5 Best Midjourney Prompts: March 2024 (Styles)
Strong modifiers that affect the entire aesthetic on their own.
Happy Thursday, stencil stylers,
I’m back with the monthly Midjourney prompt modifier roundup.
This time, I have a list of descriptors related to art movements and styles.
I’m trying a new approach that better highlights the impact of each modifier: using the same three subjects for all sample images:
Elephant
Sofa
Cityscape
Remember: I only share short prompt modifiers rather than paragraph-long prompts. I generally recommend sticking to straightforward modifiers combined with a detailed scene description instead of splatterprompting.
Note: All sample images are Midjourney Version 6.
Prompt #1: Go cute!
Midjourney prompt:
[subject], kawaii
What it does:
"Kawaii" is all about cute characters, pastel colors, and settings that might typically appeal to children. If you think Hello Kitty, you’re on the right track. Kawaii is a huge cultural phenomenon in Japan, and Midjourney can recreate the style from just that single modifier.
Sample images:
Prompt #2: Go dark!
Midjourney prompt:
[subject], noir
What it does:
On the other end of the spectrum, we’ve got “noir,” which harkens back to the era of gritty “film noir” crime dramas. Everything’s black and white and borderline depressing. Midjourney will use lighting and shadows to create a mysterious and dark setting when you use this modifier.
Sample images:
Prompt #3: Go futuristic!
Midjourney prompt:
[subject], cyberpunk
What it does:
This one’s so frequently used in AI images1 that I’m a bit surprised I didn’t bring it up sooner. (Perhaps that was precisely because it’s so cliched by now.)
Still, cyberpunk is a super fun aesthetic that fuses a futuristic neon look with a dystopian atmosphere. Blade Runner is perhaps the most prominent example.
Midjourney’s default tuning works very well for cyberpunk and results in vibrant and moody images.
Sample images:
Prompt #4: Go steamy!
Midjourney prompt:
[subject], steampunk
What it does:
This is another popular aesthetic on par with cyberpunk.
But unlike cyberpunk, which imagines a dystopian future, steampunk imagines an alternate timeline where Victorian-era aesthetics coexist with advanced technologies powered by steam.
Steampunk often features over-the-top, Rube Goldberg-esque gadgets with shiny brass details and towering floating cities.
Sample images:
Prompt #5: Go geometric!
Midjourney prompt:
[subject], Bauhaus
What it does:
The "Bauhaus" modifier is a nod to the minimalist and functional design ethos of the Bauhaus school. In Midjourney, this style boils everything down to the basics, revolving around geometric shapes and a limited color palette to achieve a clean, modern look.
Sample images:
Over to you…
Have fun with the new modifiers.
Don’t forget to try them in other text-to-image generators to see how they respond.
Want to share your prompts and modifiers or ask me something?
Leave a comment or shoot me an email at whytryai@substack.com.
You can also message me directly:
The list of all monthly Midjourney prompts lives in this ever-expanding guide:
By yours truly, too.
I think some of these are ok for kids but be aware that many are using the data to refine LLMs and use human intelligence to refine larger models used for image recognition and text based descriptions that will feed into commercial models. The issue with this is that it's skewed to the populations who use it, making the way images are described and generated by AI skewed to particular brackets where kids have access to what's needed to get to and use these tools.
I have a favorite addition that's not AI based - Pixicade, which lets you draw or design all kinds of games that come alive in an app. It's been expanded since the edition I found on clearance at Walmart and had so much depth. It's a really fun way for kids who draw levels for games to make them come alive. It can require adjustment, experimentation, and trying different things to see what works best.
I also really like the KiwiCo STEM crates which teach electronics, circuits, etc. Lego robot kits have come a long way and I like combining these tools with basic logic and pre-coding activities that teach logic and loops through play.
Thanks! That is very helpful.