Character Reference Sheet Prompt

Start with a description or an existing image

1. Copy the reusable prompt above into an image generation tool. Replace every bracketed field, delete the editing instructions in brackets, and write none for garments, marks, or accessories the character does not have.
2. Choose a view plan from the table below. Update the panel count, grid dimensions, numbered view list, and total figure count together. Read the list in row order, from left to right across the top row, then across the next row.
3. If the design already exists, attach the approved image and add the reference instructions below. Decide which details are fixed before requesting a new angle.
4. Request one candidate board with neutral poses, a plain background, and enough space around each figure to see the hair and feet. Save the original-resolution file so you can inspect small details.
5. Review every panel. Repair a specific local defect, regenerate a board with several identity or layout failures, or request another view when an important feature cannot be checked.

Before generating, check that every required design decision is filled in and that the grid dimensions, view list, and total figure count agree. In an assistant that can return text, you can ask it to identify missing fields first. In an image-only tool, complete that check yourself. Keep your review notes outside the generation request.

Start with a front view if you are still choosing the face, hairstyle, or outfit. Approve that design before requesting its other sides. Generating a large board while those decisions remain open gives you several versions to reconcile.

Fill the fields with details you can check

Separate fixed identity from choices that can change in later work. For this sheet, keep the outfit fixed too. You can make an alternate-costume sheet after the first design is accepted. Phrases such as "adventurous" or "friendly" can describe mood, but add the visible features that carry that impression.

Count accessories per character, then count figures across the board. "One map case per figure, six figures total" avoids the ambiguity of asking for "one map case" somewhere on a six-panel image. Delete optional marks that have no role in the design. A character does not need a patch, scar, or pin simply because the template has a field for it.

Read the positive requirements and exclusions together. If a compass patch is required, a blanket "no symbols" instruction contradicts it. Allow the specified patch and exclude additional insignia. If the shirt has printed lettering that must be exact, plan to add that lettering in an editor and review the finished version separately.

Choose views for the work you will actually make

A turnaround shows a character from different sides. An expression sheet shows different facial expressions. A costume sheet compares outfits. Keep these tasks separate while establishing the base design, so each board has a clear comparison to make.

These are suggested layouts, not results from additional tests. The saved Mara example used six views. Its sequence includes a left rear three-quarter view and no left front three-quarter view; change that sequence if your project needs to compare both sides of the face.

When adapting the template for portraits, replace every full-body instruction, including "no cropped feet," with the intended head-and-shoulders crop. For expressions, replace the view list with expression names and explicitly keep the head angle unchanged. Leaving conflicting instructions in different sections makes the request harder to interpret.

Use a separate detail image when the sheet cannot show a critical feature clearly. Increasing the number of panels on the same canvas makes each panel smaller. A full-body board can establish silhouette while still being inadequate for checking eye color or a small ear mark.

Give each view enough space on the canvas

Set the image size or aspect ratio in the tool's controls if available, then choose a grid that leaves room for the figure inside each panel. A 3 by 2 board on a square canvas has panels wider than they are tall, before margins. That can work for portraits but wastes space around narrow standing figures. A taller canvas, fewer columns, or separate view images gives full-body figures more vertical room.

For example, a 1536 by 1024 image divided into three columns and two rows gives each panel only 512 by 512 pixels before spacing. A 1024 by 1536 image with the same grid gives roughly 341 by 768 pixels per panel. The taller panels fit standing figures more naturally, but their narrower width can make a bag or outstretched arm difficult to fit. Choose for the pose and the details you need to inspect, rather than requesting six views on every canvas.

If the tool cannot produce the exact size you want, choose a supported size with enough room and assemble accepted views in an editor. Keep a common baseline and scale during assembly. Request close-ups separately when a face, fastening, or small insignia is unreadable. Increasing export dimensions or upscaling an unclear image does not establish what a missing detail should look like.

