Guide
What is a character model sheet?
A model sheet is the single document that answers “what does this character look like?” so nobody has to guess — not a second illustrator, not a studio, and not an image model.
Where model sheets come from
Animation studios have used model sheets for about a century. When dozens of artists draw the same character, drawings drift unless everyone works from one agreed reference. “On-model” means a drawing matches that sheet; “off-model” means it does not.
The problem has not changed with image generation — it has become more acute. A model has no memory of your character between requests unless you give it one. A model sheet is that memory.
What belongs on one
- Turnaround
- Front, three-quarter, side and back views at the same scale. This fixes proportions and the parts of the design you cannot see from one angle.
- Expressions
- A range of faces — neutral, delighted, angry, worried. This is where most drift happens, because a face is where a viewer notices it first.
- Poses and acting
- How the character stands, moves and gestures. Personality lives in posture as much as in the face.
- Details
- Close-ups of the things that get simplified or lost: hands, accessories, fabric, markings.
- Silhouette
- The character filled solid. A strong design is recognisable from its outline alone.
- Palette and materials
- The exact colours and what surfaces are made of, so lighting changes do not become design changes.
- Icon
- The smallest version that still reads — for avatars, favicons and app icons.
How Kyara Lab builds one
Kyara Lab lays those cells out as a sheet and fills them from your references. Fill Sheet queues every empty cell, shows the count and estimated cost before spending anything, and generates them one at a time. Every result lands in review — you approve, reject or re-roll each cell.
Approved cells can be reused as references for later cells, turnarounds first. When the sheet is done, export it as a single composed PNG: masthead, turnarounds, expressions, poses and palette on one page, ready to hand to an illustrator or drop into a brand book.
Making one by hand instead
You do not need a tool to make a model sheet. Draw the turnaround first, at consistent scale with horizontal guide lines for the eyes, shoulders, waist and knees. Then expressions, then poses. Keep the palette as sampled hex values, not names — “teal” means something different to everyone.
What a tool changes is speed and the review loop, not the idea. The sheet is only worth anything if someone checks every cell against the character.
Try it on your own character.
30 free credits. No card. One credit makes one image.
Start Free — 30 Credits