an image you really love, you can favorite it by reacting 🔥. This saves the image to your Midjourney gallery.

You can browse your gallery and download full quality versions of your images at:

https://www.midjourney.com/app/users/me/gallery/

After signing up for a free account here, you‘ll gain access to all your creations in one place. Very handy!

And that covers the basics of using Midjourney! With just those 5 steps you can start creating infinite AI generated art.

Next let‘s dig into some pro tips and tricks…

Crafting the Perfect Prompts

The prompt you give Midjourney – your text description – has a huge impact on the final image. Mastering the art of prompting is key to realizing your wildest creative visions.

Here are my top tips for writing killer Midjourney prompts:

Be as descriptive as possible – The more details, the better. Describe textures, colors, styles, lighting, context, etc.
Use 2-4 descriptive modifiers per subject – For example "a knight in shining armor standing on a cliff"
Provide visual inspiration – Upload example images to guide Midjourney. This really helps!
List multiple aspects – Rather than cramming everything into one sentence, break your prompt across multiple lines with line breaks.
Specify an art medium – Want it painted vs 3D rendered? Add "oil painting", "vector art", "CG render" etc.
Re-prompt iteratively – Tweak your wording and try again if the output isn‘t quite right. Language matters!

Let‘s look at some examples of great prompting in action…

Prompt:

an astronaut in a vibrant spacesuit, digital art
the suit has intricate neon glowing details, by Artgerm
intricately detailed starry space background

Prompt:

lord of the rings style landscape, fantasy digital painting
lush green rolling hills, tall mountains behind
a castle on the cliffs near a waterfall
misty morning light shining through the clouds

Prompt:

adorable happy baby panda, playing in a bamboo forest
warm lighting, soft focus, film photo
shallow depth of field
National Geographic magazine cover

Can you see how adding detail, visual refs, modifiers, and formatting helps Midjourney generate more accurate results? Well-crafted prompts are an art unto themselves.

Here are some more examples from the Midjourney Discord for inspiration:

|
| Intricately detailed dragon wearing knight armor brandishing a sword, digital painting, artstation, concept art, sharp focus, illustration, art by greg rutkowski and alphonse mucha |

|
| majestic snow leopard resting on a cliff edge overlooking the himalayas, National Geographic photograph |

|
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Now it‘s your turn to experiment! Try out different prompting techniques and see what works best for you.

Optimizing Your Workflow

In addition to perfecting prompts, you can greatly improve your Midjourney workflow and results using these pro techniques:

Upload image assets – Providing Midjourney with example images or artwork really boosts quality. Upload any visual references you have to guide the AI.

Masking – Masking lets you overlay an AI image onto an existing background image for compositing. This opens up many creative possibilities!

Seed tweaking – Tweak the seed number to cycle through different "generations" of your prompt. Useful for checking variations.

Lightroom edits – Post-process your images in Lightroom to adjust colors, tones, sharpness and more. Takes them to the next level.

Photobashing – Combine the best parts of multiple generations using Photoshop. A great way to mix and match elements.

Upscaling first – Sometimes upscaling before generating variants produces better detailed results. Don‘t be afraid to experiment with order.

Text prompts – You can add text captions, logos, signatures which Midjourney will cleanly integrate into the image.

Animation – Optimize images for animation frames, then compile them into a GIF or video with tools like DALL-E Flow.

With the right workflow, you can transform Midjourney‘s raw outputs into polished art assets ready for professional applications.

Using Midjourney Art Commercially

One burning question around AI art is whether it can be used commercially. Thankfully Midjourney grants full commercial rights to images generated by subscribers.

However, some specifics to note:

The free 25-prompt trial has a non-commercial license. You need a paid subscription to use Midjourney commercially.
Companies making over $1 million yearly revenue require an "enterprise" Midjourney plan for commercial use.
You cannot use Midjourney to create logos, brand names, or other registered trademarks per the ToS.

As long as you follow the terms of service, any art that you generate as a subscriber is 100% yours to use commercially for business purposes.

Many Midjourney users are already selling their AI art professionally:

Selling digital prints, clothing, and merchandise featuring their designs.
Offering AI art generation as a freelance service.
Using AI art in YouTube thumbnails, books, album covers, marketing materials.
Selling AI art NFTs on platforms like OpenSea.

In short, a paid Midjourney subscription can absolutely be used commercially to earn money from AI generated art. Just ensure you comply with the ToS and be transparent that it is AI created.

Midjourney Pricing Breakdown

Let‘s breakdown the Midjourney pricing tiers, so you know exactly what you‘re getting:

Free Tier

25 free prompts
1024×1024 resolution

Basic Plan – $10/month

200 prompts/month
1024×1024 resolution

Pro Plan – $30/month

Unlimited prompts
4096×4096 resolution

Enterprise Plan – Contact Sales

Unlimited prompts
4096×4096 resolution
Priority Discord support
Required for commercial use by $1M+ companies

The free tier is great for testing the waters. But I‘d recommend the Pro plan for serious creators – unlimited 4K image generation is a steal at just $30.

For big businesses, the Enterprise plan unlocks priority support, bulk credits, and commercial rights.

They occasionally run special offers like discounts for annual subscriptions. So keep an eye out for deals!

And that covers everything you need to know about Midjourney pricing and plans.

Next Steps After Accessing Midjourney

Once you‘ve joined Midjourney and started creating, here are some recommended next steps:

Practice regularly – Spend time daily practicing prompts and technique to improve skills
Browse Showcase – Absorb inspiration from the incredible creations of others
Join the community – Follow Midjourney news and share your art on Twitter, Reddit, Discord
Learn advanced skills – Study up on advanced techniques like video, 3D and more
Promote your art – Post your best Midjourney creations on your socials and portfolio
Make money – Offer your art services, sell prints/NFTs, use in commercial projects
Stay ethical – Follow best practices around copyright and proper AI use
Shape the future – Participate in surveys that help guide Midjourney’s development

The possibilities are endless when you make Midjourney a part of your creative toolkit. This technology is still just scratching the surface of its potential.

I hope this mega guide gives you the confidence and skills to start exploring AI art generation. The future is yours to shape – go create something amazing!

Let me know if you have any other questions. And please share some of your Midjourney creations, I‘d love to see what you come up with.

Happy prompting!