Keep left and right attached to the character

Write "anatomical right" or "anatomical left" for the character's own side, then explain its location in the straight front view. For Mara, the gold clip belongs on her right temple. Facing the viewer, that temple appears on the viewer's left. Her orange patch belongs on her left upper sleeve, which appears on the viewer's right.

For profiles and three-quarter angles, name the side you want exposed: "front three-quarter view showing the character's anatomical right side." "Facing right" describes a direction on the page and can be interpreted differently. Track the body side through the turn.

A feature can disappear behind hair or the torso without being removed from the design. Mark it NOT VISIBLE in that panel. Mark it FAIL if the wrong side visibly carries it. If no panel exposes the attachment point, request a view that does before approving that detail. Do not mirror a panel in an editor to obtain the missing profile when the design has one-sided features.

Build a sheet from an approved character image

Attach an image whose face, proportions, and outfit you have already accepted. If you provide several references, assign each a purpose: one for identity, another for an approved costume, or another for rendering style. Resolve conflicting haircuts, garment colors, or facial features before generation.

Use the attached approved character image as the identity reference.
Preserve its face structure, apparent adult age, skin tone, hairstyle,
body proportions, and the fixed details listed in the character brief.

Create the requested views of that same design at a consistent scale.
Use a neutral pose and the specified background. Do not copy the
source image's scenery or decorative layout.

For features hidden in the source image, follow these design decisions:
[APPROVED REAR HAIR SHAPE, BACK OF OUTFIT, AND ACCESSORY ATTACHMENTS].

If an important hidden feature is still undecided, return a text list
of those decisions before generating, if the tool supports text replies.

A front portrait supplies no evidence about the back of a jacket. Write the rear details yourself, or treat newly generated rear details as design proposals that need approval. A generated angle adds information; it cannot recover a hidden design with certainty.

The OpenAI image generation guide documents reference-image generation and editing, along with limitations in recurring-character consistency and precise composition. Use an interface that accepts image inputs when following this route. Repeating the written description in a text-only request does not supply the approved image.

In Midjourney, use the appropriate image reference control for your selected model. Its Omni Reference documentation explains how to combine a reference with descriptive text and warns that intricate details may not match perfectly. This page's saved tests used Codex's built-in image tool; they do not establish performance in Midjourney.

Separate identity, style, and color references

An identity reference defines who the character is: face, proportions, hair, and fixed marks. A style reference defines how the image is drawn: line weight, shading, texture, and material treatment. When supplying both, name their roles. Ask for the face and proportions from the approved character image and only the rendering treatment from the style example. Check that the result has not borrowed the style example's face, outfit, or accessories.

Keep lighting neutral while establishing the palette. A green jacket can look warmer under orange light without becoming a different garment; compare its base color in similarly lit views before deciding it changed. If exact colors matter, keep named swatches or color codes with the brief and correct the accepted artwork in an editor. A typed color code alone does not guarantee that every shaded pixel will match it.

A filled example: Mara's six-view board

Mara is our fictional 32-year-old cartographer. The saved brief specified deep brown skin, an oval face, dark brown eyes, short plum micro-braids, one gold triangular clip on the right temple, and one orange compass patch on the left upper sleeve. Her clothing was a moss-green utility jacket, cream shirt, charcoal trousers, and rust boots. One cobalt map case sat at her left hip, with its rust strap running from the right shoulder.

Two image generation calls used the same filled prompt. We rejected both initial boards because a small ear mark appeared to resemble jewelry, despite the exclusion. A focused edit of Run B removed the unwanted marks, and we accepted that candidate after reviewing it again. These are the retained September 9, 2026 tests. The current reusable prompt and suggested variations have been reviewed for completeness and conflicting instructions, but have not been run word for word.

For a first attempt, the shorter brief below includes the main decisions without asking for the model's own approval. It is a suggested starting prompt, not the input used for the saved test images. Inspect its result using the same checks.

Create one flat six-view reference board of Mara, a fictional
32-year-old Black woman cartographer with a lean build, deep brown
skin, an oval face, dark brown eyes, and short plum micro-braids
ending above the jaw. Keep her face, age, hair, and proportions
consistent throughout.

