You can create great 2D and 3D cartoon characters in Midjourney. The characters you create can serve as inspiration to further develop it in case you want to animate it in the future. If you don't plan to animate it, the character you make in Midjourney can be a finished product that you can put on a variety of products and even use as a brand mascot.
I've been looking forward to writing this article for a while. If you've been following this website for a while, you know I already wrote an article titled Midjourney prompts for characters. That piece also included realistic human characters you'd see in live-action films and TV shows. Today, I'm going to focus only on cartoon characters.
If you want to use AI to animate any of the cartoon characters you create in Midjourney, I suggest that you try out Runway. I have an article called Runway image-to-video prompt examples. I suggest you check it out if you want to learn how to easily transform your AI-generated images into videos.
How to Make Cartoon Characters in Midjourney
It's relatively easy to create cartoon characters in Midjourney. If you love watching animated TV shows and films, the process will likely be even easier.
I think that the best way to learn how to make something in Midjourney is through prompt examples, but before we get to that I'll share some tips that you might find useful when making cartoon characters:
- Start your prompt by clearly describing the character. Describe the character's wardrobe, facial expressions, and whatever other features you think should be included in the generated image.
- Describe the environment in which the character is in. You should ensure that the environment complements the character.
- Specify how you want the character to be illustrated. Should it be a flat 2D illustration or a polished 3D character?
- Use the Midjourney panning feature if you want to create the environment in the image step by step and have more control over how the AI model generates the full image.
- Use the inpainting feature if you want to edit or remove certain objects in your image.
The last two tips on this list refer to the use of advanced prompts in Midjourney. That's not something I'm going to use in today's article because I want to focus solely on how to write good prompts for cartoon characters.
I have an in-depth Midjourney advanced prompts guide that you can read if you want to learn more about how to use these advanced features. It's a good idea to read it if you want to find out how you can have more control over the images you create in Midjourney.
12 Prompt Examples for Midjourney Cartoon Characters
Cartoon characters can turn out great if you take the time to write a good prompt. If you've never tried making cartoon characters in Midjourney before, I suggest that you look up some of your favorite animated characters online and try to describe them the best you can. This is a great way to practice before you start coming up with original concepts.
In my prompt examples for cartoon characters, I'll show you how to write quality prompts and use a variety of parameters to achieve what you want.
/imagine cartoon character, 3D animated, anthropomorphic raccoon standing up dressed smart and wearing a bowtie, a true gentleman, clean, sleek, at a luxurious restaurant --ar 16:9 --s 200 --c 15
Raccoons are filthy in real life, which is why I wanted to turn one into a gentleman for this image. This little man definitely looks cute and I wouldn't mind watching an animated movie based on his life.
/imagine 3D animated, polished, Unreal Engine 5, quirky nerdy rat wearing glasses sitting at a desk looking directly at the camera while drinking its fifth coffee, eyes red, tired, exhausted, comical --ar 16:9 --s 250
It's a good idea to sometimes use keywords like 'Unreal Engine 5' if you want to instruct the model on how you want your image to look. I definitely look like this rat when I write a lot of content in one day.
/imagine confused and happy baby fox looking at a tree in the middle of a forest, cartoon character, cartoon art style, 3D animated, animated film scene --ar 16:9 --s 200 --c 20
When I saw how cute this baby fox is, I thought about running the prompt hundreds of times just so that I can have something beautiful to look at. This is literally eye-bleach content.
/imagine expressive cartoon style illustration, 2D flat illustration, eccentric middle-aged man dressed in a suit and tie standing in the middle of a busy street and yelling, funny, newspaper comic --ar 16:9 --s 350
If there is an image that can encapsulate what it sometimes feels like to live in a big city, it's this one. There is a variety of content you could attach this image to. You can even try to animate it using the Runway Gen-2 AI model.
