Character portrait prompt formulas — framing, light, lens, mood

A face is the one subject everybody can describe and almost nobody describes usefully. "Beautiful woman, detailed, 8k" tells a model nothing it had not already assumed. A portrait prompt that works fills four slots in order — framing × light × lens × mood — then adds what is specific about this person. Below is the formula, then 16 prompts across the three models in the Image studio, then what changes when a reference holds the face.

The four slots

Framing decides distance and therefore subject. Close-up makes the face the whole story, head and shoulders lets clothing speak, medium brings in hands, full length makes it about stance. Say it first or you get the model's average portrait distance.

Light is direction plus quality, and does most of the emotional work. Window light for natural, practicals for intimate, overhead for judged, contre-jour for rimmed edges, soft cross for commercial. All three models read this vocabulary.

Lens sets how the face is drawn — long lenses compress and separate, wide lenses bend features and include the room, macro picks out skin and cloth.

Mood is the last two words and should have friction in it. "Guarded and unimpressed" beats "beautiful". It is the slot people drop, and the first thing to add back when a portrait reads correct but dead.

Photoreal portraits on Image One

Image One rewards specificity about light and one physical detail — a scar, a fabric, a working hand. Keep described objects few, described textures many.

Close-up · window light · 85mm · guarded

Close-up of a woman with cropped dark hair and a scar through one eyebrow, turned three-quarters toward a tall window, soft daylight across the near cheek leaving the far eye in shadow, shallow 85mm rendering, guarded and unimpressed.

Medium shot · practicals · 50mm · weary

Medium shot of an older man in a rumpled uniform shirt at a kitchen table at night, one bulb above doing all the lighting, a cold cup in front of him, natural 50mm perspective with the room falling into darkness, weary and patient.

Full length · overhead fall · 35mm · cornered

Full length portrait of a young courier in a bare concrete stairwell, helmet under one arm, hard light directly overhead putting shadow under the brows and cheekbones, wide 35mm framing that leaves space above the head, cornered and defiant.

Head and shoulders · contre-jour · 135mm · hopeful

Head and shoulders portrait of a teenage violinist on a rooftop at the end of the day, the sun directly behind her rimming loose hair, long 135mm compression turning the city into a wash of orange, hopeful and nervous.

Close-up · soft cross · macro · composed

Close-up of a jeweler's hands as she sets a stone, two soft sources at an angle leaving no harsh shadow, macro detail on the loupe and a pale scar across one knuckle, background thrown out of focus, composed and exact.

Anime and illustration on Image Anime

Image Anime wants the rendering style named as explicitly as the light — cel shading, line weight, flat color. The lens slot becomes a drawing slot.

Bust shot · rim light · flat cel shading · sly

Bust shot of a silver-haired duelist in a high-collared coat, three-quarter turn with the chin down, strong rim light along the jaw and shoulder against deep indigo, clean cel shading, one red ribbon as the only warm accent, sly and unbothered.

Waist up · window light · soft shading · shy

Waist-up portrait of a shrine attendant in a dim wooden hall where late daylight enters from the left, soft anime shading with gentle gradients on the cheek and sleeve, dust drifting in the beam, muted greens and cream, shy and steady.

Close-up · neon signage · heavy line art · electric

Close-up of a courier with a cracked visor pushed up on her forehead, lit from below by pink and cyan signage, heavy line art with strong black fills and very few midtones, rain beading on the visor, electric and awake.

Full body · overhead sun · bold flat color · triumphant

Full body portrait of a martial artist holding a stance on a rooftop at noon, harsh sun straight overhead casting a short hard shadow at her feet, bold flat color blocks with crisp outlines, wind moving the sash, triumphant and still.

Portrait · candlelight · storybook illustration · watchful

Portrait of an apothecary leaning over a workbench by candlelight, warm light pooling on the face and hands and dropping to black at the frame edges, storybook illustration with visible ink outlines and soft watercolor fills, watchful and absorbed.

Painterly portraits on Image Art

Image Art is prose-faithful — it follows long descriptive prompts rather than tag lists — so this is where a full sentence about the surface of the paint earns its place. Name the medium, the support and the handling.

Three-quarter · north light · oil on linen · resigned

A three-quarter portrait of a ferry captain in a wool coat, painted in oils on coarse linen, cool north light from a high window on the left temple while the coat sinks into umber shadow, resigned and kind.

Profile · firelight · charcoal and chalk · fierce

A profile study of a young hunter in charcoal with white chalk highlights on toned paper, lit only by a fire below the frame so the light climbs the throat and the underside of the jaw, fierce and unfinished.

Bust · overcast daylight · tempera panel · plain

A small tempera panel of a village herbalist against flat overcast daylight, thin translucent layers over a faint gold ground, the face modeled in narrow value steps with no strong shadow, dried stems held against the chest, devout and plain.

Seated full figure · practicals · impasto · theatrical

A seated full figure of a cabaret pianist between sets, thick impasto strokes catching the bulbs strung behind him, the hands loosely painted while the face is sharply resolved, smoke dragged in gray across the background, theatrical and spent.

What changes when a reference holds the face

A reference image moves identity out of the prompt. Once the face is pinned by photos — attached in Settings, or carried by a saved Character you @mention — describing eye color and bone structure is wasted text that can fight the reference. Write the other three slots harder instead, the same reasoning that runs through image generation for characters.

With a Character reference

Portrait of @nadia in a charcoal turtleneck against a pale studio wall, three-quarter turn toward a soft source on the left, long lens compression with the background well out of focus, level gaze down the lens, calm and slightly impatient.

With a wardrobe reference

A fisherman in the same cable-knit sweater as the reference, standing on a harbor wall in flat gray weather, medium shot, soft even light with no visible source, the cable pattern and rolled collar reproduced faithfully, stoic and amused.

Two controls finish the job. A negative prompt clears recurring junk — extra fingers, watermarks, text. And CFG scale decides how literally the model obeys you: raise it when a long painterly prompt is ignored, lower it when the result looks stiff. Batch 1–4 at 10 credits an image makes both cheap to test.

FAQ

Which model should I use for a character I will also animate?

Whichever look you want, but render at the aspect ratio of the future clip and keep the pose simple. Any saved image can become an image-to-video source, and an uncluttered portrait animates far more predictably than a busy one.

Why do my portraits all look like the same person?

Usually because the prompt describes a type rather than a person, so the model falls back on its average face. Add two specific, unglamorous details — a chipped tooth, a sunburned nose — or pin the identity with references instead.

Do these formulas work in a video prompt?

Framing, light and mood transfer directly. The one thing to add is motion, because a video prompt describing a static face returns a photograph that breathes. Give the character one small action and let the camera carry the rest.

Pick a formula and go: open the Image studio, paste the jeweler close-up, set batch 4, and change only the mood words on the second pass.