A beginners guide to Midjourney
Have you ever heard of Generative Art and tools like Midjourney or DALL-E?
Generative art tools create images or even videos using algorithms and code, rather than traditional methods like painting or drawing. One of the most exciting platforms for creating Generative Art right now is Midjourney.
Midjourney is a platform that allows users to create Generative Art using natural language. You simply tell the AI what you want to create using keywords.
How to try out Midjourney?
That’s actually very simple and it’s free (for now):
- Sign up for Midjourney by heading to their website and creating an account. Click on “Join the Beta” to get started.
- Download the Discord app, which you’ll need to talk to Midjourney.
- Log in to Midjourney on the website, and it will automatically open Discord for you.
Click any of the “newbie” channels on the left.
Now you are ready to create, Picasso!
Speaking of whom… let’s create a Picture in his style.
Start typing …
/imagine
… into the chat. (Yeah, you’re talking to Midjourney through a chat.). This starts a new “prompt”. Now let’s try:
a cat chasing a dog in the style of Picasso
This is how it should look like:
This is what I got (you won’t see exactly the same ~ that’s kind of the point).
Midjourney will create 4 images for you. Do you like one of them? If you like the one upper right corner, you can press V2 (count from left to right to find the number) to create more variations.
Wait again … and here it comes:
I like the picture on the lower right. So I click U4 to create a bigger version of it. Midjourney will now upscale the picture you liked.
Click on “Web” to download the image from your browser.
Let’s try this again in the style of Salvador Dalí! Type this into the chat:
/imagine a cat chasing a dog in the style of Salvador Dalí
Here is what I got:
Well, I guess by now you get how this works. Have fun and play around!
As you can see, the possibilities are endless. And Midjourney isn’t just for established artists and designers.
Always remember: With great power comes great responsibility!
We will publish more articles like this in the future. Let us know what you think and what you are interested in and what questions you have!
Here some questions we want to answer for ourselves:
- What does Generative Art mean for artist and designers?
- Would you support your child to become an artist in the future after reading this article?
- AI is trained on dead- as well living artists. Should they have a say? (The living ones at least?)
