Want to create AI art that doesn't look AI-generated? Want to learn the secret codes that transform Midjourney art into professional-looking designs?
Learn how to use Midjourney to rapidly generate and iterate on design concepts, saving time and boosting productivity.

Understanding Midjourney's Unique Capabilities
Marshall Atkinson brings a unique perspective to using AI to create generated images, combining traditional artistic expertise with cutting-edge technology. A Florida State University graduate with extensive experience in photorealistic watercolors and a background as an art director, Atkinson uses Midjourney not as a replacement for artistic skill but as a powerful tool for enhancing creative workflows.
Having faced the daily challenge of creating high-quality designs under tight deadlines, Atkinson understands the pressures creative professionals face firsthand. His transition to embracing AI tools came from recognizing their potential to accelerate the creative process and create a unique image while maintaining artistic integrity.

Its extensive training dataset sets Midjourney apart from other AI image-generation tools. While platforms like Adobe's AI are limited to referencing their own image libraries, Midjourney draws from trillions of subject matter images across the internet. This broader training results in more refined and natural-looking outputs that avoid the telltale signs of AI-generated art.
Midjourney's outputs can span a vast range of styles, from photorealistic imagery to illustrations that look handcrafted. This versatility makes it particularly valuable for professional creative work where authenticity and a unique image are important.
This brings us to the question of whether AI-generated art is plagiarism.
Every tool has the potential to be misused by bad actors, but each image generated in Midjourney by ethical designers is entirely original. While the system learns from existing art, it creates new compositions through mathematical algorithms.
This process is more akin to how human artists learn from studying and sketching others' work than to direct reproduction. Do a reverse image search on Midjourney outputs, and you'll see that they won't match any existing images online.
The Business Case for Midjourney's AI Art Generator: Time Savings, Industrial Design, and Product Development
For marketing professionals and creative teams, Midjourney offers compelling advantages in terms of both efficiency and creativity. The platform's ability to rapidly generate unique, high-quality visuals can dramatically reduce project timelines while expanding creative possibilities.
The time savings achieved through Midjourney can be substantial, particularly for complex creative projects. Instead of spending hours searching for and modifying stock images or creating elements from scratch, you can generate exactly what you need in minutes. This efficiency doesn't just save time – it allows for more experimentation and iteration, potentially leading to better final results.
A perfect example comes from Atkinson's experience with a complex t-shirt design for an amusement park's Halloween promotion. The project requirements included:
- A spooky town setting
- A witch character
- Floating, spinning tarot cards
- Magical elements
- Complex atmospheric effects
Had Atkinson designed the artwork using his traditional workflow, he estimates the project would have taken him 25-30 hours.
Using a Midjourney-enhanced workflow, he created a thumbnail sketch for the overall composition, generated 29 separate elements in Midjourney, imported them into Photoshop, and assembled them into the final composition in approximately 2.5 hours.
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GET THE DETAILSThe final design was completed faster and exceeded client expectations, maintaining professional quality while dramatically reducing production time.
Beyond marketing materials, Midjourney has significant applications in industrial design and product development.
By creating custom texture libraries, you can generate unique colors and patterns, develop custom surface textures, create material variations, and design novel finishes.
You can also combine seemingly unrelated elements to generate innovative patterns and textures, pushing creative boundaries while maintaining practical applicability. The platform's ability to iterate quickly makes it invaluable for the design exploration phase of product development, which is especially useful when designing athletic footwear, bedding and textile patterns, apparel designs, wallpaper and surface patterns, and product packaging.
#1: The Basic Midjourney Prompt Structure
Creating professional images with Midjourney requires understanding how to structure your prompts for optimal results.
Keep the total prompt length under 60 words; Midjourney typically ignores prompt content beyond this limit. You don't have to use capitalization or conjunctions, and Midjourney can interpret minor spelling errors, so correct spelling isn't critical. If you misspell chrysanthemums as chrysanthamums, you'll still get the flower you're looking for.
The system responds to carefully crafted text instructions, but you must communicate your vision effectively. The foundational structure of a Midjourney prompt follows a specific hierarchy of importance, with early words carrying more weight than later ones.
When structuring your prompt, separate the elements with commas for better organization. The Midjourney system doesn't require this structure, but Atkinson says it ensures his prompts are clear and include all the necessary design directions.
Atkinson recommends organizing prompts in this order:
- Subject (What you want to create)
- Action or State (What the subject is doing)
- Lighting Conditions
- Art Style
- Technical Specifications
For example, rather than typing “Create an eagle logo,” you might write:
Eagle, soaring, dramatic side lighting, graphic style, isolated flat white background

