You might have already encountered Midlibrary Benchmark—a set of nine images representing a Midjourney Style behavior in various (predefined) situations. Nine prompts that we use range from Nazgul over sleeping town to Thom Yorke. And none of those prompts are random, each one having its own backstory.

In the light of three historic events—Midlibrary 2.0 opening next week, the recent 100th post and the newly surpassed 5000 followers on our Instagram—I want to dive into how each of the Benchmark prompts came to be. Beware, it gets personal! ;)

Who doesn't like good Sci-fi and, specifically, cyberpunk! I, for sure, am a fan! As a kid, I was deeply impacted by Bladerunner, and then Neuromancer did the same to teenage me. So here it is, embodied in the cyberpunk character prompt of our Benchmark.

But what influenced my developing imagination even more was J.R.R. Tolkien's epic trilogy. I read a 1000+ pages tome in a week, and then for a few months, had dreams straight from Middle-earth. And the most vivid episode of those dreams was running away from sinister, ominous, deadly chasers—the Nine Nazguls... Here is to you, guys! You made a fair share of my teenage nightmares. Ψ(｀◇´)Ψ

As an artist from the Far North, I always found flourishing, rich, verdant Southern nature to be visually excessive, overabundant, and overloading. For me-photographer, the perfect outdoor seasons are the end of Winter or the late Fall. Nature is either dying or hasn't been reborn just yet. Decaying part of the prompt is my tribute to those special times of the year and those unique states of nature. And peonies come as devotion to Midlibrary Overseer—Olesya—who courageously keeps our precious catalog organized and updated!

Devoted to my friends' daughter, who, in her early teenage years, already has a busy practice repairing complex electronics. Very impressive and equally inspiring!

(misspelled Mainecoon—in one word—is the consequence of Midjourney's ban on the word "coon" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
This prompt in our Benchmark is the closest one to my heart. It pays tribute of love to Maddy (or Mad Love!)—an adorable Maine Coon feline who is regally setting for rest on my keyboard as I am trying to type this line. ^_____ ^

Coming from Slavic roots, I've always been submerged in respective mythology. And are Slavic myths dark! And who is the darkest of all the wicked ones in those parts of the world if not Chernobog—a deity associated with death, evil, and misfortune?

In our Benchmark, Chernobog is probably the most varying prompt. There are styles that render him in a generic manner (a guy with horns), but even those tend to be quite unique if compared to, say, generic cyberpunk characters. And then many styles would imagine something completely different and one-of-a-kind!

Indisputably, our world is in a dangerous place right now. Apart from what humankind does to itself, much bigger issues loom around the nearest corner, already causing numerous disasters of unseen scale per year. I am no expert in ecology, architecture, or futurology, but the concept of gradually integrating our daily routines with natural processes seems like a good goal.

Bioarchitecture is one of those domains that amaze me and gives me (some) hope for humanity's future.

There is something in Thom Yorke's lamentations that makes his singing otherworldly. And it is exactly that multi-layered, hypnotizing, mesmerizing, something that makes me love art in general, and Radiohead's art specifically (including the masterpieces that are their music videos).

I met Francis, an owner of a tiny café on the outskirts of Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen, the largest and oldest Parisian flea market (and the very first flea market in history!). Despite his austere, stern face, he was one of the most light-hearted, welcoming, and friendly persons I've met in my entire life. And also one of the most characteristic, powerful faces I've seen. A portrait photographer at the time, I couldn't miss the chance to document such a fantastic character. This portrait remained one of the strongest in my portfolio, won numerous awards and was displayed in galleries around the world.

There is one thing you quickly notice when using Midjourney's Image prompts for re-imagining portraits. Source material matters. The more pronounced the facial features, the more characteristic your original portrait is, the better Midjourney "sees" and reproduces those features. When it came to picking a perfect portrait for my Image prompt experiments, the choice was obvious. ;)

In Midlibrary 2.0, we're preparing a very special tool for you: a page where you can compare benchmarks of different Styles against each other in a fun and convenient way! Join my Live Presentation (with the following Q&A session!) on Midlibrary.io on Saturday, March 18.

See you there!

Happy midjourneys,
— Andrei