The underwater world has always held a special fascination for humanity. In this article, I’ve taken a unique approach to bring to life the diverse characters that could inhabit the mysterious depths of the ocean. Each Midjourney Monster is introduced with an element of mystery, intrigue and humor, reflecting the unknown depths of our oceans. Just as we explore the uncharted territories of the deep sea, I encourage you, dear reader, to embark on a mid-journey (see what I did there?) of discovery and imagination.
Underwater photography is always a huge hit for the masses. Not too surprising, since most of it is unknown to us. New areas discovered, creatures cataloged, and plant life found every single day. As of today, only 5% of the ocean has been explored. Our planet is about 71% ocean. That leaves us with almost half of the Earth being unexplored (about 48%). And that leaves us with 80% of unexplored ocean.
Secret Sauce of Midjourney Prompting: Vocabulary
Vocabulary on its own is actually a very useful tool in prompting Midjourney. Beyond just asking for artistic style, or subject matter, or camra model, the actual words themselves can produce some stunning results.
Our resident master of vocab, Blair Thompson (article coming soon!), has thrown game-changing vocab words into prompts that can take your creations further, and even transform them into something more terrifying than you originally imagined. As you’ll see in some of the prompts for these lovely sea-beasities, focusing on the area of the ocean your beasty lives in can get MJ to pull in details about that level that you may not have known about. The Hadal Zone is a big hit at Pink Horn, as it is the deepest part of the ocean. It’s the region that extends from 6,000-11,000 meters deep. Most of it is deep sea trenches, and if you added all these areas from every ocean, it’d be about the size of Australia. Terrifying.
Piggybacking off the “Hadal” prompt, you can add words like: frost, ice, dark, bioluminescent, crystals, iridescent, sea trench, photobacterium, amphipod, and translucent. Let’s break these down.
| Setting | Environment | Lighting |
| hadal zone this will prompt Midjourney to set your image in a dark underwater scene | frost, ice this will give your final image an added blue hue, or overall cold feeling | dark self explanatory, but sometimes MJ does need a little bit of help setting the scene |
| sea trench similar to ‘hadal zone,’ this will perhaps work a little better on making your setting dynamic by including some of the ocean floor | photobacterium these little guys are bioluminescent, so if MJ is feeling cooperative, it should add light specs around your image | crystals specifically crystals on the ocean floor, will give your image an added glow that makes the scene more dynamic |
| amphipod for when you want to add a little extra detail, including some of the smaller deep sea creatures along with your main creations | bioluminescent & iridescent this will have a similar effect to crystals, but might also make your spooky creation glow-in-the-dark | |
| translucent for that ethereal see through, glowy look that’s just a bit unnerving when applied to a living creature |
You’ll notice several of the prompts used are reused for other pictures. That, my friends, is the beauty of MJ. One click on vary, strong or subtle, and you get a whole new freaky deeky to experience. You can click the same prompt again and again. You’ll never get the same photo twice. Similar? Yeah, but not identical. You can even use Vary (Region) to repaint specific spots and further perfect your creatures.
Side note: One downside to some of the prompts shared below is that Midjourney will flag it as potentially ‘unsafe.’ Thankfully, tapping that appeal button gets it sorted quickly enough. Despite being obviously trained on horror, MJ doesn’t necessarily like prompts including some of the words used for horror prompts. Go figure.
Midjourney Monsters: Delving into the Abyss
I’ve often imagined what the creepy crawlies and horrifying levitations lurking in those deep waters might look like. I’ve watched countless movies with hilarious monsters created by merging preexisting predators. I’ve seen the scariest to the silliest, and have always imagined what kind of beasts could live on this planet with us. The one’s we’ll never see, the ones that have been here long before us, the ones that will be here long after we leave. (Hello there, Cthulhu.)
With my lack of artistic talent, I’ve never been able to draw or paint any kind of anything. I still can’t draw now, but I can give these imaginings life and generate the beasties in my head with AI, a true gift… and maybe a curse. You decide after you see some of the creepers below.
Unveiling the Characters
We can definitely blame Midjourney for the creations that evolved from my prompts, it has clearly endured a lot of horror-learning in its development. And I further blame it for the personalities it gave them (okay, maybe I gave them the personalities, but honestly, I’m not taking the fall for the rest of this post.) With that disclaimer aside: Come with me and I’ll introduce you everyone. We’ll do a speed-dating type thing, it’ll be fun. And give ‘em a chance. They are great folks when you get to know them better.
Except Jake. That dude is the worst.
Amphitrite – The Elegance of the Abyss
First up, we have Amphitrite. Fantastic dancer. Stole the name from a sister. Thinks poisoning your man’s side chick into a tentacle monster is super lame.