/imagine cartoon character, half corgi half cyborg, set in a futuristic dystopian city, neon lights in the background, neopunk aesthetic, darkcore aesthetic --ar 3:4
The neopunk aesthetic is strong in this image. I decided that I wasn't going to specify whether this is a 2D or 3D illustration in the prompt and instead let the AI model randomize the result. What I got is a good concept that could be further developed into a character.
/imagine anthropomorphic dachshund who is an eccentric world-class chef looking annoyed at the incompetent staff, chaos in the kitchen, absolute mayhem, funny scene, 3D animated, cartoon character, polished, Unreal Engine 5 --ar 16:9 --s 300 --w 50
When you use the weird parameter or an increased stylization value in your prompts, you can't expect Midjourney to create an image that's completely aligned with your description. You don't really see the dog wearing a chef's uniform, and that's okay because the image is still entertaining and the facial expression is on point.
/imagine villainous, mischievous cat that's an evil mastermind hatching a secret plan, 3D animated, the cat has a slight evil smile on its face, set in a secret bunker, layouts of evil plans in the background, animated comedy film scene --ar 16:9 --s 200
Some cats are purely evil, but I still love them though. I love animated TV shows and films in which cats are portrayed as villainous and mischievous characters. That's why I had to come up with a character like this myself. I'm very impressed with how the AI model generated this evil smile.
/imagine cartoon character, anthropomorphic female poodle getting ready for a date and putting on makeup, wearing a gorgeous dress and jewelry, set in a luxurious Manhattan apartment, 3D animated, polished --ar 16:9 --s 200
This is a great image. Luxurious apartments in Manhattan have a certain aesthetic to them, which is why I specifically mentioned the area in this prompt.
/imagine cartoon character, 3D animated, retro art style, 1950s, anthropomorphic rabbit standing on stage with a microphone in hand and singing, glamorous, pop star, flashing lights --ar 16:9 --s 350
Look at the smile on this little guy. There is something special about creating 3D characters in Midjourney. The AI model is able to produce images of such great quality that it makes you think that they were created by AAA art and animation studios. Of course, increasing the stylization value helps a lot when you want to achieve results like this.
/imagine cartoon art style, cartoon character, 2D illustration, simple flat illustration, two clumsy bandits with masks on holding big bags of money and running away from a bank, comical, funny, comedy --ar 16:9
No parameters are needed for this one. I wanted an image of two clumsy bandits and when I saw that these two were running in opposite directions I figured it was a good representation of that personality trait. The image looks very funny, so I can picture this being in an animated comedy show.
/imagine cartoon character, 3D animated, polished, heroic and brave anthropomorphic hamster goes on a quest to defeat an evil warlord, set in a magical fantasy realm, colorful, poetic --ar 16:9 --s 200 --w 50 --c 15
It's often a good idea to use a variety of parameters on a single prompt. For this prompt example, I used a combination of the stylize, weird, and chaos parameters. Of course, I also used the aspect ratio parameter, but I did that for every prompt in this article.
/imagine cartoon character, 2D flat illustration, goofy and eccentric robot getting angry because it can't solve a puzzle, funny, comedy, comical, peculiar --ar 16:9
When I think about funny animated robots, one character instantly comes to mind - Bender from Futurama. I've laughed so much watching Bender that I had to include one robot character in this article. Of course, I didn't want the robot to look like Bender.
The robot Midjourney generated looks really funny. It's not a conventional design, which is what I like to see. As far as the 2D characters in this article are concerned, this one is my favorite.
Final Thoughts
As you can see from the prompt examples above, you can create some wonderful cartoon characters in Midjourney. One thing to keep in mind though is that you should put in the effort to write a somewhat detailed prompt while keeping it under 60 words since that's the soft cap in Midjourney.
Your Midjourney prompts for cartoon characters should usually include a description of the character, the environment, the setting, and anything else that might be relevant to the scene you're describing.
If you're trying to make coherent content with certain characters you created in Midjourney, I would advise that you use advanced prompt features like inpainting, panning, and the zoom out option.
