DALL-E and Midjourney are two leading text-to-image AI model families that transform written prompts into visual art, each with distinct strengths and workflows. OpenAI's image generation has evolved from DALL-E 3 (being deprecated May 12, 2026) to gpt-image-1 and the latest gpt-image-2 (ChatGPT Images 2.0, released April 21, 2026), which introduces reasoning-aware generation, near-perfect multilingual text rendering, and up to 8 consistent images per prompt. Midjourney, now primarily accessed through its web interface (midjourney.com), reached V7 in 2025 as the default model—with improved photorealism, Draft Mode for 10x-faster exploration, and the new Omni Reference system for consistent characters and objects across scenes. Both platforms rely on effective prompting—the art of describing subject, style, lighting, composition, and mood—to unlock their full potential. A key insight: specificity beats length—short, precise prompts with clear visual keywords consistently outperform verbose descriptions, while understanding each tool's unique parameters ensures you generate exactly what you envision.
What This Cheat Sheet Covers
This topic spans 17 focused tables and 153 indexed concepts. Below is a complete table-by-table outline of this topic, spanning foundational concepts through advanced details.
Table 1: Core Platform Commands
| Command | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
/imagine (Midjourney) | /imagine a photorealistic portrait --ar 16:9 | • Primary command to generate images in Midjourney • followed by prompt text and optional parameters. |
ChatGPT prompt (gpt-image-2) | Generate a sunset over mountains, impressionist style | Text prompt in ChatGPT interface routes to gpt-image-2 (ChatGPT Images 2.0) for image generation. |
/describe (Midjourney) | /describe [upload image] | Analyzes an uploaded image and generates four prompt suggestions based on detected visual elements. |
/shorten (Midjourney) | /shorten a very long detailed prompt... | Analyzes a prompt, highlights the most impactful tokens, and suggests shorter, more effective versions. |
/blend (Midjourney) | /blend image1.png image2.png | • Combines 2–5 images into a single blended composition • useful for merging concepts or styles. |