How to Use Midjourney: A Beginner's Walkthrough
- Aug 25
- 3 min read
Midjourney is the AI image tool most people point to when they want to show what AI art can really do. Unlike most AI tools, Midjourney doesn't have its own website where you log in and start generating — it operates through Discord, a chat platform. This throws a lot of new users at first, but once you understand the setup, the actual prompting is straightforward.
Step 1: Get set up on Discord
If you don't already have a Discord account, you'll need one. Head to discord.com and create a free account — it takes about two minutes. Discord is a messaging platform built around servers, which are communities organised around a topic. Once you have an account, you can join the Midjourney server or invite the Midjourney bot to your own private server.
Step 2: Subscribe to Midjourney
Visit midjourney.com and sign in with your Discord account. Choose a subscription plan — the Basic plan is the most affordable entry point if you're trying it for the first time. As of 2025, there's no free trial. You'll need to pay to generate images.
Step 3: Access the Midjourney bot
Once subscribed, you can use Midjourney in a few ways. The Midjourney website (midjourney.com) now has a web interface that many users prefer over Discord. The Midjourney Discord server — join and use the bot in the #newbies channels. Your own Discord server — invite the Midjourney bot to a private server you create. The web interface is the simplest starting point for new users.
Step 4: Write your first prompt
In the web interface, there's a prompt bar at the bottom of the screen. In Discord, type /imagine followed by your prompt. Your first prompt: 'a fox sitting in a misty forest at dawn, golden light, photorealistic, wide shot.' Hit enter and Midjourney will produce four image variations in 30-60 seconds.
Step 5: Work with the results
Midjourney gives you four images and a set of buttons. U1-U4 (Upscale) — choose which image to upscale to higher resolution. V1-V4 (Variation) — generate four new variations based on one of the original four. Re-roll — generate four new images from the same prompt. This is the core Midjourney workflow: generate, assess, upscale the best option, or create variations from the closest one.
Step 6: Add parameters
Parameters are added to the end of your prompt. --ar [ratio] controls the aspect ratio (e.g. --ar 16:9 for widescreen). --no [words] is the negative prompt, excluding elements you don't want. --s [number] is stylization (0-1000), controlling how creative vs literal the AI is. --v [number] specifies which Midjourney model to use.
Common beginner mistakes
Not using aspect ratio — Midjourney defaults to square images; most creative work benefits from a non-square ratio. Ignoring the variation buttons — the first four images are rarely perfect but one is usually close. Not using negative prompts — if something keeps appearing that you didn't ask for, add it to --no. Over-long, unfocused prompts — a focused 20-word prompt often beats a rambling 100-word one. Giving up after four images — the best Midjourney images often come after several iterations.
Part of our AI Art Tools series:
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