Ai-art in Seconds with Midjourney (Images from Text!)

If I saw this a few years ago, I wouldn't believe my eyes. Art-making robot generating astounding concept art from your text prompt, in seconds. Something BIG is happening!

I spent a few days playing with Midjourney beta (generated more than 1000 images and burned quite a few bucks). Can't wait to share the crazy results with you - oh and also a quick Midjourney tutorial. Warning: there are a few potentially disturbing images (AI can generated some really weird stuff).

Video timeline:
00:00 - Start
00:28 - What is Midjourney?
01:41 - How to use Midjourney
02:31 - How to generate images from text
06:53 - Browsing the gallery of your ai-generated works
08:16 - The artists' styles
10:01 - Quick tip for more realistic '3d' rendering
11:10 - Aspect ratio
12:40 - Community
14:01 - What I've created in Midjourney in five days
16:19 - Conclusion

Links:

Music:
Landing - Godmode - Youtube Audio Library
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

[BlenderSecrets]

Cool video Gleb! Another tip: You don't have to ask prompts in the general threads, you can send a private message to the Midjourney bot so you only see your prompts.

[GlebAlexandrov]

Video timeline, for your convenience:
00:00 - Start
00:28 - What is Midjourney?
01:41 - How to use Midjourney
02:31 - How to generate images from text
06:53 - Browsing the gallery of your ai-generated works
08:16 - The artists' styles
10:01 - Quick tip for more realistic '3d' rendering
11:10 - Aspect ratio
12:40 - Community
14:01 - What I've created in Midjourney in five days
16:19 - Conclusion

[marcinb]

"art is gonna be the last job AI will take from us" Meanwhile the future ->

[cryochamberlabel]

It's pretty useful for generating textures for 3D. Cathedral glass, Gritty Book covers, rusty signs, as well as background planes that aren't in focus.

[blankblank]

This looks like a great way to brainstorm multiple moods or styles very quickly. The scary thing for professional artists is that after a few more generations I could see this type of engine becoming more and more specific, and likely replacing a lot of jobs. I think individual style will end up being the big differentiator between humans and ai in the end as there will always be value in a human created thing. Also you’ll still have humans selectively moderating the engine but this definitely looks like the future.

[Crimson]

for the last 20 years i have made a living with art, and over those years this topic has poped up, substance painter was going to replace us, 3d scans where going to replace us, marv designer was going to replace us, I even remember when poser was going to replace us hahahah. So this AI art looks very impressive, I agree, but when people say this will replace artists i think they miss understand what artists acturlly do, there is a consistancy of vision and intention that only comes from mind, and untill you work in the art world its hard to understand how this stuff is just going to become another tool, and not a replacement, in fact ive seen these tools just lead to us needing more artists as the projects we can create become bigger, they also allow smaller teams to do so much more, so if you looking at this and thinking there is no point in trying then i would reconsider, you will find allot of meaning and joy in learining new skills and if your lucky and really work hard you will find yourself at a desk, in a job, that you love surrounded by amazing people, so dont throw those ball points away, its just another tool, and for the coders who work on this stuff and who i regually see saying they will replace artists, if you replace us then you will be replacing yourselves and if your vision comes true you will find yourselves locked out the building with us :). so pick up your pens, find a corner and make some magic from your wonderfull, misunderstood, devine minds, and let the doom sayers stand with there signs screaming that the sky will fall, and if it does fall, then draw it falling, god bless

[mikem]

"Imagine: super-advanced breakthrough technologies that leave millions more people financially precarious and suspicious of potentially liberating advancements"

[Keilnoth]

Honestly, some of these images are truly amazing. I could watch them all day. I understand that for some concept artists it might become troublesome. But if the goal of arts, and concept art in particular, is to generate feelings, emotions, and inspiration, then this AI is simply working. And I also see this AI as a tool for artist to simply generate ideas on which the artist will iterate. Let's remember that, for now, these images have no context and it seems difficult to generate a scene and keep the same style or context in the image. Not even talking about storytelling here...

Obviously, some people are going to abuse this, but this is the nature of the world and social media in particular. Fast food is produced for people who don't enjoy fine cuisine, they are not the same audience.

[BLckViPR]

With an art drawing AI, this is a whole new level of inspiration!

