It all began when I asked Midjourney for a whimsical llama. I had set my account to use the new (alpha) version as a default and this is what I got.
Not too bad, despite the fact that it appears to be a happy, friendly llama — which is not a type of llama I have ever personally encountered. But then again, I had requested whimsy. Still, the image was a bit on the sterile side, from my point of view, so I used exactly the same prompt once again, only I asked Midjourney to use its old version instead. And the image below was the first result.
Antlers? Since when do llamas have antlers, or any other kind of horns?1 I asked Midjourney to try again and received the critter below … which is really cute. But its beautiful eyelashes reminded me more of deer than llamas.
And I was off and running, mostly using the old version of Midjourney to create deer. It was right around then that I realized I was having more fun using Midjourney than I had for several weeks. So I set my account to use the old version as a default, rather than the new one.
To be fair, I have — in real life, that is — already seen an unusually large number of deer in 2024.2 Perhaps the fates were simply using AI to align my fantasy world with my lived experience.
And all I can say is thank goodness they don’t have sharp, bony things on their heads. I have yet to meet a llama who wasn’t in an extremely cranky and territorial mood.
I think of deer as my special friends, so I hope that trend continues.
Cheerful pics!