Ok so, I feel u on the Midjourney struggle—it's great but sometimes looks way too 'perfect' in a fake way. If ur looking to save money while getting that lifelike finish, I highkey recommend Stable Diffusion XL 1.0. It's totally free if you run it locally, and the control you get over skin textures via LoRAs is unmatched for story consistency.

Another solid budget option is Flux.1 [dev]. I've been testing it on Tensor.art lately cuz they have a decent free daily tier. Honestly, the anatomy and eye details in Flux.1 [pro] are way ahead of MJ right now and it doesn't have that weird plastic sheen. Basically, SD gives you the most bang for your buck if you're willing to learn the tech, but Flux is the winner for raw realism without the monthly sub costs. hope that helps!!

sooo, I've been messing with AI art for years now, and honestly, i've had my fair share of letdowns. i remember spending like weeks on a character set only for the model to update and suddenly everyone looked like a barbie doll... it was so frustrating!! plus, I've had some sketchy experiences with platforms that weren't clear about their data privacy, which is a huge red flag if you're doing a long-term project.

If you're looking for that "perfect" finish while staying safe, I'd highkey suggest looking into Leonardo.ai and their Leonardo PhotoReal setting. i think it handles the "non-plastic" skin better than most, and the anatomy is usually way more reliable than the standard MJ renders you're getting. I've used it for a few months now and it's much less hit-or-miss with the eyes and hair details.

Also, for a safer and more professional route, I've actually been using Adobe Firefly through Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan. It's not as "wild" as some open-source stuff, but from a safety-first perspective, it's the gold standard since it's trained on licensed stock content. I had issues with other tools feeling a bit "stolen" or unethical, but this feels way more solid for a professional project where you need to own your work.

basically, the lesson I learned the hard way is: dont just chase the shiniest render. make sure the tool is reliable and safe for your IP, or you'll end up losing all your work when a site goes under or changes their terms. gl with the story project!! 👍

Similar situation here - I went through this last year when I was trying to save some cash while writing my fantasy story project. I was so frustrated cuz I was sinking money into subscriptions and still getting that wierd, shiny plastic skin vibe... it was so annoying!! In my experience, moving away from the "big" names actually saved me a lot of grief and cash.

1. At first I was using Midjourney Basic Plan for $10 a month, but like u said, the hair and eyes were always a hit or miss. I felt like I was wasting my credits just trying to fix one eye! Total money pit tbh.
2. I eventually moved over to Leonardo.ai Apprentice Plan which is about $12/month. Honestly, it was a huge relief cuz their 'PhotoReal' engine handles skin textures way more naturally than what I was getting elsewhere. Plus, you get a daily refill of credits even on the free version if youre really pinching pennies.
3. Then I found SeaArt.ai. This was the real budget MVP for me. Basically, it lets you use all those custom models people mentioned earlier—like the Stable Diffusion stuff already talked about—but on their servers so u dont need a beefy GPU. I found that using specific 'LoRA' files for realistic skin was the only way I could get that crisp look without a $2,000 PC.
4. It took a lot of trial and error... I spent hours tweaking settings to get character consistency, but using the 'fixed seed' method on these cheaper platforms saved me a ton of money compared to the high-end stuff.

But yeah, that was basically my journey from spending way too much to finding a workflow that actually worked for my wallet. Good luck with the art!! 👍

+1 to what was said earlier! That software is honestly AMAZING for skin details once you get the hang of it... but quick question before I geek out:

1. Are you running stuff locally on your own PC or using a cloud site?
2. Do you have reference photos for your characters consistency??

Basically, getting that lifelike look depends SO much on your hardware and how much you wanna tinker!! cheers

Tbh, if you want that high-end look without the plastic sheen, you gotta stop relying on those generic "ultra-realistic" prompt tokens. It's a huge rookie mistake to stack terms like "hyper-detailed" or "8k resolution" because they usually just force the model into a specific over-processed latent space that looks fake as hell!! If you're serious about a story project, your biggest hurdle isn't the tool, its the lack of control over the VAE (Variational Autoencoder) and the noise offset. Basically, you need to look into training your own character weights if you want real consistency. Doing the DIY route gives you the ability to swap out the VAE to fix washed-out colors and weird skin tones. Just be careful about over-training; if you push the epoch count too high, your characters start looking like they're made of clay... it's a fine line. Also, pro tip: if the eyes look "off," it’s often a resolution mismatch between the latent space and the final upscale. Don't just upscale blindly—use a tiled approach to maintain those fine skin pores and micro-details. Honestly, without custom training, youre just rolling the dice every time you hit generate.

Did this last week, worked perfectly