Character Portraits and Where to Find Them

[Diaz Ex Machina]

How do you create/find the right portrait for your character? This is something that always leaves me stuck during character creation: I can't find the right portrait no matter what. Right now I'm trying Midjourney, hoping to have some luck.

[Vladim]

This is always a tricky question fraught with intellectual property issues. I think most folks just use the internet and sites like DeviantArt, Behance, Artstation and Pinterest. Or just take them from RPG books. With AI becoming more popular, this is also an option, but it's also fraught with ethical concerns. Many artists and sites are banning AI images (even Paizo recently, I hear).

If you do plan to use someone's art, it would be best to credit the artist. Link to their page, if you can. In an ideal world, you should also seek their permission, though I think that few people do.

Many players also start from the art and build the character from it. Easier than doing it the other way around.

[Shocker]

I have been using Heroforge to make myself a character and then just screen shoot it. The problem with ip keeps me from using random searches online. 

[Suzuki Stumpy]

I've started using MidJourney for generating my character art.  It's usually done after I've rolled the basic stats and have an idea of how I want the character to look so that way I can build adequate prompts for it.  For instance, this image:

Was generated for a warlock character I've rolled up for a D&D game I'm about to jump into on Discord, using the prompt:  a 32 year old, lawful evil, human, male, warlock, 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 150lbs, dynamic establishing shot, detailed, HQ, realistic, octane render

 

 

[Vladim]

On 3/4/2023 at 9:06 AM, Suzuki Stumpy said:

I've started using MidJourney for generating my character art.  It's usually done after I've rolled the basic stats and have an idea of how I want the character to look so that way I can build adequate prompts for it.  For instance, this image:

Was generated for a warlock character I've rolled up for a D&D game I'm about to jump into on Discord, using the prompt:  a 32 year old, lawful evil, human, male, warlock, 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 150lbs, dynamic establishing shot, detailed, HQ, realistic, octane render

You should try this for Habtom!

[Suzuki Stumpy]

 

7 hours ago, Vladim said:

You should try this for Habtom!

I did.  The picture on the char sheet was generated by MidJourney.

[Vladim]

2 hours ago, Suzuki Stumpy said:

 

I did.  The picture on the char sheet was generated by MidJourney.

Fooled me! I thought it was a photo of something.

[Civit]

On 3/3/2023 at 4:06 PM, Suzuki Stumpy said:

I've started using MidJourney for generating my character art.  It's usually done after I've rolled the basic stats and have an idea of how I want the character to look so that way I can build adequate prompts for it.  For instance, this image:

Was generated for a warlock character I've rolled up for a D&D game I'm about to jump into on Discord, using the prompt:  a 32 year old, lawful evil, human, male, warlock, 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 150lbs, dynamic establishing shot, detailed, HQ, realistic, octane render

 

 

Thanks for sending me down the rabbit hole! 3 hours of playing with it later........

[Suzuki Stumpy]

5 hours ago, Civit said:

Thanks for sending me down the rabbit hole! 3 hours of playing with it later........

Yeah … it’s easy to get sucked in…

[Dixi]

Wow... I knew MidJourney is good, but to find out it's SO good with such a (seemingly) simple and yet too specific prompt... Just wow.

 

Answering the question: google, plain and simple. It's never precise, of course, but during hours of search I usually come across of many interesting pictures that, in turn, bring with them ideas for new characters.

Edited March 9, 2023 by Dixi (see edit history)

[Suzuki Stumpy]

2 hours ago, Dixi said:

Wow... I knew MidJourney is good, but to find out it's SO good with such a (seemingly) simple and yet too specific prompt... Just wow.

There's definitely an artform to getting the right combination of prompts ... I've been practicing with it now pretty much from the start, plus I also check their Discord server quite often to see what others are generating and what prompts they're using (hell, there's some prompts in there that almost read like short stories!)  ...

Same goes with using any AI client though - once you know the basic patterns and prompts, you can start to guide them down some very specific paths.

 

[Dixi]

And thus the new form of art emerges! It's almost like a spell when you need a specific verbal component 🙂

Good job, truly.

[TheShadyRaven]

I look at the usual sites - google, pinterest, artstation... Though deviantart has become very weak lately.

The real problem for me is finding fantasy portraits portraying non caucasian characters. There is very little art for black people if compared to the amount you can find online and it tends to gravitate towards some very specific archetypes. I started saving portraits featuring diversity when I stumble upon just because they are so rare.

[Shadowstarr]

Heroforge.  

[BBK]

I use an app called 'Dream' by WOMBO on my phone. Great for quick NPC portraits, landscapes, etc. Need to reroll a bit for good character portraits, but if you need something quick and passable? Best I have found so far.