From Code to Canvas: A Guide for Prompting Stunning AI Art with MidJourney (1/3)

Friday, Feb 3, 2023 887 words 5 minutes

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Contents

Unlock your artistic potential and create jaw-dropping AI art with these exclusive cheat codes for Midjourney. These expert hacks will take your art to new heights, no coding skills required!

Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing many industries, including the world of art. I have seen firsthand the incredible potential of artificial intelligence to create stunning and original pieces of art. From computer-generated paintings to AI-generated music, the possibilities are endless. That’s why I want to motivate you to explore the world of AI art and create something truly jaw-dropping.

In this blog post, I’ll provide you with sweet and exclusive prompts to get started with creating jaw-dropping AI art. Let’s dive in and see how you can use your skills and knowledge to create something truly amazing!

Prerequisites

You need Discord, should already have an account with www.midjourney.com and be familiar with how to use /imagine prompts.

Basic Prompt Commands

Let’s just get straight to the point, we all know the Basic ommands:

/imagine creates an image based on the prompt text you provided. It produces a grid of 4 images, taking around 50 seconds with default settings.
/settings gives you an interactive window to select options.
/help displays universally helpful information and tips about the Midjourney bot.
/info shows information about your profile, plan, usage, and currently running jobs.
/subscribe creates a unique link to the subscription page of your current Discord account, without needing to sign in on the website.

but more important are /imagine parameters:

--aspect or --ar changes the aspect ratio of a generation (default: --ar 1:1)
--no Negative prompting, --no mushrooms would try to remove mushrooms from the image.
--stylize or --s parameter influences how strongly Midjourney’s default aesthetic style is applied to Jobs.
--quality <.25, .5, 1, or 2>, or --q <.25, .5, 1, or 2> defines how much rendering quality time you want to spend (default: 1)
--seed <integer between 0–4294967295> When using the MidJourney bot to create AI-generated art, the process begins by generating a field of visual noise, similar to television static, using a seed number. This seed number is randomly generated for each image, but can also be specified using the --seed or --sameseed parameter. By using the same seed number and prompt for multiple images, you can achieve similar ending images with subtle variations, allowing you to experiment and fine-tune your artistic vision.

More parameters see Parameters List.

Multi-Prompts and Prompt Weighting

To employ multi-prompts in Midjourney, insert a double colon (::) in between your prompts without any gaps. Multi-prompts are typically employed to modify the behavior of compound words in the prompts.

cup cake	cup:: cake

Cup cake is considered as a single word.	Cup and cake are considered separate words.

The double colon :: is used to divide a prompt into parts. You can put a number after it to show how important that part is. Adding a number to a word is called prompt weighting or text weighting.

jelly:: fish	jelly::2 fish

Jelly and fish are considered separate words.	Jelly is twice as important as cake.

More details see Multi Prompts

Prefer Suffix

Since you know me and everything I do is about to Automate everything you can and should use a Suffix:

/prefer command saves you having to type the options every time that you use the /imagine command

I’m usually working with the suffix /prefer suffix --ar 2:3 --q 2 which always sets my aspect ratio to portrait (--ar 2:3) and uses best quality (--q 2).

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So next time I send a prompt like this

/from-code-to-canvas-a-guide-for-prompting-stunning-ai-art-with-midjourney-1/20230307161643.png — `kintsugi glacial ice::2 oil painting, palette knife texture, thick paint, wide brushstrokes, vibrant vivid colors::2 by Iris Scott, Leonid Afremov and Vincent Van Gogh::1`

it adds the suffix --ar 2:3 --q 2.

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Aspect Ratios

1:1 (Square, default aspect ratio)

/from-code-to-canvas-a-guide-for-prompting-stunning-ai-art-with-midjourney-1/20230302160842.png — Prompt: `An atomic color explosion --ar 1:1`

2:3 (Portrait)

/from-code-to-canvas-a-guide-for-prompting-stunning-ai-art-with-midjourney-1/20230302152120.png — Prompt: `Professional black and red powder explosion, white background, 8k --ar 2:3`

3:2 (Landscape)

/from-code-to-canvas-a-guide-for-prompting-stunning-ai-art-with-midjourney-1/20230302151002.png — Prompt: `watercolor rainbow --ar 3:2`

16:9 (Wallpaper)

/from-code-to-canvas-a-guide-for-prompting-stunning-ai-art-with-midjourney-1/20230302203557.png — Prompt: `white porsche, rainbow neon --ar 16:9`

1:2

/from-code-to-canvas-a-guide-for-prompting-stunning-ai-art-with-midjourney-1/20230302154728.png — Prompt: `color chaos --ar 1:2`

2:1

/from-code-to-canvas-a-guide-for-prompting-stunning-ai-art-with-midjourney-1/20230302153321.png — Prompt: `Beautiful, weird and abstract painting of a dark and colourful landscape by Thomas Kinkade, Greg Rutkowski, Dan Mumford, Dan Witz, Daarken and James Gurney --ar 2:1`

Cheat Codes

Okay, enough basics, let’s get to the gist and give you some good examples!

Note: In some prompts I used multi-prompts as well as weighting to achieve better results.

Featured Image

“as this or that”

Let’s say you want to have your character/style look like something you have in mind (Disney, Pixar, Superman, …), just use “... as Superman” or “... as Disney”, or even both.

/from-code-to-canvas-a-guide-for-prompting-stunning-ai-art-with-midjourney-1/20230302154833.png — Prompt: `Superman as a Disney character`

Glitchart

/from-code-to-canvas-a-guide-for-prompting-stunning-ai-art-with-midjourney-1/20230302152931.png — Prompt: `infinity space:: glitchart::1`

Nebula vs. Psychedelic

/from-code-to-canvas-a-guide-for-prompting-stunning-ai-art-with-midjourney-1/20230303125837.png — Prompt: `fluorescent mushroom:: nebula::1`

/from-code-to-canvas-a-guide-for-prompting-stunning-ai-art-with-midjourney-1/20230303130607.png — Prompt: `fluorescent mushroom:: psychedelic::1`

Double Exposure

/from-code-to-canvas-a-guide-for-prompting-stunning-ai-art-with-midjourney-1/20230303131245.png — Prompt: `beautiful woman, vibrant colours and firework, double exposure`

Generate new images based on your own images

/imagine https://link-to-your-image.jpg <your prompt>

Base Image	Generated Image

Credits: Suren Manvelyan	Prompt: `http://graef.io/from-code-to-canvas-a-guide-for-prompting-stunning-ai-art-with-midjourney/20230306165037.png:: Celestial mist superimposed over human eye::5 close up view of eye only ::5`

Note

Check out the next part

From Code to Canvas: A Guide for Prompting Stunning AI Art with MidJourney (2/3)

References