She wears a moss-green waist-length utility jacket with two square
front pockets, a cream mock-neck shirt, charcoal straight-leg
trousers, and rust-brown lace-up ankle boots.

Each figure has one gold triangular clip on her anatomical right
temple, one orange compass patch on her anatomical left upper sleeve,
and one cobalt rectangular map case at her left hip. Its rust strap
runs from her right shoulder to her left hip. Do not mirror these
details or move a hidden feature to the visible side.

Arrange six equal panels in a 3-column, 2-row grid, read across rows:
front; front three-quarter showing her right side; right profile;
back; back three-quarter showing her left side; left profile.
Show one full-body figure per panel, relaxed arms, level camera,
consistent scale, and hair and boot soles fully visible.

Use semi-realistic editorial illustration, clean shapes, subtle
shading, neutral lighting, and a warm-white background. Include only
the specified garments, clip, patch, case, and strap. No additional
jewelry, bag, prop, insignia, text, logo, or watermark. Return one image.

The archived test input below contains two conflicts: it requires a compass patch but later bans symbols, and requires a map case but later bans bags. Keep it as a record of what produced those images. For your own prompt, explicitly permit the required items and exclude only additional ones.

Use case: stylized-concept
Asset type: original fictional character reference sheet for consistency testing

Create one clean six-view character reference sheet for a single original fictional adult character named Mara. The final image must be a flat reference board, not a photograph of a printed sheet and not a scene.

CHARACTER
Mara is a fictional 32-year-old Black woman cartographer with a lean adult build, deep brown skin, an oval face, dark brown eyes, and short neat plum-colored micro-braids ending above the jaw. Keep her apparent age, facial structure, hairstyle, body proportions, and skin tone identical in every view.

LATERALITY AND UNIQUE MARKS
- One small matte-gold triangular hair clip sits on Mara's anatomical right temple only. In the straight front view, this clip appears on the viewer's left. Never mirror it, duplicate it, or move it to the left temple.
- One flat orange circular compass patch sits on Mara's anatomical left upper sleeve only. In the straight front view, this patch appears on the viewer's right. Never mirror it, duplicate it, or move it to the right sleeve.
- No other clips, patches, jewelry, tattoos, scars, badges, or marks.

OUTFIT AND PALETTE
Moss-green waist-length utility jacket with two square front pockets, cream mock-neck shirt, charcoal straight-leg trousers, rust-brown lace-up ankle boots, and one cobalt-blue rectangular map case worn by a rust strap from the anatomical right shoulder to the anatomical left hip. Keep every garment, color, material, and accessory count identical in all views. No hat, gloves, eyewear, bag, weapon, or handheld object.

VIEW GRID
Arrange exactly six equal panels in a tidy 3-column by 2-row grid with generous spacing:
1. straight front full-body
2. front three-quarter view showing Mara's anatomical right side
3. anatomical right profile
4. straight back full-body
5. back three-quarter view showing Mara's anatomical left side
6. anatomical left profile
Show the same character once in each panel, exactly six figures total. Use the same neutral standing pose, relaxed arms, level eye line, full body visible from hair to boot soles, consistent scale, and no cropped feet.

STYLE AND BACKGROUND
Polished semi-realistic editorial character design, precise clean shapes, subtle natural shading, accurate adult anatomy, controlled studio lighting, neutral warm-white background, faint light-gray panel boundaries, no decorative scenery.

TEXT
Render no title, labels, letters, numbers, symbols, signatures, pseudo-writing, or watermark anywhere.

FINAL CHECK
Before returning the image, verify: exactly six panels and six figures; view order matches the requested grid; face, age, skin tone, hairstyle, body proportions, outfit, colors, and accessory counts match across all views; gold clip remains only on anatomical right; orange patch remains only on anatomical left sleeve; map-case strap runs only from anatomical right shoulder to anatomical left hip; no extra person, object, text, logo, or watermark. Return one image only.

The saved test record includes the exact generation and repair requests, original file dimensions and hashes, and our review decisions.

