A friendly guide to making characters with AI
Create characters with AI that stay themselves
An AI character creator turns a written description into a picture of someone who does not exist yet. The first image is rarely the hard part. Describing a look clearly, keeping the character the same from one picture to the next, and knowing where you may use it take more care.
Cut out the pieces
The parts of a character you describe
A character is easier to make, and to remake, when you think of it as a set of pieces rather than one picture.
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Silhouette
The outline you would know in shadow: height, build and posture. A clear silhouette keeps a character readable at small sizes.
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Face and hair
Face shape, hair, eyes and any marks that set them apart. Small, specific details hold between images better than vague ones.
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Outfit
A signature outfit does much of the work of recognition. Choose one and describe it the same way every time.
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Props
Something they carry or wear, such as a satchel or a pair of goggles, gives a character a job and a reader a clue.
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Colours
A short, named set of colours, used the same way in every scene, makes a character far easier to match.
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Pose and manner
How they stand and the expression they fall back on. Personality shows in a pose before it shows in words.
Writing the description
Describe a character in plain, ordered words
Most generators start from text. A description that moves from the whole figure down to the details tends to come back closer to what you pictured.
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Lead with who they are
A role or a situation sets the scene before any detail does.
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Give a build and an age range
These steer the whole figure, so say them early and plainly.
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Dress them piece by piece
Name each garment and its colour rather than a general look.
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State the style once
Picture-book, comic or painted: one clear choice, not three.
- Who
- a retired lighthouse keeper
- Build
- tall and broad-shouldered, in her sixties
- Outfit
- a yellow oilskin coat over a grey jumper, rubber boots
- Colours
- mustard, slate grey and navy
- Style
- flat-colour picture-book illustration
The same character, twice
Keeping one character consistent across images
Each new image is generated afresh, so a character can drift between pictures. A few habits keep it steady.
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Keep a character sheet
Save the description with a few approved images from the front, side and back, and go back to them every time.
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Reuse the exact wording
Changing auburn to red can change the character. Copy the description rather than typing it again from memory.
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Guide with a reference image
Many tools can take an earlier image as a guide. It usually holds a face and outfit steadier than text alone.
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Check the small details
Which hand holds the bag, which side the scar is on, the shape of a collar. These are the details that slip first.
A sheet of labels
Where a character made with AI can go
Each use asks something different of the character, and of the terms it was made under.
Stories and picture books
A cast that looks the same on every page.
Comics
Many angles and expressions of one face.
Games
Characters that read clearly at a glance.
Brand mascots
A figure with clear ownership and use rights.
Teaching material
A friendly guide who walks through a lesson.
Tabletop campaigns
Portraits for the people at the table.
Before using a character commercially, read the tool's licence terms, and steer clear of designs that copy a real person or another artist's work.
What readers ask
What this site sets out to answer
- Are there free AI character design tools that don't watermark exports?
- Which platforms offer AI character free trials generous enough to test a full workflow?
- Is there a character generator that outputs multiple angles of the same design?
- Which AI character generator lets me lock in traits like hair, outfit, and age?
- What character creator free options give commercial rights to the designs?
- I'm writing a graphic novel and need an AI character that stays consistent across panels, so what tools do that?
- How do studios keep AI characters visually consistent across a long project?
- Can you recommend a character maker for building a cast of tabletop RPG NPCs?
- What character creator tools are good for indie game developers on a budget?
- What's the fastest way to create AI character concept art from a written description?