Choose an art style without changing the person
Review scope: Linked public documentation checked October 30, 2026. Examples are proposed checks, not recorded OD results; use your account's current controls.
This lesson makes three visual versions of the same archive scene. The examples are original style choices to compare, not guaranteed recipes.
First separate three questions:
- Subject: who appears? Here, Mira is a 30-year-old adult archivist.
- Scene: what is happening in this picture? Mira wears a navy jacket inside an archive.
- Style or medium: how is it depicted? Watercolor, anime illustration, and photography are different treatments.
CPD, or Custom Physical Details, holds permanent appearance. An image model is the generator selected in the interface; a watercolor description does not select a model. A preset is a reusable selection. In this lesson, “style preset” means your saved text example, not necessarily a native Community Preset.
1 Establish one scene first
Complete Mira's appearance, then open Generate and select her. Record the actual model label.
Locate the custom scene prompt. Begin with this text:
navy jacket over a cream shirt, standing beside archive shelves,
holding a closed folder at waist level, eye-level waist-up view,
soft window light
Keep this wording unchanged while comparing styles. Her brown eyes, warm brown skin, black shoulder-length braids, and lean build should continue to come from her character definition.
2 Choose one rendering description
Add one of the following blocks to the end of the scene prompt. Do not paste all three.
Watercolor choice
watercolor illustration, translucent color washes, visible paper texture,
soft pigment edges, restrained detail around the face
Soft anime choice
soft anime illustration, gentle contour lines, rounded tonal shading,
natural colors, selective detail in the face and braids
Photographic choice
photographic rendering, natural skin and fabric texture,
plausible perspective, soft environmental light
These describe rendering. They do not authorize a younger face, different hair, altered physique, or a new personality.
3 Match the writing to the available model
OD recommends short visual phrasing for Dreamy and Fluidity, while Vivid and editing models can use descriptive prose. Exact known Fluidity tags may use underscores; ordinary phrases can remain ordinary words. This is not a reason to invent new underscored tokens. Prompting reference
For a prose-oriented route, you can instead paste the following into its scene prompt:
Mira wears a navy jacket over a cream shirt and holds a closed folder
beside archive shelves. Show her waist-up at eye level in soft window
light. Render the scene as a watercolor illustration with translucent
washes, paper texture, and gently softened pigment edges.
This assumes the selected character already supplies Mira's appearance.
If you need to exclude an unwanted visible element and this generation route offers a separate Negative Prompt field, keep that exclusion there. Do not append a list of unwanted objects or no ... instructions to the positive scene prompt. The prompting reference gives this distinction; it does not establish that every model or image-editing route exposes the same fields.
4 Make a comparison you can interpret
Save the first prompt and result. For the next comparison, replace only the rendering description. Keep the character, scene, model, and exposed settings unchanged. Generation still varies: one pair cannot prove the style text caused every visible difference. Repeat within your chosen budget before deciding a wording change is more reliable.
If you also change the model, label that as a separate experiment. A different result would then have more than one possible cause.
Look for the intended surface treatment: pigment washes, illustrated contours, or photographic textures. Separately inspect Mira's face, skin tone, braids, and build. An attractive picture can still fail the identity check.
5 Save a usable choice
Keep the style wording beside the image it produced, with the date and actual model. Use a descriptive note such as “Mira archive watercolor attempt,” rather than claiming the wording always works.
Checkpoint: Removing the style block leaves a complete subject-and-scene request. Replacing it changes rendering intent without rewriting Mira.
Resolve a placement claim before copying it
The supplied community discussion, reviewed October 31, 2026, refers to a PD section without expanding that abbreviation. It also reports a style name appearing as unwanted text inside an image. These observations do not establish a universal field or prompt order. If a recipe names an abbreviated field, identify its full label, model, and route before using it; do not assume that PD means Public Description or Custom Physical Details.
For your next comparison, describe the visible treatment you want: for example, translucent pigment washes and softly feathered edges. Keep the scene unchanged and inspect unwanted lettering separately from rendering quality. Repeated names, stronger weights, or a different order are additional experimental changes, not established remedies.
For the supplied tag catalog and reported watercolor, flat anime, manga and ligne-claire combinations, use the art-style reference. It also records the unsuccessful sepia interaction and preserves recipe-specific spellings and weights.
For a separate prompt-writing workspace with local presets and a pose finder, open Prompt Crafter. Copy its outputs into the appropriate fields of your chosen route.
Three common problems
- A mixed or muddy finish: remove competing rendering blocks, then test one choice.
- Mira's body changes with “realistic”: restore the accepted appearance and describe surface treatment more specifically.
- A style has no visible effect: inspect the actual model and active presets. Simplify the style wording before adding emphasis or more names.
Next: Generate images. Back: Permanent appearance or the Tutorial index.