Compare Run A, made with the same prompt on a taller canvas

These files show why the exclusion needs its own check: a board can satisfy the large layout requirements and still contain an unwanted accessory. Two initial outputs and one edit are too few to estimate reliability. The image tool did not show a model identifier or seed, so those settings are unavailable for reproduction.

Review the board at its original resolution

First count panels and figures and identify their angles. Next compare visible faces, hair, proportions, garments, and accessory placement. Then inspect small marks and exclusions at full resolution. Review the whole sheet at a glance for scale changes, but open individual panels to judge details the overview hides.

Use the blank six-view review checklist as a starting point. Rename or add its view rows if you changed the layout. Record an observation with each decision, such as "left sleeve exposed, patch absent" or "ear hidden by hair." A tiny, blurred detail is unresolved even if its approximate color looks right.

Accept the sheet when its required views and visible identity details match, its exclusions pass, and each critical detail has been checked in at least one useful view. A rear view can pass the hairstyle and jacket checks while saying nothing about eye color. Do not turn that absence of evidence into a facial-identity pass.

If every mark stays on the correct side but the profiles look like a different person, the board still needs work. Conversely, do not reject a hidden left-sleeve patch solely because the right profile cannot show it. The decision follows the feature you can actually see.

Repair a specific failure without losing the rest

Supply the rejected board as the edit input. Name the defect, its panels or body location, and the features that already passed. Keep the original file and save the edit as a separate candidate. A repair prompt without the actual board cannot establish which pixels or design you want preserved.

Edit the attached board to correct: [FAILED TRAIT OR EXCLUSION].
Requested change: [REMOVE, RESTORE, MOVE, OR CORRECT THE NAMED DETAIL].

Preserve: canvas, panel grid, figure count, view order, identity,
body proportions, pose, framing, approved anatomical-side details,
clothing, palette, accessory counts, lighting, and background,
except for the correction explicitly requested above.

Add no unrequested detail. Keep required items explicitly listed in the brief.
Return one edited image only.

For Mara, the saved repair asked for every earring, stud, hoop, or jewelry-like ear mark to be removed wherever an ear was visible. It also listed the face, hairstyle, clip, patch, clothing, case, strap, grid, and framing to preserve. The visible ears were bare afterward, and the other listed details passed our review. The corrected board appears near the beginning of this page.

Use a region selection or mask if your editing tool supports it, while still describing the requested change. OpenAI's guide explains that a mask guides the edit and may not be followed with complete precision. Recheck the entire result, including panels outside the selected region.

An image edit can change details beyond the requested area. We checked Mara visually, without proving that every pixel outside the ears remained identical. If you need exact preservation elsewhere, make the correction on a separate layer in an editor and compare it with the original before accepting the file.

Regenerate when the board has several different faces, missing views, or widespread proportion changes. Request one corrected angle from an accepted reference if only that view is unusable. Adding "be more consistent" to a request does not identify the feature the model needs to fix.

Adapt the brief for portraits, clothing, expressions, and games

Portraits and humanoid avatars

Use head-and-shoulders views and spend the available resolution on the face, hairline, ears, and neck. Fix the facial structure and apparent adult age; keep expressions neutral while comparing identity. Check a small export at the size where the avatar will appear. A tiny clip that is readable on the original may disappear at that size, so it should not be the only recognizable feature.

Remove irrelevant footwear and lower-body instructions. Preserve any one-sided facial mark or hair part in the portrait views, and request a profile only when the planned use requires it.

Costumes, uniforms, and alternate outfits

Make the accepted base outfit first. For an alternate outfit, attach the accepted character reference, keep the face and body fixed, and replace the clothing section completely. Mixing "keep every garment identical" with "change the jacket" leaves a conflict in the brief.

Use the attached accepted character as the identity reference.
Keep the same face, apparent adult age, hair, skin tone, body
proportions, pose, scale, and marks on the body itself.