Archi – A Loner of the Deep
Next up, we have Archi. Bit of a loner. Hates crowds. Loves to stay in and cuddle his partners with his 42 arms. Would really like to know what Amphitrite has against tentacle monsters.
LAUREN – An Angler’s Legacy
I’m pleased to introduce you to Lure-in!…oh. What’s that? Crap, sorry! LAUREN! She comes from a long, proud line of Anglerfish. For legal reasons, Lauren can only match with other women. She mentioned something with the word “dissolved” and I just told her to talk to the lawyer.
Gary – Challenging the Social Sphere
And this is Gary. Gary hates the facebeeks and twatters. Hey makes a killer shrimp and algae hotdish. He does not know what a ‘boomer’ is. He has never ‘boomed’, so you’d better stop accusing him or he will contact the attorney general looking for someone to complain to.
Sid Fishious – A Melodic Metal Enthusiast
Here we have Sid Fishious. Huge punk fan. He’s going to say he sings like Iggy Pop, but it’s underwater. So. Yeah. Mostly muffled bubbles. Don’t tell him, he’s very sensitive. No, actually he’s very in touch with his feelings. Use the second one. Are you actually writing all of this down?
Lenny – Spikes and Long-Distance Love
And over here is Lenny. He is not a great cuddler. What he lacks in limbs, he makes up for in spikes. Looking for a long distance relationship. He always texts back right away. He has to use voice-to-text though, so it doesn’t always make sense.
Spot – Archi’s Loyal Companion
Oops, this is Spot. He’s Archi’s dog. Not up for swipes, but will accept pets. Very good boi.
Xeno – Conversations in the Abyss
This lovely lady is Xeno! She is great conversationalist and is very passionate about dental hygiene. She dreams of working for NASA. Always name dropping her dad, Kane. Apparently he was in a movie or something.
Daniel – The Silent Listener
This is Daniel. No, not Dan. He prefers Daniel. Yeah, one of those dudes. But, he is open and honest, very transparent. Doesn’t talk much, but a great listener. I spent the last few hours telling him which horror movies where my favorites and why. Didn’t interrupt once. Didn’t even speak. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t think he blinked…
Octavia Tentickles – A Gentle Touch Beneath
I’d like you to meet Octavia Tentickles. Loves buzzfeed quizzes. Thinks LOL means lots of love. Very tactile, gentle touches. Will show you pictures of all 1,701 of her grandkids. Always has fresh sea weed and sea snail cookies. Knitted me an entire rainbow sweater in the time it took to write this.
Bob – Lost in a Sea of Familiarity
So happy to introduce you to….huh. Have you ever had a little group of friends, then they invite over THEIR friends, and you realize you’ve met this dude at least 3 or 8 times and you still don’t know his name. Hm. I wanna say something with a B? Baa…Bee…Boo…Bob? BOB. This is Bob. I think. Honestly, he and Daniel have just been staring at each other since we all got here, so they may be off the market soon. HEY GUYS! ……yeah, neither of them blinked.
Bowie – A Stylish Enigma
Introducing Bowie! Always styles his spiky hair with got-2-b. Wishes someone would throw a little leather jacket in the deep end for him. Really enjoys spicy food.
Jake – An Uninvited Presence
This is Jake. I’m not sure how he got in. He knows he is banned from these types of things. Actually, he’s banned from anything involving anything. Mocks everyone and only talks about how much he lifts. Jake, you don’t even know how to lift. DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT, JAKE. GET OUTTA HERE.
Kra and Ken – Sibling Rivalry Beneath
This is Kra. Two minutes older than Ken. Never lets him forget it. Has a deep appreciation for naval history. Spends most of his time studying ships up close.
Ken would most like you to know that age does not equal maturity. Take his two minute older brother, Kra. Ken enjoys all aspects of marine history, but he does begrudgingly admit a special love for all types of ships and boats that Kra has not already….inspected.
Gollum’s Surprise – An Unexpected Guest
HOW DID GOLLUM GET IN HERE? OH MY G….oh. Oh. OH. Okay. This is the last of the group today…heh. She was at the back of the line…didn’t see her till now. She says she’s looking for someone to put a ring on it. My previous statement stands. Says her name is Shegol. She’s just precious.
Each horrifyingly, teethy beasty is its own beautiful snowflake. So, about that speed dating thing…Whatcha think? Who wants to fall into the deep end with one of these (not Jake) potential new chums? Well? Anybody? Seriously? No bites?….I told you guys you need to get to know them, okay? A bunch of great personalities up here. “Humans are friends, not food.” They took that pledge and everything. Give them a chance, it’s about the plot not the cover. Swipe right. But not on Jake. Never on Jake.
Want more creepy-crawlies? Check out Spooky Season at Pink Horn.