Character Crafting in Midjourney | Storytelling Will Never Be the Same! --CREF

if you love using mid journey to illustrate stories or Comics today's video is for you we're exploring the character reference parameter and how it can revolutionize the way you create consistent characters across multiple [Music] images mid Journey's storytelling capabilities took a leap forward with the introduction of the character reference parameter this tool function similarly to the style reference parameter while srf helps capture a particular artistic style CF hones in on the character itself character reference or CF is a form of image prompt but it focuses on the character's physical traits when you use the CF parameter you point mid journey to an image and say my character looks like this CF is perfect for graphic novels story book illustrations or any project where you need the same character to appear over and over again let's take a look at an example let's say I want to create an anime inspired story about a teen with spiky pink hair with CF I can keep the look consistent even if I change the outfit or setting or what they're doing in the image start by creating an image that best shows off your character's features their clothes their hair and whatever makes your character distinctive make sure your character is the main feature of the image but it doesn't need to be a clean background if you're watching this video you probably already have a character in mind but if you want use chat TPT or claw to translate your character design ideas into detailed textual prompts for Mid Journey using this tool CF works best with humanoid characters created in the journey but it will work on non-human characters and with characters you found or drawn yourself I'll talk about these later in the video to use the character reference parameter type-- C ref at the end of your prompt followed by the URL of an image that shows off your character if you don't have a URL in Discord drag your inspiration image into Discord and click return now open the image right click and copy the URL and paste it into the message bar if you created your character reference on the mid Journey website select it and choose either the image or the style button next to the use tool the image is added to your prompt as an image prompt currently the website distinguishes image prompts style references and character references with a small icon on the image choose the icon of a person to designate the image as a CF you can also upload an image by dragging it into the prompt bar or type-- CF after your prompt and paste in the URL if you've already uploaded an image to the website and you want to use it as a character reference simply click the plus sign in the prompt bar and choose the image you want to use change the icon to switch it to a character reference now let's move your character through a story in your new prompt add a few key descriptors of your character and what you want your character to be doing character reference works better if you direct mid Journey's attention to key character features and artistic style if I don't specify a style my anime character could end up in a photograph mid Journey has a couple of tools to help you focus on key characteristics if you're working in Discord use the slash describe tool type SL describe in the message bar select image or link if you have a URL image address drag in a reference image of your character into Discord and click return you'll get four prompts that include key features of your character choose your favorite descriptions from The Prompt the mid Journey website also has a described tool but it functions a bit differently drag the image into the prompt bar and click the plus sign to open the image panel under the character reference image choose the I icon mid Journey analyzes the image and gives you a list of suggested elements and descriptors the suggestions may include specific attributes like pink hair or colorful jacket or broader Artistic Styles select the best ones for your image describing key characteristics of the artistic style in your prompt ensures that mid Journey zeros in on the most essential visual elements of your reference image this let you create new images that accurately capture your character's defining traits and style but remember CF isn't a face swap tool it's a reference tool you aren't going to be able to just pop in an image and map your character directly into a new image mid journey is creating something new each time there will be some differences and don't forget you can use an image as both a SE and a an asra both style reference and character reference are types of image prompts but they focus on different elements of the image a regular image prompt placed at the start of your prompt focuses mainly on composition the way elements are laid out in your image and to a lesser extent color and style style reference specifically looks to capture the style the look of the image and to a lesser extent the details of the character is it photographic anime a storybook illustration for more on the srf parameter see this video character reference focuses on the primary character of the image trying to make features of this character similar in each render you can use srf and CF together but you will need to add a bit of text to your prompt it's not possible to blend reference images without at least some text for instance try describing what you like about the images or change the subject if you have two or more characters in your image it's a little bit trickier to use character reference but the character reference parameter can work make sure to describe both the characters distinctive features and their interaction also mid Journey will take multiple character references add two image links separated by space this is for combining multiple images or multiple image traits into one character if you're watching this video you're probably illustrating a story and stories take skills to develop skillshare the sponsor of this video has all the tools you need to help take a vague idea and bring it to life one of my favorite courses is storytelling 101 character conflict context and craft in this short course Daniel Jose older takes you through all the steps in creating interesting characters developing conflict in your story and building a world for your characters to live in it doesn't matter what type of story you're writing this course will help you key in on what makes stories interesting there are dozens of classes on storytelling and character creation on skillshare and more specific classes on creating graphic novels or children's books and skill shares classes on all sorts of topics photography graphic design business and marketing skillshare is offering the first 500 of my viewers to sign up a one Monon free trial just click the link in the description to start your journey thanks to skillshare for sponsoring this video and don't forget to check out the link for your free trial character reference works best with humanoid characters in mid Journey but you can use it on nonhumanoid characters and non- mid Journey characters the results might be a little bit unpredictable but it does work let's take this little cute mouse character I found online add a little description and my mouse but not that this tool is not designed for photos of real people and will likely distort them and there is one more tool you should know about that goes along with character reference it's called character weight character weight or-- CW works on a scale from 0 to 100 but it works a little bit differently from style weight unlike style weights or image weights character weights have specific functions for instance-- cw100 which is the default looks at the character's face hair and clothes but you might not want mid journey to look at the entire character maybe you want your character to change outfits to focus only on the character's face use cw0 you can prompt along the scale from 0 to 100 but it's unclear how much refinement you can direct in each character prompt character reference is a gamechanging tool if you're trying to create consistent characters in a story but you are still going to have to work at it a bit the tool isn't Flawless plan to do a lot of rerolls and make a lot of variations but the character reference parameter makes consistent characters a whole lot easier share your favorite characters and let us know how character reference is helping you bring your stories to life if this video is helpful please like the video and subscribe to the channel this is Jen at making AI magic let's make something amazing together [Music] [Music]

Channel: Making AI Magic

Views: 2,164

Keywords: Midjourney, Character Reference, cref, Midjourney v6, Consistent Styles, Consistent Character, storytelling, AI art, AI tools, digital art, art creation, no text prompt, artistic style, Midjourney tutorial, beginner artist guide, Midjourney tips and tricks, creative process, art inspiration, art reference, Midjourney community, artistic expression, unleash your creativity, AI art revolution, future of art, generate art with AI, explore possibilities, Midjourney prompt ideas

Id: a4BbnK9W2zw

Length: 11min 10sec (670 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2024