Hey guys!

 

First of all, many thanks Siobhan for this amazing little journey you took us on - it really helped a lot in understanding the mechanics of Midjourney especially when creating Concept Art.

Tbh, I already had an idea in my head since I'm currently writing a story about Alden Bronwyck who is a book restorer in York, 1810. 

I worked almost exclusively with Chat GPT for the concept art (great tip!) and iterated again and again until I finally got a character sheet I was happy with and a shot of Alden's journey to Bran Castle in Transylvania.

All in all, I took a lot of inspiration from Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed, as I particularly love the earlier games and their design.

 

My final prompt for the character sheet (I used a character reference from one of the patterns I created earlier - see “cref”): 

 

/imagine Full-body character model sheet of a mid-twenties Englishman from 1810, light brown tousled curls, middle part, green-gray eyes cinematic historical fantasy concept art with extreme attention to detail expedition gear deeply embedded with esoteric and heidnisch-okkulte symbols: satchel straps covered in knotwork, brass buttons engraved with mountain glyphs, cloak hem bordered with tiny sun and moon sigils boots coated in ash and herbs prominently visible: an arcane manuscript wrapped in twine and red wax, covered in spiraling protective glyphs and obscure language, half-revealed from the satchel character shown in clean turnaround view with inset close-ups of carved rings, fragmented charms, embroidered talismans backdrop includes layered, almost ghostlike map overlays: a translucent, antique-style route map spanning from York to Transylvania, crossing myth-imbued locations lighting emphasizes ancient drama, like morning sun breaking through monastery ruins subtle mystical aura envelops certain artifacts, especially the manuscript sheet rich with unreadable text fragments and symbolic elements embedded in every area storytelling driven by alchemical, folkloric, and cartographic textures no modern text visible, only visual lore, backdrop includes candlelight reflections, faint silhouettes of distant Carpathian mountains, subtly layered with an antique map texture resembling aged expedition charts, complete with foxed edges, ink bleeds, and hand-drawn topographic details a faintly glowing route traced from York to Transylvania winds through the parchment, partially obscured by the character's silhouette, evoking the sense of destiny mapped in lore tones of weathered sepia and dusty ochre enhance the historical-mystical tone, as if pulled from a long-lost field journal --ar 16:9 --v 6.0 --cref https://s.mj.run/tuBOkq6T-Jg

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Finally, I have found that the use of "Vary Region" after upscaling was quite helpful. In this way, I could delete strange buildings or structures from the picture (especially the travelling shot).

Pieces of the iteration process:

 

Final Pieces: