Starting a product mock-up business like the ones featured here requires a set of skills that include photography, access to essential equipment such as cameras, the actual products you intend to mock-up, and a suitable shooting location. Moreover, creating these mock-ups necessitates time and money investments. However, I have an exciting proposition for you: with just a few prompts in Mid Journey AI Version 5, you can kickstart a captivating and lifelike product mock-up venture, even if you have limited financial resources, all within a mere 24 hours. Allow me to guide you through this process. By the way, if you’re new to this channel, my name is Zinni, and welcome to Zinni Studios.
For those who might be unfamiliar with the concept, a mock-up is an image that businesses use to exhibit their products or designs, enabling customers to visualize how the items will appear upon purchase. To illustrate, let’s take a look at some existing mock-up stores on Etsy.
To begin, let’s explore a store specializing in wall art mock-ups. This store offers exquisite mock-ups, but as you can see, creating them through traditional photography requires considerable effort. Since its inception, this store has garnered over 2,400 sales, demonstrating a notable demand for such products. Another noteworthy store is “Ratty Tank,” which has achieved a remarkable 90,000 sales, equating to over $200,000 in revenue since its inception. Ratty Tank boasts a diverse array of mock-ups for various items, such as mugs, and these particular mock-ups were created using conventional photography.
Now, for comparison, let me introduce you to another store that crafts wall art mock-ups using AI technology. This store opened its doors in January 2022 and has already secured over 497 sales. In my opinion, the mock-ups from this store exhibit a higher level of realism compared to their traditional photography counterparts.
Before we delve into MidJourney, I’d like to showcase one more store that commenced operations just two months ago, yet it has already accumulated 172 sales since its inception. This demonstrates a noticeable demand for mock-ups. However, it’s crucial to emphasize the importance of conducting niche research to understand demand, competition, and product analysis. I’ve included a link to an article in the description below, which will guide you step by step on how to conduct product analysis on Etsy.
Now that we’ve explored some Etsy stores that sell mock-ups, let’s transition to MidJourney, where I’ll demonstrate how to create these mock-ups. For newcomers to MidJourney, you’ll need to create accounts in two places: discord.com and MidJourney.com. To begin, visit discord.com and sign in using your Gmail or email address, or you can create an account if you don’t already have one. Once you’ve completed that step, head over to MidJourney.com and click on the “Join Beta” button. It will prompt you to accept the invitation.
Upon accepting the invitation, the Discord web app will open. You can choose to download the Discord app to your system, but I prefer to use it on the web. This is where we’ll commence our mock-up creation journey.
Before we dive into crafting the prompts, let’s briefly discuss the cost associated with using MidJourney. MidJourney offers different plans, including the basic plan with a limited image generation capacity of 200. They also offer a standard plan for $30 per month, granting unlimited image generation. If you prefer added privacy, there’s a $60 per month plan for generating images in stealth mode, ensuring your creations remain confidential. Currently, I utilize the $30 plan to generate images without any restrictions.
Now, let’s move forward to MidJourney. Once you’re on the platform, start by typing “/settings” at the very bottom and press Enter. This ensures that you’re using MidJourney 5. Select that option and click on “Dismiss Message.”
Once you’ve completed this step, you’re ready to input prompts for generating your images. To start, let’s create a set of images for a nursery. Type “/imagine” followed by a prompt for MidJourney to generate a nursery room for you. Specify that the nursery room should feature three white picture frames with no images or text, and request that it be a high-definition mock-up.
Version 5 brings a significant advantage in the form of high-quality images right from the outset, eliminating the need for the “upscaling” process required in Version 4. Here’s how it works: If you find an image you like, simply select “Upscale” once, and the image will load instantly. As you can see, the result is remarkably realistic, making it difficult to discern whether the image was captured conventionally or created using AI. Let’s also upscale the fourth image.
The clarity and realism of these images are truly impressive, highlighting one of the standout features of MidJourney 5. Moreover, if none of the pictures meet your preferences, you can easily re-roll to generate additional images.
Allow me to showcase some other examples I created earlier. These images boast exceptional clarity and realism, with many of them appearing strikingly authentic. I can confidently assure you that if you decide to sell these on Etsy, distinguishing between images captured manually and those created with AI will be a near-impossible task for customers.
Now that we’ve crafted some mock-ups in the nursery wall art niche, let me demonstrate how you can create items like tumblers and mugs using MidJourney 5. To begin with tumblers, I’ll initiate the process by typing “/imagine” again and inputting prompts for MidJourney to generate a blank white skinny 20-ounce tumbler with a straw, no text, and a mock-up featuring a gray background.
The level of realism and cleanliness displayed in these images is truly remarkable. It’s virtually impossible to discern that these were generated using AI. To gain a closer look, let’s upscale some of these images.
Now, let’s delve into the creation of mock-ups for mugs. With MidJourney 5, you have the power to generate an endless array of mock-ups tailored to your business needs. Let’s take a 15-ounce mug as an example and request it to be generated without text and with a blank background.
Once again, these images exhibit an astonishing level of realism. They remain clean and unadorned, allowing customers to effortlessly incorporate their own designs. This is a distinct advantage of MidJourney 5 – you’re not bound by the necessity of a professional studio setup. You can utilize any background of your choice, and the result will consistently deliver a pristine image.
So, how do we go about packaging and selling these mock-ups? Let’s consider the example of the nursery picture we created earlier. To begin, you need to save the image by right-clicking on it and selecting “Save Image.”
It’s important to note that you should upscale these images using tools like AI Image Enlarger. This ensures that should a customer wish to enlarge the picture, it won’t suffer a loss in quality.
Following the upscaling process, the next step involves creating dimensions suitable for Etsy mock-ups or product listings. Opt for a custom size of 2700 by 2025 pixels.
With the canvas now open, proceed to upload the upscaled image. Observe how pristine and unblemished the image appears.
Moving on, let’s incorporate picture frames to illustrate the mock-up’s appearance. For this purpose, we’ll utilize a grid element.
Once the frames are in place, feel free to duplicate them to occupy the entire canvas. Additionally, include a picture that showcases the final product’s potential appearance.
Now, you can offer both the framed template and a blank template. This flexibility enables customers to either employ the template as-is or insert their own images.
To share the template with your customers, utilize the “Share” feature. Configure the sharing options to “Anyone with this link,” and subsequently, copy the link to offer it as a PDF. This approach permits customers to download the PDF, click on the link, and gain access to the template.
This outlines the process for packaging and selling your mock-ups on Etsy, and you can apply a similar approach for tumblers and mugs.
Now, let’s delve into the cost associated with launching this business or side hustle:
The MidJourney subscription comes at a monthly cost of $30.
Canva can be used for free, eliminating any expenses there.
Etsy imposes a charge of 20 cents per listing, but if you utilize my link provided in the description, you’ll receive 40 free listings when setting up your store.
All in all, your initial investment to kickstart this venture will amount to approximately $30.
If you’re intrigued by other digital products you can market online with the assistance of AI, I encourage you to explore the articles linked on the screen.