Visual Character Design

Visual Character Design

Build visual reference documents that artists and image models can work from. Transforms character sheets (personality, arc, voice) into physical appearance descriptions with hex color palettes.

When to use

• User asks for "visual profiles", "character art descriptions", "appearance references", "what do they look like"
• Preparing art direction for illustrator or image generation
• Building visual consistency across a project

Process

1. Pull character sheets — read protagonist + companions from vault
2. Check species/worldbuilding docs — verify established visual canon before inventing
3. Write profiles — one section per character (see structure below)
4. Humanizer pass — critical; visual descriptions accumulate AI tells faster than narrative prose
5. Save to vault — 02-Characters/visual-profiles.md or similar

Structure per character

• Face — bone structure, skin tone/color, distinguishing features, scars/marks
• Eyes — color with specific shade reference, shape, notable qualities
• Hair — color, length, style, texture, organic elements
• Build — height, frame, muscle, movement patterns
• Clothing — layers, materials, colors, practical details
• Weapons/Magic — visible gear, how magic manifests visually
• Posture and manner — how they hold themselves, physical tics from dialogue section
• Palette table — hex codes for every element

See references/visual-profiles-workflow.md for detailed workflow and AI-tell patterns specific to visual descriptions.

Pitfalls

• Don't skip the humanizer pass — visual descriptions are AI-tell magnets
• Don't invent visual canon if species docs already establish appearance
• Don't use negative definitions ("no X, no Y") — describe what IS there
• Don't skip hex codes — essential for consistency across art/generation
• Don't make every character equally detailed — match to narrative importance
• Don't forget physical tics from character sheet dialogue sections

User-edit workflow

User frequently edits visual profiles directly and drops their version in chat. When this happens:

1. Read their version carefully — note what they changed vs your draft
2. Apply their changes to the vault file (don't re-present the whole thing)
3. Cascade any fact changes to character sheets and canon (species, parentage, age, etc.)
4. Common user corrections: height/build adjustments, hairstyle preferences, skin tone wording, removing decorative details

Relationship to other skills

• character-builder: builds personality/arc/voice. This skill takes those sheets as INPUT and produces visual appearance.
• humanizer: the humanizer pass is mandatory here. See reference file for visual-specific patterns.
• narrative: this skill feeds into narrative when describing characters in prose.