How to Keep an AI Character Consistent Across Manga and Video

Why AI keeps changing your character

An image model builds each picture from a text prompt, one image at a time. If you only write "a young man with black hair," any young man who fits that description will do, so the face changes from panel to panel. To keep it steady, you need to pass along a reference picture that says "this person" every single time, not just words.

Locking a character in BunCho (pronounced "boon-cho" — Japanese for "Java sparrow") does exactly that: it sends the reference sheet and the written description of the character's look to every panel and every shot the character appears in. Locking does not make every image identical, but it makes the face, hair and clothes much less likely to drift.

Describe what stands out and never changes

Reference sheets get better when the character profile describes the character's look well. Writing in this order helps both the AI and your readers.

• Silhouette first: hairstyle, hair length, height and build
• Colors: hair, eyes and clothes, written specifically ("navy blazer," not just "jacket")
• Signature items they always wear: glasses, earrings, an armband
• Leave out things that change, like expressions and poses. Put those in each panel's instructions instead

How to create and lock a reference sheet

1. 1Write the look in the character profile

   In your project's Characters tab, describe the hair, eyes, clothes and so on. This description carries over to the characters when you make manga or video from the same story.

2. 2Generate a reference sheet

   For manga, use the character panel in the Create tab; for video, use the Characters tab. Choose to generate a reference sheet. For video you make three images: face, full body and three-quarter view. You can also upload your own character art instead.

3. 3Lock the sheet you like

   Press Lock and the character is marked as locked. Add outfit variations from the outfits option. In video, you can turn on one automatic retry for shots where the character drifts.

   

4. 4Match colors and build an expression sheet

   In manga, pick up a color palette for hair, eyes and clothes from the reference sheet, and batch-generate an overnight expression sheet: joy, anger, sadness, fun, surprise, embarrassment and a neutral face. For a single panel, generate expressions just for that panel.

   

5. 5Save to your character library and reuse

   A locked character can be saved to your character library (/studio/characters) with its reference sheet, expressions and outfits. Then you can start a novel, manga, video or explainer video with that character and keep the same face. Saving and reusing characters is free.

When the look needs to change mid-story

Sometimes the story calls for a new look: a haircut, or the character growing older. In video, edit the character's look note and it takes priority over the project's character profile (for example, "man in his 40s, black suit"). Shots still using the old look are flagged, so you can regenerate only those.

If only the clothes change, add an outfit and switch outfits per scene. That keeps the face recognizable while the costume changes.

Using the same locked character in both manga and video keeps the whole project visually consistent.

Per-panel prompts: expression, angle and place only

A common mistake after locking is describing the look again in each panel's instructions. Writing "a blonde girl laughs" can pull the image toward a different blonde than the one on your sheet. Leave the look to the reference sheet and look note, and write only expression, facing direction, pose and setting per panel.

If a panel still drifts, fix just that one: in manga, use the fix-this-panel option to adjust expression, angle or background; in video, use the edit-with-words option on the image storyboard. Fixing only the panels that drifted takes far fewer credits and less time than regenerating everything.

Templates that use a locked character

Lock your original character and every four-panel strip or social post can become part of a series. Use only characters you hold the rights to. Names and looks of real people or characters from existing works cannot be used.

• 

  Character intro four-panel strip

  Introduce your locked character's personality and catchphrase in four panels, for readers meeting them for the first time.

  Use this template

• 

  Profile card

  A character introduction image for your profile or announcements.

  Use this template

See also: Make a four-panel comic on your phone / BunCho Studio overview