Case Study: Character Consistency in The Veiled Senate
Self-initiated · 2025 · Character design, costume, character consistency, previz
The Veiled Senate: One Character, Held Across Every Frame
A science fiction senator designed for a game or film world, and kept recognizably herself across 16 portraits and into motion. Most AI portraits are single lucky frames. This project set out to prove the opposite. That one invented character could be cast, costumed and lit once, then held steady through every angle, crop and movement a production would need.
The Brief
Design a senator for a science fiction world: an elder of a governing chamber whose authority comes from stillness rather than spectacle. She had to work the way a principal character works for a studio.
One face. The same age, bone structure and expression in every frame, wide shots and close-ups alike
One costume. A pale blue shroud veined with plum, with pattern, folds and drape that stay consistent from angle to angle
One light. Low-key studio light on black, with the stillness of a Renaissance devotional portrait and the texture of a photographic sitting
Ready for motion. Frames that could become a screen test without the character drifting
Process
1. Casting in Midjourney. I developed the character in Midjourney, working through variations until one face, costume and light felt like a person rather than a type. That frame became the reference for everything after.
2. Upscaling. I upscaled the chosen frame to production resolution so the details that carry identity, like skin texture, the veining in the fabric and the weave of the headwrap, were sharp enough to hold up in close-ups.
3. Coverage with GPT image editing. Rather than regenerating from scratch, which is where AI characters drift, I reprocessed the master frame through GPT's image editing to build the variants. New poses, three-quarter turns, tighter crops and hand positions. Every variant started from the same source, so the face and costume stayed hers.
4. Motion in Runway. I brought selected frames into Runway to create screen tests. Small movements like a turn of the head or a shift of the hands, the kind of test a studio would ask for before committing to a character.
What This Shows
Consistency is what separates AI character work a studio can use from AI images that just look good. The Veiled Senate shows a repeatable method. Cast once, build coverage from a single master, then test in motion. It's the same process a production needs for a principal character, an NPC roster or a pitch.
Where this approach applies:
Principal and supporting characters for a game or series pitch
NPC and faction line-ups that must stay on-model across many assets
Screen tests and previz before a production commits to a look
Tools and Provenance
Character developed in Midjourney, upscaled, with variants built through GPT image editing and screen tests made in Runway. The Veiled Senator is an original character. No real people, existing franchises or named artists were used as references.
