Midjourney Beginner's Guide: From Sign-Up to Your First AI Image

Midjourney is currently one of the most popular AI art tools, but many beginners get stuck during registration and operation. This guide will walk you through Discord setup, basic prompt input, and image generation so you can get started fast.

1. Register Discord & Join the Midjourney Server

Midjourney does not have a standalone client — everything happens inside Discord. First, create a Discord account (signing up via email is recommended), then download the desktop app or log in through the web version.

Next, visit the official Midjourney website (midjourney.com) and click the "Join the Beta" button. You will be automatically redirected to Discord to join the Midjourney server. Accept the invitation, and you're now part of the official community.

2. Basic Setup & Subscription Plans

Once inside the Midjourney server, find any channel starting with "newbies-" (e.g., newbies-1) in the left sidebar. You can try 25 free images here, but subscribing to a paid plan is strongly recommended for full use.

Type /subscribe in the chat bar and send it — a subscription link will appear. Click it to go to the web page and choose a plan. For daily use, the $10/month basic plan is more than enough. If payment fails, check whether your credit card supports cross-border payments, or try a different Visa/MasterCard.

3. Basic Commands & Generating Your First Image

Type /imagine in any chat box, then enter your description. For example, to draw a cat, input /imagine a cute cat. Prompts work best in English; Chinese is recognized but results can be inconsistent.

Wait about 30 seconds — Midjourney will return four thumbnail images with buttons U1–U4 (upscale a specific image) and V1–V4 (create variations). Click U2 to upscale the second image, or V3 to generate a variation based on the third. To further tweak your result, add --ar 16:9 to adjust the aspect ratio, or use --v 6 to specify the model version.

4. Common Tips & Troubleshooting

If you see a "Banned prompt" error, it usually means you triggered a sensitive word or copyright term — just rephrase your description more neutrally. Generated images are saved by default in your Discord direct messages, but remember to download full-resolution originals from the "Job History" page at midjourney.com/app.

Need to switch accounts quickly? Log out of Discord, log back in with another account that has an active Midjourney subscription, and re-enter the server. Note that one Discord account can only be linked to one Midjourney plan — avoid frequent switching.