Master MidJourney: Create & Moodboard Features Explained | Lyrical Literacy | Humanitarians AI
MidJourney's Create page and Moodboard section work together to generate images and lock in a consistent creative style, and this walkthrough covers exactly how each option works.
MidJourney has grown well beyond typing a prompt and waiting for an image. Between the Create page and the Moodboard feature, there is now a real workflow for generating images, refining variations, and locking a project into a consistent visual style. This walkthrough goes through both, step by step.
The Create page and the prompt bar
The Create option is where image generation happens, and everything starts at the top bar labeled "what will you imagine," where you type your prompt. That text is the starting point for whatever gets generated. From there, several tools sit alongside the prompt bar to shape the result.
Add image, image prompts, and style reference
The add image option lets you upload a starting frame, either by clicking or by dragging and dropping a file, and MidJourney uses that image as a base for generating new ones. Image prompts work differently: you select multiple images from your gallery, and MidJourney looks at the elements inside them and blends those elements into the new creation when combined with your text prompt. Style reference is different again. It borrows the style of a selected image rather than its content. Select a painting and prompt for a modern skyscraper, and the generated skyscraper images come out rendered in the style of that painting.
Omni reference for consistent characters
Omni reference is more specific than the other tools. It is built to generate a consistent person's face or character, ensuring MidJourney keeps those features consistent across multiple generated images, which matters for any project that needs the same character to appear more than once.
Variations and animation
Once images generate, each one carries options for refining it further. The "very subtle" option produces variations with minor changes, while a stronger variation setting produces more dramatic differences from the original. The animate option converts a still image into a short video clip.
Settings, search, and folders
A settings panel controls image size, such as portrait, square, or landscape, along with model mode (standard or raw), generation speed, and resolution, letting you tune both the aesthetic and the generation behavior. The search bar lets you find a previously generated image by typing keywords from the original prompt, which saves scrolling through a long history to find something specific. Folders round out the organization tools, letting you group images by name or by project, which becomes especially useful when multiple people are working across several projects at once.
The Moodboard feature
The Moodboard section is built for a different purpose: collecting images and defining a consistent style for a project rather than generating one-off images. New moodboards can be created anytime, and images can be added either by uploading them directly or selecting them from your existing gallery. Inside a specific moodboard, you can upload images from your computer, add web links directly, or pull from the gallery.
Setting a default and using a moodboard in prompts
Two settings make a moodboard actually useful in practice. The "set as default" option automatically applies that moodboard's style to every new image you create going forward. The "use in prompt" option works differently: it instructs MidJourney to apply the moodboard's defined style to a specific prompt you type in, giving you the moodboard's feel while still controlling the subject matter directly through your own words.
Key takeaways
- The Create page's prompt bar is the starting point for every image, with add image, image prompts, and style reference as ways to shape the result beyond text alone.
- Style reference borrows the visual feel of a chosen image without copying its subject matter.
- Omni reference is built specifically for keeping a person's face or a character consistent across multiple generated images.
- Variations range from subtle to strong, and the animate option turns a still image into a short video clip.
- Moodboards collect reference images to define a consistent project style, either applied by default or invoked per prompt with "use in prompt."
- Folders and the search bar keep large, multi-project image libraries organized and easy to navigate.
Who this is for
This walkthrough is for anyone starting out with MidJourney who wants to move past single prompts and build a repeatable, organized creative workflow. It is part of Humanitarians AI's Lyrical Literacy series on AI-assisted creative tools.
Full transcript(auto-generated, with timestamps)
[0:07]Everyone, today I will be diving into Mid Journey and I'll walk you step by step through some of the most useful features. Um, we'll start with the create option uh where you will learn how to generate and organize images and then we'll also explore the move board option which is perfect for building a consistent style and creative direction. First uh we'll focus on the create option. Um the create option has a top bar which says what will you imagine? Um in this bar I mean it's where you type your prompt. Um uh whatever you type in is the starting point of the image. Then we have uh on the left side we have an
[0:53]Add image option. In this uh the starting frame lets you upload an image as you as your as your starting frame and then when you can just click or dra drag or drop your file. uh midjourney will use this image as a base for generating the new ones. Then we have an option of image prompts. Uh here you can select multiple uh images from your gallery and then my journey will look at the elements inside these images and then it blends into your new creation when it combines with the prompt with when it combines it with your text prompt. Then we have an option of style
[1:35]Reference. This is for borrowing the style of the image. For example, if you select a painting and then type your prompt as a modern skyscraper. The skyscraper images which will be generated through mid journey will be in the style of the painting which you have already selected. And then we have an option of omni reference. Uh it is very specific. um it it is it helps to generate a person's face or a character. It ensures that midjourney stays consistent with those feature AC across multiple images. And here um you just have a collection of the generated images. So once the images are generated uh for
[2:22]Example on this image you get an option of very subtle uh which will if you click on very subtle it will give you various generation of the image but in a like the variation will be very subtle very strong it will give a variation which will be very strong and dramatic variations and animate animate is like um converting it into a short video clip. For example, like we have such kind of animated video clips over here. Um then uh we have a set setting panel. Uh this panel gives you a lot of options like for example the image size which is portrait, square, landscape whatever you
[3:05]Select. Uh the model option has um modes which is standard or raw. Uh then there are like speed in terms of creating um in terms of creating the images you have resolution option as well. Uh the all of these four options help you to you know uh like generate or play with the aesthetics of the image. Later we have a search bar. Um the search option lets you find an image just by typing a keyword. For example, if you type a specific prompt here and then later on after few days you want to search that specific image, you can just type some of the keywords from the
[3:45]Prompt and it will direct you to that specific section directly. It is this is very useful like you don't have to scroll the whole thing. You will find it easily. And then we have an option of folders. Uh so this is this is um this helps you organize all your images. uh you can like create folders by your name or by project like I have it like all of my team members have created it according to their names and then this is very useful like if you're working on like multiple project it helps you keep set for all the various projects um this this is about the create option now I
[4:26]Would like to go on to the moodboard option uh the moodboard section uh Like the mood board helps you uh collect images and define a style for your project. You can create new mood boards as well like whenever if you want to and then add images by uploading and selecting it from the gallery. It helps you give a consistent look. Uh if you specifically open a specific mood board, it has an option of upload images from your computer. Then you can also uh add links like the web links directly and the add from the gallery option helps you select image from the gallery. So basically the uh set as default option
[5:12]Helps you automatically set that specific mood board as your option for creating new images and the use in prompt option helps you um develop um like it instructs midjourney the specific prompt which needs to be used and then after this you can type in what exactly you are looking for. So then this will so this helps you to get the specific feel but the prompt will be whatever you want. Um that's it. I mean the create and mood board option like it it helps like these are the main options from midjourney and it helps you about it it helps you in generating specific images as well and then you know staying
[5:58]Organized and everything.
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