When people start using Midjourney, they usually just write prompts that consist of random thoughts in their heads. This fun beginner's phase lets you transform your thoughts into images and shows you the capabilities of a text-to-image AI model.
But before you know it, you'll run into a wall. It will be much harder to find inspiration and most of the prompts you'll write will seem similar to what you've written before.
This is a completely normal part of the process.
It means that it's now time to focus on how you can make your prompts better. Unless you have a lot of experience with graphic design, you'll run out of words to use in prompts.
I was stuck in this particular phase for days until I figured out what I had to do - learn more about aesthetics. That's why today I'm sharing this interesting Midjourney aesthetics guide. It will help you boost the terminology you use and improve the quality of your prompts. It goes without saying that it'll also help you generate better images in Midjourney.
The Importance of Aesthetics in Midjourney Prompts
The word aesthetics changed meaning a few times. There was a time when it used to refer to a set of principles or a certain period in history. Nowadays, aesthetics is a word used to describe a collection of images and colors that trigger a certain purpose or emotion.
You can use one of the many defined aesthetics to get better results in Midjourney because you will specify in your prompts exactly which emotion you want to trigger.
Although you may think that getting familiar with the aesthetics that are defined today will require a lot of research on your part, it actually won't. Thank God there is something called Aesthetics Wiki where you can find all the information you need.
To make it easier for you to find the info you need, here is a list of aesthetics that you can read through and use in your prompts. Keep in mind that this is an extensive list, which means that it will take time to learn how each term can affect an AI generated image. This isn't a bad thing, since it will make your interactions with Midjourney more fun for months to come.
Since Midjourney is able to take your instructions and generate an image out of it regardless of what you write in your prompts (unless you're using banned words), you'll be able to mix and match different aesthetics to get some interesting results. I'll show you how all of this works with my prompt examples later on in this article.
Midjourney Aesthetics Prompt Examples
Due to the fact that the list is so extensive on the Aesthetics Wiki page I linked above, I have to choose only a fraction of the aesthetics mentioned. I did my best to find some interesting aesthetics to showcase how you can use them in prompts to get amazing results.
In this section of the article, I will use only one aesthetics term per prompt. In the following section, I'll combine different aesthetics for experimental purposes.
Here are some of my prompt examples that showcase how using the right aesthetics can greatly influence the generated output in Midjourney.
/imagine clockpunk style image of the interior of a giant hotel where secret societies meet, the interior is filled with ornaments that symbolize the power of secret societies, secretive, dystopian --ar 16:9 --v 5
Clockpunk is an aesthetic that finds its place in the steampunk category. It revolves around technology and science from the Renaissance and involves clocks, old suitcases, gears, and typewriters. Some of the prominent colors found in this type of aesthetic include gold, yellow, white, and brown.
/imagine horrorcore aesthetics, scary image, frightening, DON'T TURN AROUND, supernatural beings, you are not alone, ghouls, ghosts, skeletons, vampires, unpleasant scenes, realistic, movie scene --ar 16:9 --v 5
I decided to get really crazy with the prompt here because I want to describe the tension in a scene that would perfectly go with horrorcore aesthetics. And I'm glad I did it because the result here is stunning.
While creating images that include horrorcore and darkcore aesthetics can be really fun (especially if you’re a horror film fan like myself), I feel like it’s my obligation to let you know that this type of content isn’t a particularly smart idea. I did it to show you the capabilities of Midjourney, but creating visually disturbing content may lead to a ban.
You can find more information about why content like this isn’t tolerated on the Community Guidelines page of the official Midjourney website. I feel like the particular images I made for this article that fall into the horrorcore/darkcore aesthetic aren’t visually disturbing because they don’t depict violence of any kind, but I would still advise you to be careful when you’re attempting to recreate something like this.
/imagine rusticcore aesthetic, photorealistic image shot with Canon EOS R5, 21mm lens, beautiful farm in the countryside, gorgeous backyard with fruits and vegetables, calm, perfect --ar 16:9 --v 5
Rusticcore is an aesthetic that involves a romanticized version of rural living. As you can see in the image above, the rusticcore aesthetic can be used to a great effect in Midjourney. This is especially the case with photorealistic images.
/imagine female photo model wearing a De Stijl aesthetic winter jacket, blue, yellow, black, red, peculiar design --ar 2:3
I decided to do something different with this prompt. Instead of applying an aesthetic to the whole image, I decided to use it only on a piece of clothing. The jacket features the De Stijl aesthetic, which rose to prominence in the early 20th century.
/imagine dreamcore aesthetic image showing a seemingly idyllic neighborhood that has a lot of secrets not yet discovered, uneasy, unpleasant, tension, empty, emptiness --ar 16:9 --v 5
I might end up upscaling this image and using it as the wallpaper on my laptop. Oh, by the way, I have a great guide on how to upscale Midjourney images. It involves a free and open-source piece of software called Upscayl. You can use it to get the highest quality out of your AI-generated images.
/imagine ghostcore aesthetic, anime with supernatural beings, ghosts, spirits, undead, connections with the underworld, haunting, ethereal, mysterious, dark --ar 16:9 --niji 5
I had to use the Niji Model 5 (which is designed specifically for anime style images) to get the best result out of this prompt. I have a full article on how to use the Midjourney Niji Model 5 and get good results. If you like the image above, I suggest you read that article and start making your own anime-style images in Midjourney.