Pro Tip: The words you use in your prompts will yield different results. For example, using “tondo” instead of “round” or “cerulean” instead of “blue.” Atkinson says a thesaurus can be your best ally when creating prompts that deliver what you want.
#2: Advanced Midjourney Prompt Techniques
Use Curly Brackets to Test Variations
One of Midjourney's most powerful features is the ability to test multiple variations simultaneously using curly brackets. This prompt will generate separate results for each option, allowing for rapid experimentation with different subjects, color schemes, lighting conditions, art styles, camera angles, and textures.
The basic syntax is:
{option1, option2, option3}
If you want to test subject variants, use:
{eagle, mouse, kangaroo} majestic pose, sunset lighting

To test color variants, use:

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Mountain landscape, {red, blue, green} color scheme
To test art style variants, use:
Portrait, {watercolor, oil painting, pencil sketch}
Apply SREF Codes to Define Style
Style Reference (SREF) codes are powerful modifiers that dramatically alter an image's style.
The traditional style reference uses existing images as style guides, applies color and texture from reference images, and lets you maintain creative control over specific elements.
The basic syntax is:
–sref https://www.example.com/manga-art.jpg
Eagle, soaring, dramatic side lighting, graphic style, isolated flat white background--sref https://www.example.com/manga-art.jpg
You can use SREF Codes to change the overall style of an image from, say, watercolor to a silver point engraving with black and gold elements.
The basic syntax is:
–sref code ###
Eagle, soaring, dramatic side lighting, graphic style, isolated flat white background--sref code 507
Pro Tip: To discover new SREF codes on your own, add .–sref code random to the end of your prompt and Midjourney will return a new style. When you find one you like, save that code in a spreadsheet for reuse in other designs.
Include Modifiers to Fine-Tune Image Outputs
Modifying elements can be broken down into several categories.
Action modifiers to describe what your subject is doing. For example, a:
- chimpanzee surfing on a surfboard
- jeep driving on a muddy road
Environmental modifiers help you control the setting of your design. Here are a few to try:
- stormy weather
- urban scene
- underwater scene
Camera position modifiers control the perspective and framing of your design. Tell Midjourney you want a:
- drone shot looking down
- low angle looking up
- heroic angle
- cinematic perspective
Lighting modifiers shape the mood and atmosphere of your image. Describe your preferred lighting in terms like these:
- cinematic lighting
- low key lighting
- bright sunshine
- Nighttime
#3: How to Edit Images in Midjourney
Midjourney is rolling out image editing features, and Atkinson says two distinct approaches will be available.
The basic edit function is accessed through the Edit button, which is found on the left side of the image generation dashboard. It allows for targeted modifications to fix specific areas of an image while maintaining the overall image.

The selective editing process uses an erase tool to remove and regenerate problematic areas of an image. This option gives you four edit variations to choose from, and you can continue editing until you're happy with the result.
A retexture feature creates multiple material variations (plastic, metal, fabric, etc.), different color schemes, and texture variations.Atkinson used this feature to transform a comic book illustration of a Jeep into a photographic style while maintaining the exact vehicle angles and proportions. He then added realistic mud and environmental effects without disrupting the core composition.
#4: Image Refinement and File Export Tips
Understanding Midjourney's technical capabilities and limitations is crucial for producing professional-quality outputs. Mastering these technical aspects, from resolution management to editing capabilities, can significantly improve your results.
Resolution Management
By default, Midjourney generates square, 1024×1024 pixel images at 72 dpi.
If you need to deliver a design in a higher resolution, Midjourney has built-in upscaling that will double the image size. The output is suitable for most digital applications.
For professional print requirements, you can convert the upscaled files to 300 dpi, export your design, and use a third-party tool like Gigapixel for enhanced upscaling.
Exporting Midjourney Designs
While Midjourney excels at image creation, it does have some limitations.
For example, Midjourney doesn't create vector files directly, so you'll need to use a third-party tool like vectorizer.io to convert them.
Export Considerations
When you export, download your artwork at the maximum available resolution. You'll want to choose the file format based on the intended use and plan for any necessary post-processing.
Marshall Atkinson is a Midjourney expert and business coach specializing in helping professionals monetize their craft and integrate AI tools into their creative workflows. His weekly Midjourney Experience newsletter delivers professional applications of AI art generation. Follow him on YouTube and Instagram.
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