The difference between a forgettable AI portrait and one that captures your character perfectly comes down to one thing: the description you write. A vague prompt gives you a generic fantasy figure. A thoughtful, structured description gives you your character.
This guide walks through exactly how to describe a TTRPG character for AI art generation — whether you're using Loreprint's Studio or any other tool. These principles work across platforms, but the examples are tuned for the kind of portrait-style character art that works well as a print.
Start with the big picture
Before getting into details, establish the overall impression. Ask yourself: if someone glanced at this portrait for two seconds, what should they immediately understand about this character?
Weak: "An elf wizard"
Strong: "A weathered high elf divination wizard in her 200s, radiating quiet authority. She looks like someone who has seen the future and found it exhausting."
The strong version communicates race, class, age, demeanor, and personality in two sentences. It gives the AI a direction — not just facts, but a feeling.
Build from the face outward
The face is the anchor of any portrait. Describe it first, then move outward to body, clothing, armor, and finally background.
Face and expression
This is where your character lives. Be specific about:
- Age and condition — "mid-40s with deep crow's feet" is better than "middle-aged"
- Distinguishing features — scars, tattoos, unusual eye color, pointed ears, tusks
- Expression — a smirk, a weary thousand-yard stare, an intense gaze, a warm half-smile
- Hair — color, length, style, and condition matter. "Tangled silver hair pulled into a loose braid" paints a picture. "Grey hair" does not.
The expression tells the viewer who this person is when they're not fighting. A barbarian with a gentle smile is more interesting than a barbarian who's angry. The anger is assumed — the gentleness is a story.
Body and build
A single sentence about physique goes a long way:
- "Broad-shouldered and thick-armed, built like someone who swings a hammer for a living"
- "Lean and wiry, with the kind of body that moves fast and hits from the shadows"
- "Short and stocky, with hands scarred from decades of forge work"
Armor and clothing
This is where class identity becomes visual. Be specific about materials and condition:
- Fighters/Paladins: Describe the armor type, its condition, any insignia or heraldry. "Battered half-plate with a deep gouge across the left pauldron, a faded sun emblem on the breastplate."
- Rogues/Rangers: Leather, cloaks, hoods, belts with pouches. "A dark leather vest over a worn linen shirt, a quiver peeking over one shoulder."
- Wizards/Sorcerers: Robes, staffs, component pouches, arcane focuses. "Deep blue robes with silver thread embroidery along the hems, a crystal-topped staff in one hand."
- Clerics/Druids: Holy symbols, natural materials, mixed armor. "Chain mail partially covered by a mossy green cloak, a wooden holy symbol carved as a oak leaf."
Weapons and items
Mention one or two signature items. The AI handles a single weapon well — a sword at the hip, a staff in hand, a bow across the back. Don't overload with five weapons, two shields, and a familiar perched on each shoulder. Simplicity produces cleaner results.
Set the mood with lighting and environment
The background and lighting set the emotional tone of the portrait. A character lit by campfire feels different from one standing in a cathedral's stained-glass light.
Effective lighting descriptions:
- "Warm torchlight casting deep shadows across the face"
- "Cool moonlight filtering through a forest canopy"
- "The golden glow of a tavern hearth behind them"
- "Dramatic rim lighting, as if standing at the edge of a fire"
For the background, keep it simple. A suggested setting — not a detailed landscape — works best:
- "A stone dungeon corridor stretching into darkness"
- "A misty mountain pass at dawn"
- "The interior of a cluttered wizard's study"
- "Plain dark background" (this often produces the cleanest portraits)
Common mistakes to avoid
Over-describing
More words doesn't always mean better results. "A 6'2" half-elf ranger with green eyes, a scar above the left eyebrow running 3 inches diagonally, wearing a cloak of exactly forest-green hue (#2D5A27)" is too mechanical. The AI doesn't parse hex codes or precise measurements. Use evocative language instead.
Describing action scenes
Portraits work best as static compositions. "My character mid-backflip while dual-wielding flaming swords and dodging a dragon's breath" will produce a confusing mess. Save the action for a different kind of image. For a portrait, describe how the character looks, not what they're doing.
Forgetting the pose
A simple pose direction dramatically improves results:
- "Looking directly at the viewer"
- "Turned slightly to the side, glancing over one shoulder"
- "Arms crossed, looking down at the viewer with a raised eyebrow"
- "One hand resting on the hilt of a sheathed sword"
Put it all together
Here's a complete description that uses all these principles:
"A half-orc paladin in her mid-30s, with grey-green skin and a strong jaw. Her expression is calm and resolute — she looks like someone who has made peace with difficult choices. Short-cropped black hair, a thin scar running from her left temple to her cheek. She wears polished but battle-worn plate armor with a golden sunrise engraved on the breastplate. A warhammer hangs at her side. Warm torchlight from the left, with a stone temple interior blurred in the background. Portrait composition, looking directly at the viewer."
That's specific enough to produce a distinctive character, but flexible enough to let the art style do its work. Ready to try it yourself? Head to the Studio and start with your character's face.
A note on iteration
Your first generation probably won't be perfect — and that's by design. Use it as a starting point. Adjust your description based on what the AI got right and what it missed. After two or three iterations, you'll have something that feels genuinely like your character. The generation process is built for this kind of back-and-forth refinement.