Generating an image from a simple sketch and a text prompt

This post combines prompt pages that explore the art workflow of generating images with a little control.

This AI image generation process uses the Midjouney AI feature of taking an image + text prompt to generate an image. An initial reference illustration and a simple prompt “charcoal illustration portrait of a young woman staring into the camera.” First, I created a reference image by making a simple digital sketch of a woman (on a Samsung Tablet s6). Then I uploaded the image to a Discord channel for MidJourney. Combining the Image and prompt, I got back a set of four Images that followed the image prompt well. The eyes and brows matched, the nose shading is a nice touch, and I like how the hair flows, all seem to follow the reference image well.

Prompt Terms:

<reference image> charcoal illustration portrait of a young woman staring into the camera.

Prompt Details: <reference image> (URL to the image) Charcoal (medium) Illustration (style of art) portrait (headshot framing) of a young (affects the age of subject) woman (affects both sex and maturity – not a child) staring into the camera (controls focus of subject relative to the camera)

Reference Image - digital sketch — Simple digital sketch uploaded to MidJourney. This reference image hints at composition, structure, and other image-framing information.

Resulting image from reference 4 up - charcoal images related to the prompt. — Image results from the simple reference illustration and text prompt

Simple charcoal illustration of a young woman - generated by Midjourney AI — Selected Image to be used as next reference image

Simple charcoal illustration of a young woman - generated by Midjourney AI - 4 Up — Image result from newly selected image and text prompt.

Simple charcoal illustration of a young woman - generated by Midjourney AI - showing two black bans on either side.

The resulting image has black bands on either side of the image, resulting from the original simple reference illustration having a different aspect ratio from the image result. Could have been avoided by ensuring your uploaded image and your desired output image have the same image aspect ratio. This is where setting an Aspect ratio can help. The use of this feature adds a –ar 2:3. (two units in wide by three units in height). By taking the reference image and the text prompt and –ar 2:3, the image result simply removed the side black bands and slightly heightened the Image composition.

Simple charcoal illustration of a young woman 4 Up - generated by Midjourney AI — Image result (rectangular) from selected image and text prompt and an aspect ratio parameter

Midjourney Bot Discord channel - Screenshot — Midjourney Bot Discord channel – Screenshot

Simple charcoal illustration of a young woman - generated by Midjourney AI - Final Image — Simple charcoal illustration of a young woman – Final Image

Prompt Alternative

portrait of a young powerful woman, staring into the camera, fiery chaotic energy background, detailed illustration — Same base reference image with a slightly different prompt – portrait of a young **powerful** woman, staring into the camera, **fiery chaotic energy background, detailed illustration**.

Using Midjouney’s feature of taking a simple sketch and a text prompt to generate a base reference image that will be used to generate other images. This process refines and changes the final image by feeding the resulting image back into the next image generation loop.

Prompt Terms:

<reference image> portrait of a young powerful woman, staring into the camera, firey chaos energy background, detailed illustration

Prompt Details: <reference image> (URL to image) portrait (headshot framing) of a young (affects the age of subject) powerful (shading | tone definition) woman (affects sex and maturity) staring into the camera (controls focus of subject relative to the camera) firey chaos energy background (adds fire element to background), detailed illustration (detail quality).

base reference image — Base Reference Image – see the prompt

portrait of a young powerful woman, staring into the camera, firey chaos energy background, detailed illustration - 4up — Four image results from the base image and the prompt

New base reference image - portrait of a young powerful woman, staring into the camera, firey chaos energy background, detailed illustration — New base reference image

Prompt Alternate

https://s.mj.run/Ixqhanylt_A portrait of a young powerful woman, staring into the camera, blue chromatic color scheme, icy frost energy background, detailed illustration –ar 2:3 –seed 837062041

The new base reference image and alternate prompt generate these four images

The resulting image becomes the new base reference image

Social Sharing

AI Prompts

Intricately ornated aethereal surrealism, strange slimline silhouette, elegant moebius strip fabrics, in the style of...

MidJourney

a handsome man in a cowboy hat walking down a street. cowboy attire. background is a saloon in the town Deadwood, Sou...

Stable Diffusion

An imaginative, otherworldly scene featuring an array of colorful, exotic alien cocktails, illustrated in a vibrant, ...

MidJourney

An appetizing close-up of a traditional Old England roast beef and Yorkshire pudding meal, captured in a high-resolut...

MidJourney