Use a person's photo as the reference, keep the foreground photographic, and put a larger illustrated version of that person on a wall in the same image. Start with a headshot if you can let the model invent the body and street. A full-body photo taken elsewhere gives it more visible clothing and build cues. A photo already showing the person beside a wall gives it the most to preserve: the person, light, camera angle and surface are already in one scene.
The result reads as one person in two media when the painted portrait repeats visible cues from the foreground: a hair shape, clothing color or gesture. Scale and surface matter too. The mural needs to be clearly larger than the photographed person, with the wall's brick, plaster, concrete or shutter texture still visible through the paint. The examples below use original synthetic people, with each source image shown beside its edit.
Match the prompt to the photo you have
ChatGPT Images accepts an uploaded photo as an edit input. OpenAI also warns that a selection may not contain every change, so compare the entire output with its source. The source determines what a comparison can prove:
| Source photo | What it lets you check | What the model must create |
|---|---|---|
| Head and shoulders only | Visible face, hair, expression and upper clothing | Lower body, pose, shoes, street and wall |
| Full body elsewhere, in another pose | Visible face, build and outfit | New pose, street, wall and lighting |
| Person beside an open wall | Foreground, pose, clothing, perspective and wall texture | The painted portrait on the wall |
The paste-ready template later on this page is for the third row: a photo that already includes an open wall. For a headshot or a new pose and setting, use the matching example prompt instead. Replace the example's hair, clothing and gestures with cues your source actually shows; describe missing clothes, body position or street details as new choices.
A headshot becomes a full street scene
| Original headshot | Edited street and mural |
|---|---|
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The original stops at the upper chest. The new image adds cream trousers, dark shoes, a standing pose and an ochre wall; those details are inventions, not recovered facts. The foreground and mural both carry the short pixie cut with a pale streak, a small mark below the left eye and the teal top. At normal viewing size the face reads as similar, but the output is a newly generated person in a new scene. It cannot verify body or pose preservation.
Image 1 is ONLY a head-and-shoulders reference of a fictional adult woman; it contains no body pose, lower clothing or street. Create one new vertical 4:5 photographic street scene with this woman full body in the RIGHT third, standing naturally beside a wide warm ochre plaster wall, one hand in a trouser pocket, wearing the teal crew-neck top visible in the reference, simple cream wide-leg trousers and dark shoes. The trousers, shoes, standing pose and street are new creative choices; do not imply they came from the source. Preserve visible facial anchors from Image 1 in the photographic foreground: short dark pixie with pale silver streak at front, tiny mark below her left eye, natural eyebrow/eye/nose/mouth relationships, warm olive skin, slight closed-mouth smile. Behind her, paint a MUCH LARGER original illustrated head-and-shoulders portrait of this same woman directly onto the ochre plaster wall, about three times the foreground head size, echoing the pixie silver streak, mole, teal shirt, expression and slight head angle. Mural style: matte teal, dark ink and warm cream hand-painted shapes with subtle rough edges. Let plaster grain and hairline cracks show through pigment; artwork follows the wall's plane, not a floating poster. Keep foreground completely photographic with natural daylight and believable shadows. One real person and one painted version; no other people, text, lettering, logos, watermarks, collage frame or second mural. Single finished image.A full-body source from another place and pose
| Original seated indoor photo | New standing street and mural |
|---|---|
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The source shows the person seated indoors with both hands near her knees. The edit moves her outdoors, standing with one hand at her collar. Short curls, silver hoops, the pale eyebrow scar, terracotta overshirt, white top, dark jeans and black shoes remain visible. The mural repeats the new collar gesture, while plaster grain and cracks cross its paint. The street, daylight and standing pose were generated; the image does not prove exact facial identity across scenes.
