A practical guide for preserving facial identity across activities, environments, style changes, and full transformations using PixelDojo character tools.
Inspired by the Replicate consistent characters comparison.
Character consistency improves when prompts split into two parts: identity anchors (features that must never change) and variation directives (what should change this time). Keep these two blocks explicit in every prompt.
Reference character used for every example:
Reference character generated in PixelDojo, then reused for all examples below.
Always restate 2-4 traits like eye color, hair silhouette, face shape, and signature outfit details.
Change one major variable at a time: activity, environment, style, wardrobe, or genre.
Use phrases like 'the same person from the reference' early in the prompt to strengthen identity lock.
For anime/watercolor/fantasy prompts, mention identity anchors again after the style instruction.
Change action while preserving facial identity
The same person from the reference is playing a grand piano on a small jazz stage. Warm tungsten practical lights, candid performance expression, realistic hands, shallow depth of field.
A strong action verb plus scene context helps the model vary composition without drifting identity.
Move character into a totally new scene
A half-length portrait photo of the same person in a summer forest at golden hour. Keep facial identity, eye color, hairstyle, and face shape consistent. Natural bokeh and cinematic color grading.
Explicitly list immutable features (eye color, face shape, hairstyle) whenever scene changes are large.
Modify outfit and atmosphere simultaneously
The same person standing in city rain at night wearing a yellow raincoat. Preserve face identity, eye color, and hairstyle from reference. Wet hair strands, raindrops on coat, realistic lighting reflections.
Use one sentence for identity lock and one for visual changes to reduce trait drift.
Recontextualize while keeping the same person
The same person working as a chef in a busy restaurant kitchen, plating food. Keep identity and facial details consistent while changing outfit to chef whites and apron.
Specify what should change (role/outfit) and what should stay stable (facial details).
Shift medium while preserving key features
Restyle the same person as high-quality anime key art while preserving hairstyle silhouette, eye color, and facial proportions. Dynamic lighting, polished linework, vibrant color palette.
Style changes work better when identity anchors are repeated after the style instruction.
Creative restyle with identity preservation
Create a watercolor painting of the same person in a city park. Preserve identity traits from reference while using soft watercolor edges, paper texture, and gentle pastel color transitions.
In painterly styles, explicitly request identity preservation to avoid over-stylized face changes.
Heavy costume + setting changes, same character
Transform the same person into a fantasy witch in a moonlit forest. Keep facial likeness, eye color, and hairstyle consistent. Dark flowing cloak, glowing staff, cinematic atmosphere.
For dramatic transformations, reiterate 2-3 identity traits after describing fantasy elements.
Use when the same character should perform a different action.
Use when moving the same person to a new setting.
Use for anime/illustration/watercolor transformations.
Use for fantasy or genre transformations while retaining likeness.