Over the past couple of years, AI image generators have created a lot of buzz. They're great tools for inspiration and bring your wildest imaginations to life in seconds with high detail and accuracy. One AI art generator that has been part of this conversation since 2022 has been Midjourney, and for good reason. It generates some of the highest-quality images I've seen, and it has an impressively large community of creatives who interact with each other and share their work. Midjourney was also one of the first AI image generators to appear on the scene as part of the AI Boom.
As someone who has reviewed some of the best AI image generators on the market, I wanted to test Midjourney and see if it was still worth the hype in 2024. So, in this comprehensive Midjourney review, I'll discuss what it is, who it's best for, and its key features.
Verdict
Midjourney remains worth the hype today due to its vibrant community, continuous improvements, high-quality image generations, and extensive easy-to-follow guides. It also recently launched a web version to simplify the user experience, but you'll have to have made more than 100 images with Midjourney to access it.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Among the best AI image generators, producing high-quality and unique images in diverse artistic styles.
- Midjourney Alpha (web app) offers a more seamless user experience for those who have generated at least 100 images.
- Easily accessible via Discord, making it convenient for those already using it.
- Mimics specific artistic styles and creates images that seem like famous artists made them.
- Image refinement options, including variations, upscaling, and outpainting.
- Continuous improvements and new features are being released.
- Quick start guide with other resources.
- Strong Discord community.
Cons
- More complicated than other AI image generators.
- Unable to choose the number of images it generates.
- Not ideal for text generation.
- Requires a Discord account.
- Not free.
What is Midjourney?
Midjourney is an independent research lab dedicated to exploring new mediums of thought and expanding human imagination. This small, self-funded team led by David Holz focuses on design, human infrastructure, and artificial intelligence (AI), with 11 full-time staff and an impressive set of advisors.
Midjourney uses machine learning algorithms to generate high-quality images in various styles from text prompts. It only takes a few seconds to generate four images! You can then generate different variations and upscale your pictures for better quality. Midjourney has also been trained on millions of images, enabling it to develop varied and highly detailed images.
Another unique aspect of Midjourney is that it uses Discord. Discord is convenient for those already with an account and great for collaboration, as you'll see others generating images in real-time. The downside to Discord is that it may be confusing and overwhelming for new users. Luckily, Midjourney recently released a new Web App that offers a more seamless user experience. The Web App still requires you to create a Discord account, but the interface is much cleaner, and you'll still be able to interact and create with the community in the different rooms available.
Since its launch in July 2022, Midjourney has grown significantly and continues to break new ground in blending AI with human creativity. This unique platform is an excellent resource for digital artists, content creators, and businesses wanting their visuals to pop.
Who is Midjourney Best For?
Midjourney is a powerful tool for anyone from professionals to hobbyists who want to be on the cutting edge of generating high-quality images:
- Digital artists can use Midjourney as a playground to explore and experiment with various art styles.
- Graphic designers can use Midjourney to create stunning visuals for web design, branding, and marketing materials.
- Businesses can use Midjourney to enhance branding and marketing with visually appealing images that stand out. For example, companies can create engaging images for social media, captivating website visuals, and high-quality marketing materials that match their imagination!
- Content creators can use Midjourney to produce unique, striking images that enhance their written articles and social media posts.
- Authors can use Midjourney to visualize their stories by generating book covers, illustrations, and scene depictions. The platform's ability to emulate various art styles ensures the visuals complement the story's tone and mood.
- Game developers can use Midjourney to create captivating characters, environments, and special effects. The platform sparks new ideas and helps in shaping virtual worlds and levels.
- Hobbyists can use Midjourney to explore their artistic side and create personal projects. The platform allows experimentation with different art styles and provides tools for designing unique images for websites, blogs, social media, or just for fun!
Key Features
Midjourney stands out from other AI image generators for a few reasons.
AI Image Generator
At the heart of Midjourney is its ability to turn simple text prompts into original, high-quality images. Tell Midjourney what you want to create using natural language descriptions, and after a few seconds, Midjourney will generate four images that fit your description! No artistic talent or outsourcing is required to create stunning photos instantly.
Mimic Art Styles
Midjourney makes mimicking art styles easy. For example, if you want to generate images in Van Gogh's style, you can include them in your text prompt. For any style you want to mimic, you can use the Style Reference parameter (–sref) along with the URL of a publicly accessible image following the text section of your prompt.
Refinement Options
Once your images have been generated, you can get Midjourney to create variations and upscale them with the click of a button. Once upscaled, Midjourney will present you with different options to create subtle or strong variations, change a specific region, zoom in or out, or extend the image in any direction.
Discord-Based
Midjourney's functions on Discord, which is not only great for connecting with the community but allows you to create, improve, and share images from many people's favorite chat applications.
Web Application
Midjourney recently released its web application for those new to image generation who want a more seamless user experience. This application makes image generation more straightforward for those who don't want to learn the different parameters.
Continuous Improvements
Midjourney keeps getting smarter through machine learning, which means users know they are on the cutting edge of AI technology.
How to Use Midjourney to Generate Images
Here's how I joined the Midjourney Discord community, generated four unique images from a text prompt, and upscaled one of the generated images:
- Join the Midjourney Discord
- Claim Your Discord Account
- Get Your Midjourney Membership
- Go to a “Newbie” Bot Channel
- Add Your Text Prompt
- Generate Images
- Upscale Images
- Make Further Refinements
Top 5 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Midjourney
Here's my advice on how to make the most of Midjourney:
- Be Clear and Detailed: The more precise your prompts are to Midjourney, the closer the images will be to what you imagine. Include all the crucial details that can help guide it better.
- Experiment with Styles: Midjourney can imitate various artistic expressions, so experimenting with diverse prompts lets you discover unique visual paths for your creations.
- Refine Your Images: Use Midjourney’s refinement options to tweak and personalize those images further. Try experimenting with variations and adjustments to perfect their appearance according to how you want them.
- Explore Different Channels: The Midjourney Discord has between one and two million active users you can connect with and confide in if you need help. Sharing your work and getting feedback will spark more creativity.
- Stay Updated: Midjourney is constantly coming out with new features and continuous updates every few months. Check the Midjourney “announcements” channel on Discord for the latest!
Midjourney Advanced Features
Midjourney has fantastic tools that make generating images much more fun and personalized. Let's dive into what these are and how you can use them:
- Remix Mode: Type in the “/prefer remix” command to tweak your prompt after seeing each batch of variations. You can use this to adjust the setting or lighting of an image, edit subjects, or create more challenging compositions.
- Zoom-In or Out and Directional Pan: You can zero in or out on certain parts of a picture or create more context. It's great for making sure everything looks just right!
- Vary Buttons: Experiment with different versions of an image. This opens up a whole world of creative possibilities based on your vision!
- Upscale Options: Once you've got an image grid full of options, hitting the “U” button lets you pick an image to enlarge to higher quality. From there, right-click on the image and hit “Save Image” to save it to your device.
Is Midjourney Worth It? Final Thoughts
Despite being more complicated than other AI image generators, I still enjoyed generating images with Midjourney. Midjourney provides excellent documents containing an easy-to-follow guide using Discord, writing prompts, and more. You can explore an endless number of styles. Plus, they recently launched the web version of Midjourney, making image generation and user interaction easier for new users.
Midjourney has exciting things on the horizon that'll make the platform even better. They're continuously upgrading their technology to make their AI smarter and create increasingly more accurate and photorealistic images.
I also really love how large and active the Midjourney community is. It's the largest AI art generation community I've seen online, and I love how you can see what others are creating in
