calesthio/character-design-continuity
Provider-independent character design and continuity direction for generated media. Use when an agent must create, preserve, revise, or QA a recurring character across AI-generated images, video clips, avatars, animation, comics, ads, product mascots, serialized social posts, or multi-shot campaigns; especially when building character bibles, reference packs, prompts, expression/pose ranges, costume/hair/makeup/prop continuity, identity and likeness safeguards, iteration plans, handoff notes, or continuity reviews.
npx skills add https://github.com/calesthio/generative-media-skills --skill character-design-continuityUse this skill to make a character stay recognizably the same while still acting, aging, changing costume, moving through shots, or adapting to a campaign's style. Treat continuity as a production system, not a single prompt trick.
Separate three kinds of guidance in your reasoning:
Do not promise perfect identity preservation from text prompts alone. Current image and video systems can drift on facial structure, body proportions, hands, age, wardrobe, markings, props, and style. Strong continuity comes from a character bible, reference strategy, constrained prompt planning, iterative selection, and QA.
Before designing or repairing a character, identify:
If exact likeness or a recognizable real person is involved, pause for consent and scope before prompt writing. As of verification on 2026-07-10, U.S. law is still a patchwork for publicity/privacy/digital replicas, and the U.S. Copyright Office has recommended federal digital-replica legislation. SAG-AFTRA's current AI materials and digital replica bulletins emphasize clear consent, fair compensation, control over performances, specific intended use descriptions, and compensation for covered performers. Do not treat "publicly available photo" as consent.
A useful character bible is compact but operational. Include enough detail for another agent to generate, review, and repair the character without guessing.
Define the character in layered specificity:
State tolerances explicitly:
Example tolerance table:
| Element | Continuity rule |
|---|---|
| Hair | Locked: short silver bob with blunt bangs; no long hair, ponytail, or brown hair. |
| Jacket | Flexible: teal bomber can be open, zipped, wet, or windblown; same cut and color family. |
| Tool belt | Locked in work scenes; absent only in formal-event variant. |
| Age | Locked: reads late 30s. Do not make childlike or elderly unless user requests a time jump. |
| Facial scar | Locked: small diagonal scar on left eyebrow; verify screen-left vs character-left in review. |
In traditional animation, turnarounds, expression sheets, pose sheets, color sheets, and prop sheets keep artists on-model. For AI production, create an equivalent reference pack:
For avatar or rigged animation, add pivot points, articulation limits, mouth shapes/visemes, blink style, idle posture, and any features that must deform consistently.
Choose the lightest reference method that can meet the continuity target:
Documented AI research supports this tradeoff: DreamBooth-style personalization fine-tunes from a few subject images to synthesize the subject in new contexts, while newer consistency research such as StoryDiffusion and "The Chosen One" addresses multi-image storytelling consistency. These are technical approaches, not universal guarantees; availability depends on provider/runtime and may change.
Write prompts as a continuity bundle:
Keep the anchor wording stable across shots unless you intentionally revise the design. Move scene-specific changes into the scene paragraph so the model does not reinterpret the identity.
Use this as a planning scaffold, not a mandatory formula:
Character anchor: [name/codename], [age/species/body read], [silhouette], [face/head anchors], [body/posture anchors], [signature colors], [signature item]. Preserve these identity anchors across the series.
Scene: [shot number], [action], [environment], [camera/framing], [emotion/performance], [lighting/time].
Continuity: Story day [x], follows [prior shot/panel]. Outfit state: [exact costume]. Hair/makeup/props: [exact state and side]. Required changes from prior shot: [only the intended changes].
Style: [medium/style], [line/render/texture], [palette], [level of realism], [brand or comic rules].
Avoid: changing age, face shape, body proportions, skin/fur tone, hair length/color, signature accessory, costume cut, prop side; avoid extra logos, extra limbs/fingers, mismatched scar side, unapproved makeup.
Create a continuity ledger before producing the batch. Do not rely on memory.
Track per shot/panel:
Borrow the discipline of script supervision: professional script supervisors track story chronology, action, dialogue, wardrobe, props, hair/makeup, eyelines, camera details, and continuity changes. For generated media, the agent becomes the continuity department by logging visual state before the next generation.
Use the strictest tier that the deliverable needs:
Do not only define a neutral portrait. Characters drift when the first approved image is asked to do a new emotion or action.
For each major character, specify:
When designing characters with disabilities, assistive technology, gender expression, race/ethnicity, religion, body size, age, or other identity markers, avoid making the marker the whole character. Use respectful, specific, user-approved descriptors. GLAAD's media guide notes there is no single way to describe LGBTQ people and recommends asking people how they describe themselves; UN guidance calls for accurate and balanced disability portrayal as part of everyday life. For avatar design, recent HCI research highlights appearance, body dynamics, assistive technology, peripherals, and customization control as disability-representation dimensions.
Costume and grooming are continuity infrastructure:
Use "stateful" notes for story changes:
Story day 2, shots 08-12: left sleeve torn at cuff after climbing fence; cheek has small soot mark under right eye; backpack strap broken and tied with red cord. Carry these changes until cleanup scene 13.
Use conservative rules for rights-sensitive characters:
As a production heuristic, use a "three-distance" test before generating commercial media: does the character remain non-identifying at thumbnail silhouette, portrait crop, and written description? If any distance points to a real person or protected character, escalate for rights review.