Use case: identity-preserve. Asset type: edited after image for a Grow AI Skills original before-and-after article. Input image: Image 1 is the edit reference, an original synthetic full-body indoor photo of a fictional adult woman seated on a wooden chair. Create ONE new vertical 4:5 photographic outdoor scene. The same woman now STANDS in the RIGHT third on a quiet stone-paved street beside a broad light-gray weathered stucco wall, facing the camera with her left hand touching the open collar of her terracotta corduroy overshirt and her right arm relaxed. This standing pose, street, daylight and wall are NEW creative choices; do not preserve the chair or apartment. Carry over visible anchors from Image 1 in the photographic foreground: short natural curls, small silver hoop earrings, narrow pale scar above her right eyebrow, warm brown skin, gentle closed-mouth expression, terracotta corduroy overshirt over a white top, dark indigo straight-leg jeans and black low shoes. Keep her body build recognizable without claiming pixel-identical identity. Paint a MUCH LARGER original illustrated waist-up portrait of this same woman directly on the stucco wall to her left, head about 2.5 times the foreground head size. Echo the curls, pale brow scar, silver hoops, terracotta overshirt, white neckline and the new collar-touch gesture. Mural medium: hand-painted matte terracotta, charcoal and cream shapes with loose brush edges, clearly an illustration rather than a second photographic woman. Make plaster grain and fine cracks visible THROUGH the pigment and keep all paint on the wall plane, away from the person, pavement and wall boundary. Keep foreground photographic, naturally lit, with believable grounding and shadows. One photographic foreground figure, one wall mural, no chair, room, extra people, lettering, logo, watermark, floating poster or collage.A source already beside the wall
The next three cases start from synthetic street photos that already contain the foreground person and an open surface. Each had an initial edit; the concrete version then needed a targeted repair. These prompts ask the model to add paint while retaining the person and scene already in the photo.
Brick alley: use color to link two scales
| Original street photo | Edited mural photo |
|---|---|
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The source places a woman in a cobalt work jacket and rust trousers against an open brick wall. The edit gives the wall a much larger head-and-shoulders portrait with the same curls, blue jacket and rust accents. Brick courses remain visible inside the painted face and clothing, so the mural stays on the wall plane. The foreground stance and outfit remain recognizable in the displayed pair. The painted face is an interpretation; these images do not establish exact facial identity.
Edit target: Image 1, the original synthetic street photo. Change only the currently blank red-brick wall on the left: add a huge original hand-painted mural portrait of the SAME woman already standing in the right third. Mural head and shoulders approximately 2.2 times the foreground woman's head and shoulder scale, entirely on the brick wall plane, occupying most of the empty left wall. The mural is deliberately illustrated with bold simplified cobalt-blue jacket shapes, rust-red accents from her trousers, dark curly hair silhouette, warm brown face, and a small cheek freckle. Echo her slight head tilt and quiet expression; use different medium, not a duplicate photorealistic person. Let mortar lines, chipped paint, uneven pigment, and brick relief show through all painted areas, with realistic wall perspective receding down the alley. Preserve the foreground woman exactly as the source photo: same face, features, freckles, hair, pose, clothing, proportions, light, shadow, shoes, crop. Preserve alley, pavement, camera angle, bricks, daylight. One actual person and one painted portrait only. No floating poster, framed print, second person, text, logos, graffiti tags, watermarks, or new props. Deliver a single finished image, not a collage.The page's general copy template was also filled for this same brick photo: blank left wall, a head-and-shoulders mural at 2.2 times the foreground head size, curls, cobalt jacket, rust trousers, slight head tilt and visible mortar. The single result below kept the photographed figure and brick texture, with a different painted face and crop. It shows that one filled template run worked on this source; it is not a repeatability test.

Concrete wall: repeat the glasses and hand gesture
| Original photo | First edit: paint spill | Repaired edit |
|---|---|---|
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The first edit repeats the man's round glasses, raised hand, folded arm and ochre jacket in a much larger navy-and-ochre portrait. Concrete grain shows through the paint, but the yellow sleeve runs onto the sidewalk at the lower right. In the repair, the mural ends at the wall-pavement seam. The photographic man and pose remain recognizable; compare both edits with the source if you need closer identity preservation.
