Maintaining character consistency has long been the biggest challenge for AI artists and content creators. Whether you are building a brand mascot, writing a graphic novel, or creating a consistent social media influencer, you need your character to look the same across different prompts. With the introduction of the Character Reference (--cref) feature, Midjourney has made this process incredibly simple.

In this guide, we will walk you through the exact steps to lock in your character's features and generate them in any setting or pose.

Step 1: Generate or Select Your Base Character

Before you can achieve consistency, you need a high-quality reference image. You can either use an existing photo or generate a new one using Midjourney. For the best results, your base image should clearly show the character's face and hair without too many distracting background elements.

• Prompt Example: /imagine prompt: a professional woman with short bob blonde hair, wearing a green turtleneck, cinematic lighting --ar 16:9
• Once generated, Upscale the image you like best.
• Right-click the upscaled image and select 'Copy Link' (or 'Copy Image Address'). This URL is your Character Reference.

Step 2: Use the Character Reference (--cref) Parameter

Now that you have your URL, you can apply it to new prompts. The --cref parameter tells Midjourney to use the character from your URL as the visual template for the new generation.

Type your new prompt followed by the parameter and the link:

Example: /imagine prompt: a woman in a green turtleneck sitting in a futuristic coffee shop --cref [URL of your image]

Midjourney will now attempt to map the facial features and hair from the original image onto the new scene.

Step 3: Adjust Character Weight with the --cw Parameter

Sometimes you want the character's face to stay the same, but you want to change their clothing or hair. You can control this using the Character Weight (--cw) parameter, which ranges from 0 to 100.

• --cw 100 (Default): Midjourney copies the face, hair, and clothing from the reference image.
• --cw 0: Midjourney focuses only on the face, allowing you to change the outfit, hairstyle, and accessories easily.

Example for changing clothes: /imagine prompt: a woman wearing a space suit on Mars --cref [URL] --cw 0

Step 4: Combining Multiple Character References

For even higher precision, you can use multiple reference images. If you have a front view and a side view of your character, you can include both URLs to give the AI more data to work with.

Structure: /imagine prompt: [Your Description] --cref [URL 1] [URL 2]

This is particularly useful for complex characters with unique markings or specific facial structures that a single image might not fully capture.

Step 5: Pro-Tips for Perfect Character Consistency

To get the most out of Midjourney's consistency tools, keep these SEO-friendly productivity tips in mind:

• Use Stylize ( --s): If your character looks too much like the reference and lacks the 'vibe' of the new prompt, increase the stylization (e.g., --s 250).
• Aspect Ratio Consistency: Try to keep your --ar (aspect ratio) consistent with your original reference for better scaling.
• Combine with --sref: If you want to keep the character consistent AND the artistic style consistent, use --cref for the person and --sref for the aesthetic style.

By mastering the --cref and --cw parameters, you can bypass the randomness of AI generation and create professional-grade, consistent visual storytelling assets in seconds.

💡 Pro Tip: Keep your software updated to avoid these issues in the future.