Character avatars (different looks)

Most characters get rendered the same way across every page — that's the point of defining a character once. But sometimes the same character needs to look meaningfully different in different scenes: a hero in their costume vs. their civilian clothes, a teenager flashing back to childhood, a noble in court robes vs. travel gear.

That's what avatars are for. Each character can have up to 3 avatars (alternate looks). The face and body proportions stay locked to the parent character; the avatar swaps everything else — outfit, accessories, hair styling, mood.

Where to manage avatars

Avatars are managed per issue, from the issue editor's Characters tab — not from the create-comic wizard. The wizard is for defining the cast; avatars are a refinement you add when an issue actually needs a costume swap.

To open the Avatars modal:

1. Open an issue (/dashboard/comics/[id]/issues/[issueId]).
2. Click the Characters tab in the ribbon.
3. Find the character tile and click the Avatars button (or the + mini-thumb at the bottom of the tile image).

This opens the Manage Avatars modal for that character.

Adding a new avatar

Inside the modal:

1. Fill in Name (e.g., Superhero costume, Civilian clothes, Court robes).
2. Write a Description of the look — be specific about colors, fabrics, era. The face and body proportions stay locked to the parent character automatically.
3. Optionally upload a Reference image to anchor the look.
4. Click + Add Avatar. The avatar is created and its image starts generating in the background.

After clicking, the modal closes and the new avatar becomes the session cover for that character's tile — you'll see a spinner overlay on the tile until the image arrives. Adding an avatar costs 10 credits, the same flat cost as any character image.

Or ask Sidekick

You don't have to open the modal yourself. In the script editor you can ask Sidekick for a new look — "give Maya a younger look", "add a battle-armor look for Kai", "make the hero look older for the flashback". Sidekick drafts the look (a name and a description), then shows a New looks card. You click Start, review the pre-filled look in the character editor, and hit Save & Generate — the same 10-credit generation. Sidekick can set up several looks in one go. The character has to exist first; if it's not in your cast yet, Sidekick will add the character before adding the look.

Editing an avatar

Click anywhere on an existing avatar's row in the modal. The form below loads with the avatar's current values. Edit name, description, or reference image, then click Save and Regenerate — this saves the new values AND triggers a fresh image-generation pass using the updated description. The button shows the credit cost (10 credits) so you know what the regen will charge.

If you don't want to regenerate (just save text edits), edit and the button stays as Save Changes.

To switch back to the new-avatar form without saving, click + Add Avatar at the bottom.

Picking which avatar shows on the character tile

The tile's main image is called the card cover. By default it's the character's original portrait. You can override it two ways:

• Quick swap (session-only): click any avatar's mini-thumb in the strip at the bottom of the character tile. The tile cover swaps to that avatar's image instantly. This is a UI preference — it doesn't persist across page reloads.
• Persistent default: open the Manage Avatars modal and click the ★ icon on an avatar row. That avatar becomes the persistent cover; the tile shows it across reloads, on mobile, etc. To revert to the original portrait, click ★ on the Original look row.

The mini-thumb of the currently active cover is highlighted with a green outline and a star badge.

Limits and cost

• Up to 3 avatars per character.
• No limit on regenerations — regenerate as many times as you like.
• Cost: 10 credits per avatar generation or regeneration, the flat rate for every entity image. The button always shows the cost before you click.

How avatars affect page generation

When the AI generates a page, it uses the character's current cover image as the visual reference for that character. If you set an avatar as the cover before regenerating a page, the new page will render the character in that look. To use different looks for different panels of the same page, use the per-panel character avatar override in the panel editor.

You can also ask Sidekick to apply a look to specific pages — "use Maya's younger look on pages 4 to 6". Referencing a look only changes what the next render of those pages uses; the pages already drawn don't change until you re-render them, so Sidekick will tell you which pages to re-render (that spends credits, so it asks first).

What avatars don't do

• They don't change the character's name. The name in the synopsis still maps to the parent character.
• They don't change the flat per-image cost. One character with 3 avatars pays the 10-credit cost separately for each avatar generated or regenerated — see character costs per issue.
• They don't transfer between series. Avatars belong to the character; the character belongs to its series.

Updated on: 02/08/2026