Unleashing the Creativity of Midjourney: Art Direction Explored

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Experimenting with Mid Journey
3. Controlling the AI with Image Weight Command
4. Using Specific Styles to Influence the Outcome
5. The Challenge of Descriptive Prompts
6. Embracing a Loose and Vague Approach
7. Exploring Different Styles with AI Assistance
   1. Gregory Kreutzen's Style
   2. Simon Stalinhack's Style
   3. David Hockney's Style
   4. Jeff Koons' Style
   5. Geiger's Style
   6. William Eggleston's Style
8. Conclusion
9. The Future of AI-assisted Art
10. Final Thoughts

Experimenting with AI-assisted Art: Controlling and Exploring the Creative Possibilities

Artificial intelligence has become increasingly prevalent in various creative fields, including art. As an artist, I was curious to explore the realm of AI-assisted art creation. I began experimenting with a tool called "Mid Journey" to see how much influence I could have on the final image output.

Experimenting with Mid Journey

A few weeks ago, I started my journey into AI-assisted art creation with Mid Journey. It was exhilarating to see the images that the AI would generate, even though they weren't always the best or aligned with my vision. Nonetheless, witnessing the development of this new field was truly exciting.

In this video, my aim was to Delve deeper into the capabilities of Mid Journey and discover the extent to which I could steer the AI's output towards a specific direction. Previously, I heavily relied on the AI's random decisions, but now I wanted to experiment with prompts and prompt settings to achieve a more targeted outcome.

Controlling the AI with Image Weight Command

One suggestion that caught my Attention was the "image weight" command. This command allows me to specify a particular image from the internet as visual inspiration for the AI, without building directly upon it. Intrigued by this possibility, I decided to use one of my own 3D renders depicting a robot as the base image. My intent was to see how the AI would interpret this robot in a cyberpunk style.

Despite setting the image weight to a high value in order to heavily influence the outcome, the results were not aligned with my expectations. The AI-generated images lacked the desired similarities to the base image. The color palette seemed somewhat reminiscent, but there was a lack of unique characteristics and angles that I had hoped to see.

To further influence the output, I increased the image weight to its maximum value of 90% and chose Hajime Sorayama's style as another input. Sorayama is renowned for his shiny robot characters, so I expected the AI to find appropriate references easily. However, the AI still fell short in delivering images that truly resembled Sorayama's style or even my original base image.

The Challenge of Descriptive Prompts

Puzzled by the AI's inability to produce satisfactory results, I started to question my choice of prompts. Perhaps I had confused the AI by using both the image weight command and requesting the style of Sorayama simultaneously. In an attempt to rectify this, I adjusted the prompt to focus solely on a robot character in Sorayama's style.

Unfortunately, the AI's interpretation veered in an unexpected direction, producing a more somber version of Sorayama's work. The robots lacked the signature shine and vibrancy, taking on a more human-like appearance. The output didn't Resemble the true essence of Sorayama's robots, which was disappointing.

Embracing a Loose and Vague Approach

After facing several setbacks, I decided to approach the AI in a more relaxed manner. Instead of aiming for a specific outcome, I opted for looser and vaguer prompts to see where the AI's creativity would take me. Surprisingly, this change yielded significantly better results.

I discovered that by keeping the prompts loose and vague, I allowed the AI more room to play and explore. Moreover, it seemed that having fewer specific expectations allowed me to embrace whatever image the AI generated. The team behind Mid Journey suggests that using strong feelings or mystical themes can also yield excellent results by providing the AI with ample guidance.

Exploring Different Styles with AI Assistance

Encouraged by my newfound approach, I decided to explore the AI's ability to imitate various artists' styles. I selected artists whose work I admired and attempted to replicate their distinctive aesthetics using Mid Journey.

Gregory Kreutzen's Style

Gregory Kreutzen's photography possesses a cinematic and dreamlike quality, often capturing suburban landscapes. Despite the challenges of replicating his style, the AI surprised me with its ability to generate promising sketches. While far from a final product, these early sketches provided a solid foundation that sparked my creative flow.

Continued...