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 is free for free-slot characters; paid-slot characters incur the same per-image cost as a regular character regen.

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 FREE or the credit cost 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 when no regen is possible (e.g., if you've hit the regen limit).

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.
• Up to 5 regenerations per avatar. Once you hit the limit, the regen button disables and you'll see 5/5. Save still works.
• Cost: free for characters in your free slots; paid-slot characters charge the same per avatar as a paid character regen. The button always shows the cost (or FREE chip) 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.

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 bypass the character slot economy. One character with 3 avatars still counts as one character slot.
• They don't transfer between series. Avatars belong to the character; the character belongs to its series.

Updated on: 04/05/2026