Make Your Midjourney Art Unique: 7 Creative Inpainting Tricks

A Midjourney generated image using Midjourney Automation Suite

Midjourney's inpainting feature lets you change parts of your generated images. You can fix small details or make big changes. Knowing a few specific ways to use inpainting can greatly improve your results.

Here are seven different techniques to try with Midjourney inpainting.

1. Create Seamless Tileable Images

Did you know you can use inpainting to make repeating patterns? Start with a prompt that works well for tiling, like a top-down view. Add [--tile] to your prompt.

Get your initial image. Upscale it. Then use the Vary (Region) button. Use the rectangle selection tool. Select everything except a small border around the edge of the image. Keep your original prompt the same.

When Midjourney generates the new image, you'll get a larger area. This new image is designed to tile with itself perfectly. The edges match up, creating a seamless, infinite pattern when placed side-by-side. This works for different subjects, like villages or busy scenes.

2. Use Inpainting for Different Results

Inpainting sometimes uses a different process than regular generations. This process can produce slightly different results. Sometimes, this can lead to better images.

Two types of prompts said to benefit are closeup portraits and pictures of the moon.

Closeup Portraits

Generate a closeup portrait. Upscale it. Use Vary (Region) and select the entire image. Then just submit it as is. Running the same prompt this way might give you variations with subtle differences that you like better.

Moon Images

Midjourney's default style might not always create great moon pictures. Try generating a moon image. Upscale it. Use Vary (Region) and select the whole image. Submit the prompt again using the inpainting mode. This method can sometimes produce much better, more realistic moon images compared to the original grid.

3. Make Realistic Changes in Your Images

When you want to change something specific, like eye color, aim for realistic outcomes first. It often works best.

If you want a person to have blue eyes instead of purple ones, try changing the color to blue. Select the eye area using Vary (Region).

If Midjourney says your selection is too small, just select a bit of the area outside the image frame along with your small selection inside. This trick helps it work.

To get the best results when changing features, don't delete your original prompt and just type the new detail (like "emerald green eyes"). Instead, edit your original prompt to include the new detail.

Start with your portrait prompt. In Vary (Region), select the eyes. Change the prompt to something like "close-up portrait of a woman with emerald green eyes". This tells Midjourney to integrate the new detail into the existing image description, leading to more natural edits.

Managing multiple variations and inpainting steps can be time-consuming. Consider using the TitanXT Midjourney Automator to streamline your workflow and generate variations faster.

4. Update Images from Older Versions

Have old images generated with older Midjourney versions (like V2) that look dated now? You can use inpainting to refresh them.

Generate your old image (or pull up an old upscale). If you want to bring it to the newest version (like 5.2), you have options. You could use 'Make Variations' with Remix turned on and change the version number. You could also try 'Remaster'. These methods have mixed results.

Another way is to use Vary (Region). Upscale the old image. Use Vary (Region) and select the entire picture. Submit the prompt. This uses the new algorithm via inpainting to regenerate the whole image based on the old one. It can give you a different look compared to Remix or Remaster, sometimes better results for updating older art.

5. Keep a Consistent Character in Different Scenes

Want to place the same person in various backgrounds? This technique lets you change the scene while keeping the character's face.

Generate an image of a person. Upscale it. Use Vary (Region) and select everything in the image except for the area around the person's face. It's often best to loosely include some of their hair in the selection too, not just the face.

Change the prompt to describe the new scene (e.g., "woman in a space station," "woman at the beach," "woman at a medieval war"). Midjourney will regenerate the background and body, placing your consistent character into the new environment.

Keeping some of the hair helps Midjourney blend the character into the new scene more naturally, avoiding strange results.

6. Change a Character's Expression

Once you have a consistent character, you might want to change their facial expression.

Instead of selecting the whole face with Vary (Region) (which can make the character a new person), just select a small area around the mouth.

To change the expression, use a multi-prompt. Put the main prompt describing the character and scene first, followed by two colons [::]. After the colons, add the desired expression, like "Mona Lisa smile" or just "smiling". You can add weights (like ::1.4) to control how much the expression is emphasized. Experiment with weights.

Selecting only the mouth area and using a multi-prompt helps Midjourney focus on altering the expression while keeping the rest of the face and character the same.

7. Transfer Styles Using Inpainting

You can start with an image in one style and use inpainting to change parts of it to another, like turning realistic elements into anime-inspired ones (using Ni5).

Generate a realistic character and scene. Upscale it. Use Vary (Region) and select the character. Change the prompt to include the new style algorithm, like [--ni5].

Midjourney will regenerate the selected area (the character) using the Ni5 algorithm, placing an anime-style character into your realistic scene. You can try different Ni5 styles like [--style expressive], [--style cute], or [--style scenic]. This mixing of styles can create unique results.

Doing the reverse (starting with Ni5 and inpaining into V5.2) might give different results, sometimes less ideal ones depending on the starting style.

Improving your Midjourney skills takes practice. For faster creation of variations and testing different styles, explore the features offered by the TitanXT Midjourney Automator.

Conclusion

Midjourney's inpainting tool is more powerful than just fixing small errors. You can use it for creative effects like generating tileable patterns, updating old images, keeping characters consistent across scenes, changing expressions, and even mixing art styles.

Experiment with these techniques to see how they can enhance your Midjourney art. Keep exploring and finding new ways to use the tools.

Want to streamline your Midjourney creative process, especially when generating many variations? Check out the TitanXT Midjourney Automator.