Use a controlled loop:
When repairing, change one variable at a time when practical. If a prompt adds "same character" but also changes lighting, costume, lens, and pose, you will not know what caused improvement or drift.
| Failure | Likely cause | Repair |
|---|---|---|
| Same outfit but different face | Costume over-specified, face under-specified | Add face/head anchors and use portrait reference or personalization. |
| Face stays, body/proportions drift | Portrait-only references | Add full-body references and body anchor paragraph. |
| Hair changes every shot | Hair described as mood adjective | Specify cut, length, part, texture, volume, color, accessories. |
| Scar/tattoo flips sides | Mirroring or screen-side ambiguity | State character-left/character-right and verify in QA. |
| Prop appears/disappears | Prop treated as decoration | Add prop to locked invariants and shot ledger. |
| Childlike or aged drift | Age cue weak or style pushes proportions | Lock age read, adult/child proportions, facial maturity cues. |
| Style consistency but identity drift | Style prompt too dominant | Separate style from identity; reduce artist/style references that override character anchors. |
| Exact likeness risk | Reference resembles real person/IP | Redesign anchors, remove distinctive markers, or obtain clearance. |
Review each output at three scales: thumbnail, normal view, and zoomed details.
Pass only if:
For multi-shot video, also check frame-to-frame and shot-to-shot continuity: face morphology, costume, hands, hair motion, accessory position, eyeline, screen direction, and story-state changes.
When handing to another agent or tool, provide:
Never hand off only a final image and "make this same character." That loses the reasoning needed to preserve continuity.
Production intent: create a provider-independent mascot that can appear in six short social ads for a privacy app.
Continuity plan:
Character bible excerpt:
Codename: Mica.
Role: helpful privacy-firefly mascot, curious and calm rather than frantic.
Silhouette: tiny rounded body, oversized translucent wings shaped like two vertical leaves, single antenna curl, small satchel.
Shape language: mostly circles and soft ovals for friendliness; one small square satchel for reliability.
Locked: warm amber glow core, two leaf wings, one curl antenna, navy satchel with no logo, tiny mitten hands, reads non-human.
Flexible: glow intensity, wing blur, facial expression, flight pose.
Forbidden: humanoid child body, realistic insect anatomy, stinger, branded lock icon, extra wings, scary mandibles.
Rights: original fictional mascot; no real-person likeness.
Example prompt for shot 03:
Character anchor: Mica, an original non-human privacy-firefly mascot with a tiny rounded amber-glowing body, two oversized translucent leaf-shaped wings, one curled antenna, tiny mitten hands, and a small navy square satchel. Preserve the soft oval silhouette, warm amber glow core, two wings only, one antenna curl, and satchel across the series.
Scene: Shot 03, Mica hovers beside a floating phone screen and gently pulls a translucent privacy curtain across it. Three-quarter view, medium close-up, friendly concentration, soft evening light.
Continuity: Story day 1. Outfit/props unchanged from approved reference: navy satchel across body, no logo, satchel on character's right hip. Wings slightly motion-blurred but still leaf-shaped.
Style: clean 3D clay-like mascot, soft gradients, rounded forms, privacy-app palette of amber, navy, and mist blue, polished social ad look.
Avoid: realistic insect horror, humanoid child, extra arms, extra wings, stinger, lock logo, changing satchel color, green glow, aggressive expression.
Why it is structured this way: the non-human identity and locked silhouette prevent the model from turning the mascot into either a child or a realistic insect; the continuity paragraph keeps the satchel and wing state stable across ads.
Expected result: a warm, readable mascot with stable body, wings, antenna, satchel, and palette.
Likely failure modes: extra wings, missing satchel, childlike humanoid face, generic cybersecurity lock icon. Repair by strengthening the locked invariants and using the approved reference image.
Production intent: preserve a detective character over an eight-panel noir comic while allowing rain damage and emotional escalation.
Continuity ledger excerpt:
Character: Detective Vale
Locked identity: angular long face, tired narrow eyes, short black hair combed back, tan skin, tall lean frame, slightly hunched posture, camel trench coat, red thread bracelet on character-left wrist.
Flexible: coat open/closed, wetness, facial expression, cigarette absent by default.
Panel 01: dry coat, neutral suspicion, alley entrance.
Panel 04: rain begins; hair damp but still combed back; coat shoulders darkened by water.
Panel 06: right cheek scratched; red bracelet still visible on character-left wrist.
Panel 08: coat soaked; scratch remains; no new injuries.
Example prompt for panel 06:
Character anchor: Detective Vale, original noir detective, tall lean frame with a slight hunch, angular long face, tired narrow eyes, short black hair combed back, tan skin, camel trench coat, red thread bracelet on character-left wrist. Preserve face shape, tired eyes, lean posture, hair length, coat color, and bracelet.
Scene: Comic panel 06, Vale turns sharply toward an unseen sound in the rain, one hand braced against a brick wall, close three-quarter crop, tense suspicion.
Continuity: Story night 1 after panel 04. Rain has darkened the coat shoulders and dampened the combed-back hair; a small fresh scratch crosses Vale's right cheek. Red thread bracelet remains on character-left wrist. No cigarette.
Style: high-contrast noir comic ink, limited camel/red/blue-gray palette, crisp panel art, dramatic rain streaks.
Avoid: changing to a fedora, adding beard, changing bracelet side, making hair long or curly, changing trench coat to black leather, adding extra scars, making the character older than late 40s.
Why it is structured this way: the story-state changes are explicit, so the model can add rain and scratch without treating them as a redesign.
Expected result: same detective, now wetter and scratched, not a new noir archetype.
Likely failure modes: fedora appears from noir stereotype, bracelet flips sides, coat turns black. Repair with masked edit or stronger negative prompt.
Take calesthio/character-design-continuity from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
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