Cartoon characters in famous looks
A loved animation look tells the viewer the genre before the first word: the Ghibli wave added 1M ChatGPT users in an hour, the figurine trend brought Gemini 13M new users in 4 days. The look is free to use; the show's characters, names, logos and catchphrases are not.
Tested on 2026-10-27: Nano Banana 2.1 refused "Redraw the woman as a character in The Simpsons style" and drew the same look from a description. GPT Image 2.5 and Seedream 5 Pro accepted the name, but the name still has no place in a prompt you will use for an ad, a title or a caption.
Sheet, crops and video: varg-character-design.
The recipe
Style block first, then an original character, then the guard line.
Character model sheet of an original cartoon character, flat light-grey background, no text, no
labels, no logos. Top row: three full-body views at the same scale: front, side profile, back.
Bottom row: three head close-ups: <three expressions>. The same character in every panel.
STYLE: <style block>. CHARACTER: <name, age, body, hair, outfit, prop>.
Original design, no recognizable existing characters.
Design the character to be yours: a hair shape, an outfit and a prop that no existing character has.
Style blocks
| Look | Style block | Model | Keep away from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow family sitcom (1990s primetime) | flat 2D TV-animation look of a classic 1990s primetime family sitcom: thick uniform black outlines, flat saturated cel colors, no shading, lemon-yellow skin, large round white eyes with small black dot pupils, overbite, four-fingered hands | nano_banana_2_1 |
bald with two hairs, a blue beehive, spiky-haired kids, the town, the couch gag |
| 3D family feature film | stylised 3D CGI animated family feature-film look, soft global illumination, warm key light, subsurface scattering, big expressive eyes, simplified rounded shapes, matte materials | nano_banana_2_1, gpt_image_2_5 |
lookalike toys and robots, studio names |
| Hand-painted pastoral anime | hand-painted watercolor and gouache backgrounds, soft cel-shaded characters with simple faces, big summer clouds, warm nostalgic countryside light, 1990s Japanese animated feature film | gpt_image_2_5, seedance_2_5 |
forest-spirit lookalikes |
| Paper cut-out | crude construction-paper cut-out animation, flat shapes, visible paper texture, round heads, mitten hands, small snowy mountain town | nano_banana_2_1 |
the four boys |
| Adult sci-fi cartoon | late-night adult 2D sci-fi cartoon, wobbly thin outlines, flat colours, bulging eyes with drawn pupils, neon-green glow, garage-lab clutter | gpt_image_2_5, nano_banana_2_1 |
a lab-coat scientist with spiky blue-grey hair and a yellow-shirt teen |
| Clay stop-motion | clay stop-motion look, visible fingerprints and tool marks on plasticine, lumpy hand-sculpted forms, handmade miniature set | nano_banana_2_1 |
the inventor and his dog |
| Felt puppet | handmade felt and fleece hand puppet, foam head, ping-pong-ball eyes, wide hinged mouth, visible stitching, TV-studio set | gpt_image_2_5 |
a green frog, a pig diva |
| Vinyl collectible | boxed 6-inch collectible vinyl figure, matte vinyl, slightly oversized head, window box with your own brand art | nano_banana_2_1 |
the big-head box shape and logo of existing toy lines |
| 1970s Saturday-morning cartoon (video) | use the video preset | minimax_h3_max_style_retro_toon_70s |
Ready characters
| Character | Prompt seed | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Gary Pruitt (tested) | a tired 45-year-old office manager with a wild curly orange mullet, a thick unibrow and a pot belly, a green sweater vest over a pink short-sleeve shirt, brown trousers, a lanyard ID badge, a giant coffee mug; yellow sitcom look | sheet |
| Nonna Rosa restyled (tested) | "Redraw the woman from the character sheet as a 2D cartoon in the look of a classic 1990s primetime animated sitcom: . Keep her outfit, curlers, glasses, headscarf, leopard housecoat, red slippers and wooden spoon." with her sheet in files |
image |
Restyling someone
Pass the person's sheet or photo (with consent) in files and write: "Redraw the person from the reference as . Keep <hair, glasses, outfit, signature>." Then make a new model sheet in the new style before any video: a photoreal sheet next to a cartoon prompt makes video models mix the two.
Watch out
- Our Gary is original, but the yellow sitcom look is close to one show's trade dress; for paid ads push it further (another skin colour or eye style).
- "Pixar", "Ghibli", "LEGO", "Funko", "Muppet", "Claymation" are names and trademarks: keep them out of prompts, file names, titles and ad copy.
- Stylised characters pass video filters (Seedance, Veo) far more easily than photoreal faces.