/imagine gloomcore aesthetic, photorealistic image shot with Nikon Z7, 24mm lens, gloomy day in the woods at the beginning of autumn, pine trees, fog, tranquility, quiet, nature --ar 16:9 --v 5
Gloomcore is an aesthetic that showcases calm and tranquility. Most gloomcore images feature a forest environment with pine trees and visible fog. It highlights the beauty of nature but with a darker tone.
/imagine darkcore aesthetic, horror movie scene, slasher horror, scary scene, photorealistic, PLEASE GET AWAY FROM ME, intense, no way out, no escape --ar 16:9 --v 5
Writing prompts like this is tricky because it often happens that the images will be flagged due to sensitive content. If you get a notification like this from the moderators, you can appeal it and it might go through. Considering how the image above looks, it's easy to see how it can get flagged.
/imagine imaginarium aesthetic, an image that depicts the human imagination, creativity, unlimited potential, inspiration, colorful --ar 16:9 --v 5
Imaginarium is an aesthetic that illustrates the limitless stretch of human imagination. Images that feature this aesthetic are visually pleasing and colorful. I wrote a pretty vague prompt for this aesthetic, but Midjourney somehow perfectly captured what I was trying to describe. Sometimes, I really ask myself how come Midjourney is this good. It’s literally like magic.
Speaking of magic, you should definitely check out the next prompt.
/imagine magepunk aesthetic image of a male wizard making technological discoveries in his laboratory with magic crystals and runes, the laboratory contains many of his inventions --ar 16:9 --v 5
Magepunk is an aesthetic that features elements of advanced steam-driven technology combined with magic. People in magepunk style images often wear Victorian-style clothing.
Aesthetic Combo Prompt Examples
Combining different aesthetics in your prompts is an experimental practice that can be extremely fun. It can also lead you to produce some interesting results.
Here are some aesthetic combo prompt examples that I think you'll enjoy.
/imagine gloomcore aesthetic, low poly aesthetic, calm afternoon on an old hiking trail, two people hiking, Unity 3D --ar 16:9 --v 5
I decided to combine two aesthetics in this simple prompt. I wanted to create another image with the gloomcore aesthetic, but this time I wanted to also include a low poly aesthetic. I also added the 'Unity 3D' keyword in the prompt because I've seen way too many low poly games made in Unity. The generated output for this prompt is quite nice.
/imagine magewave aesthetic, ghostcore aesthetic, old wizard casting magic spells to speak to ghosts, afterlife, magic --ar 16:9 --v 5
I feel like this is a very nice blend of aesthetics. The magewave aesthetic showcases the classic ideal of the wizard and includes some quite colorful imagery. We've already used the ghostcore aesthetic in the previous version of the article. This time, I decided not to use the Niji Model 5 but instead the Midjourney v5.
/imagine acidwave style abstract art piece that consists of a variety of shapes and colors that all melt together to form a beautiful otherworldly texture, depicting the cosmos as a living organism --ar 16:9 --v 5
I wanted the image to include an acidwave style aesthetic but to also be an abstract art style piece. The combination of the two styles generated the image that you see above, which may or may not give me nightmares tonight. Despite it being kind of scary, it's an incredibly amazing result that I'm glad was generated from my prompt.
/imagine darkcore aesthetic, horrorcore aesthetic, horror movie scene, religious ceremony of a secret society in the middle of nowhere, frightening, you can't cry out for help, stuck, you can't run away, STOP --ar 16:9 --v 5
This is one of the four images Midjourney generated in the first set from the prompt I wrote above, and it's way creepier than I expected.
Darkcore and horrorcore aesthetics go hand in hand together. In my opinion, you can get some of the best horror scene images in Midjourney when you combine these aesthetics.
/imagine Neo-Tokyo aesthetic, synthwave aesthetic, skyline of an urban Japanese city in the future, utopia, tall buildings, cyber world, the peak of technology, alluring, colorful --ar 16:9 --v 5
I'm really happy with this combination of aesthetics. I feel like the Neo-Tokyo aesthetic blends well with the synthwave style. This is especially the case when you write a prompt that'll trigger the AI model to generate an image of a futuristic skyline.
/imagine dreamcore aesthetic, post-apocalyptic aesthetic, what was once the perfect suburban neighborhood is now a forgotten part of town, houses torn down and destroyed, no one lives there anymore, emptiness --ar 16:9 --v 5
I've watched enough zombie flicks to know that this is a great image of a post-apocalyptic scene. The dreamcore aesthetic keyword gives a special flair to the image. When you look at the image, it feels like something you would see in a dream.
Final Thoughts
I feel like one of the most important things you should do when you begin creating images in Midjourney is to get familiar with the different types of aesthetics you can use in your prompts.
I can honestly say that I wasn't familiar with the terms for 98% of the aesthetics that people use. I still haven't gotten around to using all of them in my prompts because the list is so huge, but I do like to mix and match different aesthetics to see what type of results they'll produce.
One thing to keep in mind is that the training data for AI models like Midjourney is so huge that no person could ever take in that much information. The text-to-image model can produce relevant images regardless of how specific the words in your prompts are.
The best thing that you can do as a prompt engineer is boost your vocabulary and become familiar with the terminology that will enable you to create specific images that will stand out.
