Maybe I shouldn’t call this a “journey”, as I’ve played with it a couple of days before my trial ended, but…

I’ve been, as I’m sure we all have, seeing a ton of images show up, images created with Midjourney, and other AI platforms. I got curious enough to find out how to get some of my own. Turns out it’s simple enough to get started, and mind boggling at the same time.

composite of Midjourney images

Steps to get going:

  • Visit Midjourney, and get the link to their Discord on the site (where it says “Join the Beta”. If you don’t have a Discord account yet, make sure you create one before trying this

  • Join their Discord server, and go to one of the #newbies channels

  • Type “"/imagine”", followed by whatever you’d like the bot to create

  • Done

In my case, since I was using a photo, I had to upload it somewhere, to get a URL that will then be a part of the prompt. All the images on the post have been created from that same image.

You can ask it to create posters, photos, illustrations, cartoons, a specific character for a font, in any style you can think of. Classic painters? Sure. A particular cartoon style? Yes. Different light settings? Of course.

composite of Midjourney images

In no time you’ll get four images back. They’ll have buttons underneath, where you’ll be able to ask for a particular one to be upscaled (the U buttons), or to get variations based on that one (the V buttons).

There are plenty of sites around that can help you with the prompts, and their endless combinations, and particular flags you can set too. A quick DDG search will go a long way.

You can also take a look at what others are asking the bot to create, and get ideas from there. Mind you, it moves FAST! There are literally thousands of people on that server, and it seems they’re at it constantly. I don’t think I’ve ever joined a server where things move at such a speed.

TIP: The “mentions” tab will be your friend when the time comes to get to your results.

If you’re anything like me, your trial will end soon enough. You can them subscribe to one of the available plans, if you want to keep going. I did not, yet, but I’m pretty sure I’ll do it eventually. The Basic Plan will cost you $10/month (or $8 if you decide to get a whole year at once). You can get to your personal account page if you type “/subscribe” while on Discord. That money will get you around 200 images per month.