For this separate outfit sheet, replace the base clothing with:
[COMPLETE NEW OUTFIT AND ACCESSORY LIST].
Garment patches or insignia to retain on the new outfit: [LIST OR NONE].
Do not copy other decoration from the old garments.
Show front, anatomical right profile, back, and anatomical left
profile in a 2 by 2 grid. Show one full-body figure per panel.
Do not blend garments from the base outfit into this version.

Give each accepted outfit a separate name and file. If two outfits belong on a comparison board, repeat the same angle and pose in each panel so the clothing change is easy to judge. Include back views for designs whose attachment points or garment construction matter.

Expressions and stylized humanoid mascots

Attach the accepted neutral face and request a separate expression sheet. Fix the head angle, crop, hair, ears, and facial proportions. List what may move: eyebrows, eyelids, mouth, and cheeks. Review whether each expression remains recognizable as the same design, especially when an open mouth or squint changes the face substantially.

For a stylized humanoid mascot, describe its actual proportions, hand shape, surface color, and head silhouette in the anatomy notes. State the oversized hands or large head explicitly if those are part of the design. Keep the scale and shape rules you approved. The Mara tests covered a human character, so this is a suggested adaptation.

A quadruped, winged creature, or mechanical character needs its own anatomy brief. Specify limb count, joints, tail or wing attachments, front and rear surfaces, and the views that expose them. The adult humanoid template does not validate those designs; use it only as a reminder to define and inspect their fixed features.

Game concepts and animation handoffs

Treat the generated sheet as a design reference for discussion. Ask the receiving artist which camera views, proportions, pose, and construction details they need. Perspective shading and a similar-looking set of silhouettes do not establish measured orthographic accuracy.

A sheet does not supply a mesh, rig, joint behavior, or motion test. Inspect overlaps around hair, sleeves, straps, and equipment if those parts must move. Keep unresolved details in the handoff notes so an artist can decide them before using the board as a production specification.

Keep multiple characters in separate references

For a comic, cast, or game party, create and approve one sheet per character before requesting a group image. Putting two characters into every turnaround panel makes it harder to track whose face, clothing, or accessory changed. It also takes resolution away from each figure.

Give each character a distinct identifier, brief, and reference folder, such as mara-base-v1 and eli-base-v1. In a later group request, identify each attached reference by name and state which outfit belongs to whom. If a mark or jacket transfers between them, return to separate character images and fix the assignment before continuing.

If relative height matters, make a separate comparison using accepted front views on a common baseline. Set the relative sizes in an editor from your approved height notes. Separate generated sheets may use different scales; a similar head height within each board does not establish the height difference between characters.

Fix common reference-sheet problems

When generating views separately, supply the same accepted reference and fixed brief each time. Check each view before assembling it. The assembly step arranges images; it does not correct identity differences, camera angles, or accessory placement. Keep view labels in an editable layer rather than asking the generator to make them part of the character art.

Save a reference that someone else can use

Keep the accepted original image, the filled brief, and the review notes together. Export a full-resolution PNG for inspection, and make smaller delivery copies separately. Keep editable labels, swatches, and corrections in the source document when you assemble the sheet in an editor. Name the version and outfit, for example mara-base-outfit-v1-approved.png. Keep rejected boards in a separate folder so they cannot be mistaken for the accepted reference. If you crop panels for later use, retain the complete sheet and check each crop against it.

Use the plain background while reviewing the design. If a later workflow needs transparency, request it through a supported output control or remove the background in an editor, then inspect hair, straps, and boot edges. Open the exported file over two solid background colors to check its alpha channel. A checkerboard drawn into the image is still a background, not transparency.

Before producing a long sequence, make a scene in a new pose using the accepted reference and check the identity and outfit again. The Mara record did not test later scenes, so the repaired board establishes only the listed sheet checks. Use the six-scene character consistency guide for conflicting references, scene generation, and further repairs.

In the handoff, state which views are accepted, which details remain unresolved, and which outfit the sheet defines. If a required rear attachment or facial detail has never been visible clearly, request that view before treating the design as complete.