Edit Image 1 only by painting a large original illustration directly onto the previously blank pale-blue concrete wall to the right of the man. The foreground adult man must remain photographic and unchanged: same recognizable face, short hair, round clear glasses, slight smile, exact folded-arm-and-glasses-touching pose, ochre chore jacket, navy shirt, charcoal trousers, tan shoes, framing and daylight. The mural is a monumental waist-up portrait of THIS SAME man, about three times his head size, echoing his clear round glasses, raised hand, folded arm and ochre jacket. Make the mural visually distinct from the photograph: simplified two-tone navy-and-ochre screen-print shapes, strong imperfect painted edges, sparse linework, blue wall visible as negative space. Keep concrete grain, hairline cracks and seams visible THROUGH the pigment; align it to the wall plane and perspective. Keep the existing street, pavement, shadows and wall geometry. One real foreground man and one wall painting only; no poster, canvas, frame, extra person, text, numbers, logos, watermark, or graffiti tags. Single finished image, not a comparison.Use case: precise-object-edit. Asset type: repaired editorial after image for a photo-and-mural portrait case. Input Image 1 is the edit target. Repair ONLY the lower-right boundary error: the ochre-and-navy painted mural sleeve currently extends off the pale-blue concrete wall and onto the gray sidewalk at the bottom right. Remove all mural pigment from the sidewalk and reconstruct the same unpainted gray pavement and wall-to-pavement seam visible in the original scene. Let the mural end naturally on the concrete wall plane above that seam; retain its rough painted edge on the wall. Do not move, restyle, resize or replace the photographic man, his glasses, hands, jacket, trousers, shoes, face, pose, light, shadow, camera framing, street, wall texture, or the rest of the mural including its glasses, face and folded-arm gesture. No new objects, lettering, watermarks, collage or second person. Return one repaired photograph.Shop shutter: let the ridges interrupt the paint
| Original street photo | Edited mural photo |
|---|---|
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The third source has a woman in a jade coat beside a gray metal shutter. Her mural repeats the chin-length bob, coat lapels and hand at the lapel. Horizontal shutter grooves cross the painted face and jacket, and the artwork ends at the shutter boundary. The mural's facial shapes are simplified and differ from the photographed face; evaluate whether the visual relationship works, not whether the illustration is a biometric match.
Edit target Image 1, a synthetic street photograph. Add a large hand-painted mural directly onto the EMPTY LEFT TWO THIRDS of the metal roll-down shutter. The mural depicts the SAME woman standing at right, enlarged from shoulders upward about 2.5 times her foreground head size. Match visible anchors: blunt chin-length black bob, same asymmetrical closed-mouth smile, emerald green coat lapels, black inner shirt, one hand touching the lapel. Interpret the mural as graphic cut-paper-inspired street illustration with broad matte jade, black and muted cream painted shapes, a few hand-brushed contours, enough simplification to make it visibly a painting, not a second photographed woman. Paint must FOLLOW the shutter surface: horizontal slat ridges and shallow dents remain visible through the pigment; color breaks naturally at slat grooves, with no floating edge or flat pasted rectangle. Preserve the real foreground woman exactly: facial proportions, hair, expression, pose, coat, trousers, boots, size and position. Preserve all original shutter geometry, surroundings, wet pavement, overcast light, framing and shadows. One real woman and one painted mural portrait only. No new people, lettering, logos, signs, watermarks, frames, posters or collage layout. Single edited photograph.Check the foreground and wall separately
- Compare the foreground with the original first: face relationships, hairstyle, expression, hands, clothes, body size and shoes. A good mural does not rescue a changed foreground person.
- Find at least two echoes between the real figure and painted one. Use cues the source actually shows, such as the concrete example's round glasses and raised hand or the shutter example's bob and green coat.
- Check scale and placement. The painted head should clearly dominate the wall while the real person remains fully readable. Reject a second photorealistic person or a portrait that floats off the wall.
- Zoom into the surface. Mortar lines, concrete grain or shutter ridges should continue through the pigment. Check that the mural follows the wall's perspective and does not spill onto the person or pavement.
If the mural feels pasted on or crosses onto the pavement, request a surface repair: "Keep the foreground person and camera framing unchanged. Make the illustration paint only on the existing [brick/concrete/shutter], with its [mortar/cracks/slats] visible through the pigment. Remove any poster edge or paint outside the wall boundary." Compare the entire new result with the original again. If the foreground face or pose has drifted, restart from the original photo and repeat its visible anchors.
Use your own photo or a portrait you have permission to edit. OpenAI's service terms require express consent and the necessary rights to reproduce a person's likeness with its visual tools. "Preserve exactly" in the tested prompts describes the requested edit, not a verified identity match. Compare the foreground against its source.
If you want to turn the whole photograph into illustration, use the site's pastel portrait prompt. For a flat designed image with headline and reading order, use the editorial concept poster prompt. This edit keeps one person photographic and puts their illustrated counterpart on a physical surface in the same scene.