[Rockberries]

I've seen a lot of fascinating stuff generated by this midjourney AI, but honestly I still feel really conflicted about all of this.
I'm generally excited about new tools that you can play with to expand your artistery, but in this case not at all.
There is a point in your art journey with every step you make to become a better artist, the thrill to be able to produce a new image that will maybe touch people's heart because you spent years learning and failing, again and again. That's the beauty of it, the emotions of the challenges through the pathway and the ultimate progress in the end.
Now with this technology it's like the fast food of images: good but forgettable. Always producing more and iterating faster.
And rn let's be real, a lot of people are only using AI images for clout and more following on their social media. I find it kinda sad because it's all about attention and not art. But it's just the beginning and some kind of AI awareness will certainly arrive.
And for the future, of concept art / art direction, maybe it will be someting like merging different images together, iterating some concepts, retouching some parts, etc. And again, I'm not looking forward to this tbh.

[kleyyer]

2021: AI is just another tool for artists.
2022: Humans are just another tool for AI.
AI: Thanks humans for all your hard work, I've learned a lot, now I will take it on from here.

[Kiyotxka]

I managed to create a thing I've been wondering about for so long with this AI, it's truly phenomenal how accurate it feels to what you have in mind.

[STROBdotNET]

I finally was accepted for the beta, this thing is completely amazing! It's as fast as doing photography but for stuff out of your imagination. It gives a really solid base for detailing and painting over!
BTW I saw this in the faq:
Can I do detailed public reviews of the current beta? Can I post screenshots / videos of the Discord?
Please don't. The algorithms and experience will significantly change in the coming weeks.

I hop they will not be mad at your review as it is very useful in fact! thank you for your review!

[VMP]

It is a fascinating tool, but I find using prompts of established artists' names to rip off their style extremely unsettling. I get the appeal, but it's basically stealing someone's art personality. Second thing, the prompt results being public means it's becoming even more diluted and loses all uniqueness. Then there's the very distinct AI fingerprint on it, I'm already tired of looking at all the samey "concept art" generated im Midjourney. What gibes me some hope is the results are very generic if you think about it. I wanted to do something really specific in the vein of my paintings, with a specified geographical region of Poland, its architecture, foliage, landscape, and results were hilariously bad. Like, I couldn't even use them for overpainting. So, jury's still out, but brace yourselves for the flood of AI-generated imagery (which I won't be calling art anytime soon it seems).
But holy fuck is it addicting, for sure. And super expensive at the moment, 200 prompts can burn in a day.

[MN-vlme]

It is beautiful, I didn't expect art to be one of the earliest for AI to effect, I thought I would be happy with it, but now seeing it with my eyes, I realize that as we gain we will lose some along the way, I can see it designing architecture, interior, product, complete levels in games, movies... etc. This is going to be a stressful era for artists and designers, and I think when they say it's just another tool, it doesn't help much, 5 years later I bet this will keep staying as a tool :D

[Joe-tibf]

As a writer, I feel distinctly different about this than it seems many of the artists in the comments do.

I am positively thrilled. Ever since I first saw Dall-E's work, I've been extremely excited for that sort of sophistication of technology to become available for commercial use, and it seems we're getting to that point.

While I would not consider myself an artist, I have dabbled in the past. I spent quite a while learning how to digitally paint landscapes and loved every minute of it. From my perspective, this type of technology does not overwrite that of traditional/digital art -- it simple accentuates it.

Yes, the AI may one day be able to generate amazingly detailed and complex images of specific scenes in a fraction of the time it would take a human, but despite this, it's still something that's being *generated*. It is very hard to teach an AI to truly think like a human; to deliberate over each stylistic choice, to utilize past experiences to inform how they should compose the piece they're working on.

There's something very personal about human art, and something enchanting about AI art. They each have their place, their niche, and in time as these technologies become more readily available I'm sure we'll see "AI Artists" who spend hours and hours refining and perfecting the linguistic methodologies of interacting with these image-generating AIs, but I don't believe they will "take over" from artists, just as digital art did not wipe out traditional art.

It is simply another form, another medium.

[hemersonmarques]

it is a strange feeling of admiration and at the same time of indifference. it is as if for a moment we are admiring the extraordinary beauty of the work of a relentless competitor with a high chance of becoming better than us. a concept artist takes hours to produce 1 scene while this thing takes minutes or seconds to produce 4 scenes. enough of giving a shiver
😖

[MelvilleG]

Cool stuff. If previously we were struggling to coin our own artistic style, now our job is simplier - you will stand out a great deal from the millions of people drawing with AI - by just drawing by hand.

[fabianoperes]

I LOVE IT!
What I most like is the unpredictability!

[scottmunford]

All I can say is: WOW! I'm in my elder years, thought I found something helpful with this new AI stuff. But like others, I like what the new tools can do, but wonder what the impact on our art will be in the long term. Hopefully I can keep up!