How Do I Edit a Character's Appearance?

What is Edit Characters?

Edit Characters lets you update how a character looks in your story after it's been generated. Once you've created a new look, you choose which pages to regenerate so every illustration shows the updated character consistently.

This is especially useful when you want to:

• Change an outfit — Swap a character into a summer dress, a superhero costume, or anything else you imagine.
• Show an age change — Make a character look younger or older to match a specific scene or a new story.
• Refine the appearance — Adjust hair color, add glasses, change skin tone, or fix anything that didn't come out quite right.
• Replace a photo — Swap in a clearer or more recent photo so the character likeness improves across all illustrations.

How to Open Edit Characters

1. Open your story — Go to the story from "My Storybooks."
2. Tap the More Options menu — Tap the More Options button in the toolbar.
3. Select "Edit Characters & Items" — Tap Edit Characters & Items from the menu. A panel will open showing the characters in your story, followed by any items and settings.

Step 1 — Choose a Character

The panel opens to a grid with your characters first. Each character is shown as a thumbnail with their name below it.

The same grid also holds the story's items and settings — see editing items and settings if you came here to change a toy or a room rather than a person.

Tap any character card to open the edit screen for that character. You'll see a pencil icon appear when you hover or tap a card.

Step 2 — Create a New Look

On the edit screen you have two options:

Refine with Guidance

Type a description of what you'd like to change, for example:

• "Give her a red dress with white polka dots"
• "Make him look like he's wearing a knight's armor"
• "Change her hair to blonde curls"

The more specific you are, the better the result.

Replace Photo

Tap the upload area to choose a new photo from your device. This is useful when the original photo was blurry or when you have a better picture that captures the character more accurately.

Once you're ready, tap Generate New Look . The panel returns to the character grid and shows a loading indicator on the card while the new look is being created. This usually takes about 15–30 seconds.

Version History

Every time you generate a new look for a character, the previous version is saved. If you don't like a new result, you can scroll back through the version history strip and tap any earlier version to restore it.

The active version — the one that will be applied to your story — is highlighted with a border.

Step 3 — Apply to Pages

After generating a new look, you'll see the character marked as updated in the grid. When you're ready to apply the changes to your story:

1. Tap Continue to select pages — This moves to the apply step.
2. Review updated characters — A preview shows which characters have new looks waiting to be applied.
3. Select pages — The panel shows all content pages. Tap pages to select or deselect them. Use Select all to include the whole story in one go.
4. Add guidance (optional) — You can describe any additional changes to make during regeneration, such as adjusting the scene or setting.
5. Tap Apply characters to X pages — The selected pages will regenerate with the updated character appearance.

Editing Multiple Characters

You can edit more than one character before applying. Go back to the grid after generating a new look for the first character, then tap another character to edit them too. When you proceed to the apply step, all updated characters are applied together in a single regeneration pass.

This is also the cheapest way to work: a page costs one regeneration however many changes it carries, so editing everything first and applying once can cost a fraction of applying after each edit.

Tips for Great Results

• Be specific in your guidance — Instead of "change her outfit," try "give her a yellow raincoat with red boots."
• Use Replace Photo for a big change — If you're changing a character dramatically (like making a child into a grown-up), uploading a new reference photo usually gives a more accurate result than guidance alone.
• Regenerate in context — If a character appears in a scene with other characters or detailed backgrounds, the regenerated illustration will match that same context while showing the updated look.
• Check the result before applying to all pages — You can regenerate a single page first to preview the new look, then apply to remaining pages once you're happy.

See also: Learn how to edit items and settings, regenerate individual illustrations for targeted edits, or make your regenerations go further.