Power User Resources

Prompt Templates for Consistent AI Storybook Characters

Copy-paste prompt libraries for Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and DALL-E — optimized for keeping characters consistent across storybook pages.

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The Character Description Template

Before writing any prompts, fill out this template for each character. It becomes the foundation for every scene.

Character Profile Template Copy & customize
CHARACTER PROFILE:
Name: [Character Name]
Age: [e.g., 6-year-old girl]
Build: [e.g., small and energetic, average height]
Hair: [style, color, texture — e.g., shoulder-length curly brown hair]
Face: [shape, skin tone, key features — e.g., round face, light brown skin, freckles across nose]
Eyes: [color and shape — e.g., large dark brown eyes]
Outfit: [main clothes and colors — e.g., yellow rain boots, blue overalls, striped red/white t-shirt]
Signature item: [e.g., green backpack with a star patch]
Art style: [e.g., Pixar 3D animated style, bright colors, soft lighting]

Tip: The more specific you are, the more consistent your character will be across pages.

Midjourney

Midjourney Prompt Templates

Optimized for Midjourney v6 with --cref character reference support.

Base character generation
[CHARACTER DESCRIPTION from profile above], full body character turnaround sheet, multiple poses, white background, children's book illustration style, consistent design --ar 16:9 --v 6
Story scene with character reference
[CHARACTER DESCRIPTION], [SCENE DESCRIPTION, e.g., exploring a magical forest with glowing mushrooms], children's book illustration, warm lighting, same character as reference --cref [URL of base character image] --ar 4:3 --v 6
Multi-character scene
[CHARACTER A FULL DESCRIPTION] standing next to [CHARACTER B FULL DESCRIPTION], [SCENE DESCRIPTION], children's book illustration style, consistent with previous pages --cref [URL] --ar 4:3 --v 6

Stable Diffusion

Stable Diffusion Prompt Templates

For use with character LoRAs and ControlNet in Automatic1111 or ComfyUI.

LoRA training prompt (for reference images)
photo of [trigger_word], [CHARACTER DESCRIPTION], simple background, good lighting, sharp focus, high quality
Negative: blurry, deformed, extra limbs, bad anatomy, watermark, text
Story scene with LoRA
[trigger_word], [CHARACTER DESCRIPTION], [SCENE DESCRIPTION, e.g., sitting in a classroom reading a book], children's book illustration style, warm colors, soft lighting
Negative: blurry, deformed, extra characters, text, watermark
LoRA: [character_lora_name]:0.8
ControlNet: OpenPose (for consistent body positioning)
Style-locked page generation
[trigger_word], [CHARACTER DESCRIPTION], [SCENE], masterpiece, best quality, children's storybook, consistent style, same art direction as [previous page description]
Negative: inconsistent style, different character, wrong colors, deformed
Sampler: DPM++ 2M Karras | Steps: 30 | CFG: 7

DALL-E / ChatGPT

DALL-E Prompt Templates

For use with DALL-E 3 via ChatGPT or the API. Extra-verbose descriptions help compensate for DALL-E's lack of reference features.

Character definition prompt
Create a children's book illustration of [FULL CHARACTER DESCRIPTION from profile]. Show the character in a simple standing pose against a plain background. Style: [art style]. This character must appear EXACTLY the same in all subsequent images — same face shape, hair, skin tone, outfit, and proportions.
Scene prompt with identity reminder
Children's book illustration. The EXACT same character from the previous image — [repeat full character description: age, hair color/style, face shape, skin tone, eye color, outfit details, signature item] — is now [SCENE ACTION, e.g., climbing a tall oak tree in a sunny park]. Maintain the EXACT same art style, color palette, and character proportions as the previous page.
Multi-character scene
Children's book illustration showing TWO distinct characters together: CHARACTER A is [FULL DESCRIPTION of A]. CHARACTER B is [FULL DESCRIPTION of B]. They are [SCENE ACTION]. Keep both characters EXACTLY as previously described — do NOT swap any features between them. Same art style as all previous pages.

Pro Tips

Best Practices for Prompt-Based Consistency

  • Always re-describe the full character in every prompt — AI has no memory between generations
  • Use the exact same art style description on every page to prevent style drift
  • Generate a character reference sheet first, then use it as a visual anchor for all scenes
  • Keep backgrounds simple — complex environments make character consistency harder
  • Generate 3-5 variations per scene and pick the most consistent one
  • Review the full book as a set before finalizing — catch drift early
  • For multi-character scenes, describe characters in a consistent order every time

Or skip all of this and let ToonyStory handle consistency automatically.

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Common Questions

Prompt Template FAQs

They significantly improve consistency compared to basic prompts, but no prompt-only approach can guarantee perfect results with general-purpose AI tools. You'll still need to curate and regenerate some pages. For guaranteed consistency, purpose-built tools like ToonyStory handle it automatically.
Midjourney with --cref produces the most consistent results among general-purpose tools. Stable Diffusion with a trained LoRA can be even better but requires more setup. DALL-E is the least consistent for multi-page projects despite improvements in newer versions.
Aim for 50-100 words that cover all visual identity elements: age, build, hair, face, eyes, outfit, and signature items. Too short and the AI fills in the gaps differently each time. Too long and the model may ignore parts of the description.
You don't need to — ToonyStory handles character consistency automatically. Just describe your character naturally (or upload a photo) and the system maintains their look across all pages without prompt engineering.

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Complete Consistency Guide →Tool Comparison →Parents’ Guide →
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