What is AI Character Design?
TL;DR
Technology that uses image-generation AI to create original character visuals, where maintaining character consistency is key.
AI Character Design: Definition & Explanation
AI character design uses image-generation AI to create an original character's visuals—face, outfit, body type, expression, and pose. Unlike one-off illustration, games, comics, VTubers, and tabletop RPGs need 'the same character drawn in different poses, expressions, and outfits,' so the ability to preserve character identity (consistency) is crucial. Character reference features and LoRA training let you generate variations of the same character from a base image, useful for character sheets and comic panels. Representative tools include NovelAI (anime style), Artbreeder (face blending), Scenario (game assets), Leonardo AI, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion + LoRA. For commercial use, checking each tool's license and avoiding imitation of existing copyrighted characters are important.