Design a readable anime robot character reference

The small brief

Create a friendly delivery robot that will be easy to recognize in later illustrations: cream body, teal backpack, orange scarf. Our deliverable is one clean full-body character reference. A single view helps define the design; it does not prove that every future pose will be consistent.

Finished character

Finished reference: a full-body robot with a simple background and three main color anchors.

1. Write a short identity card

Before generating, write down the features that must stay: a rounded cream body, exactly two dark circular eyes, a teal backpack and a short orange scarf. Give the robot short rounded arms and two feet. Avoid adding new accessories just because they sound interesting. Each additional detail is another thing that can drift between images.

Open Create, choose Create a Character, and use Japanese Anime as the art direction. Start from your description. This example uses an original fictional robot, so a personal photo is unnecessary.

2. Distinguish a scene illustration from a reference

This first prompt places the robot in a busy market. That can work for a story moment, but there is more visual information to separate from the character itself.

Japanese anime illustration of a friendly small delivery robot with a cream rounded body, two dark circular eyes, teal backpack and orange scarf. The robot waits in a busy colorful futuristic market with shop fronts and many small objects. Full-body character design, no text or watermark.

First independent example: the robot appears within a colorful market scene.

Check the backpack edge, both feet and the spaces between the arms and torso. If you cannot explain the character’s outline without referring to the background, simplify the setting before using the result as your main visual reference.

3. Ask for a neutral reference image

For the final prompt, keep the identity card and remove the market. Specify the view, margins and pose. We used portrait 3:4 for the example asset; in the creation brief, ask for the full body with clear space around it and inspect the actual crop.

Japanese anime character reference illustration, crisp hand-drawn linework, simple flat cel shading. One friendly small delivery robot, cream rounded body, exactly two dark circular eyes, short rounded arms and two short feet. A clearly visible teal backpack behind its shoulders and a short orange scarf at its neck. Full body centered with generous margin above head and below both feet. Three-quarter view, neutral relaxed stance, both arms separated from torso so the outline reads clearly. Plain very pale blue background, subtle ground shadow only. Readable large shapes, exactly these three main colors: cream body, teal pack, orange scarf. No market, no props, no accessories, no lettering, no watermark. Single robot, single view.

Keep your feedback direct when refining the character in C2Anime:

Keep the cream body, two dark circular eyes, teal backpack and orange scarf. Show one full-body three-quarter view on a plain pale blue background. Leave space around the head and feet, and separate both arms from the torso.

If image review is waiting for your decision, choose B · Needs changes when the crop or identity anchors need correction. Accept only after checking the image at full size.

4. Use the finished design deliberately

Compare the final image at the top with your written identity card. Count the eyes and limbs. Check whether the backpack is visible and whether the scarf stays short enough to be easy to describe. Make sure neither foot touches the crop.

When you start a story, use the Character control to choose your saved character or attach its reference through the available character flow. Keep the same concise description in scene feedback. A reference improves guidance, but you still need to inspect every new pose.

Common fixes

The backpack disappears: ask for a three-quarter angle that exposes its side. Hands merge into the body: request a relaxed stance with visible gaps at both arms. Extra equipment appears: repeat the short identity list and explicitly remove the unwanted item. The style becomes realistic: restate hand-drawn anime linework and flat cel shading.

The final deliverable is the reference image above. Before making a full sequence, try one new pose and verify these same identity anchors again.

What we observed in these results

The market result introduced glowing teal eyes and a face panel even though the brief asked for dark circular eyes. The clean reference follows that part of the brief more closely. Its face and body design also differ from the first result: use it as the selected design, then carry that specific image into later reference-based work.

How these examples were made

We generated these original examples for this guide with Nano Banana through C2Anime’s image-generation backend. The two examples are independent text-to-image generations using the exact prompts below. They demonstrate composition choices; they are not a controlled edit that holds every pixel or character feature fixed. The finished assets shown here are still illustrations. Your result can vary, so use the visual checks before accepting it.