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Nano Banana: characters

New: Nano Banana, step by step follows one model from the first picture to the engine, with every prompt, the clay, depth and normal pictures, blueprint planes and zebra checks.

This is how every character, creature and place in our own games starts. Follow it step by step and your models will come out far closer to what you imagine.

1. Make a turnaround of your character

Ask for the views the Forge reads, on a plain background:

Original game character turnaround sheet: a young hero of about 14 with spiky auburn hair, a blue short-sleeve tunic with white triangle trim, a brown belt, tall brown boots. Front view, three-quarter view, side view and back view, full body, relaxed A-pose, plain light grey studio background. Stylized 3D game art, clean shapes, the same design in every view, no text.

Then in the Forge, use that picture as the character's sheet: the Sheet Sculptor fits the body's proportions to the outlines in every view and paints it from the drawing.

2. The most powerful trick: render your model, then let Nano Banana correct it

Once you have a first version, take a picture of your own model from the front, three-quarter, side and back, and give it to Nano Banana with: keep this exact character, fix what's wrong. You get a reference that matches your character's shape exactly, only better.

Our first Rowan, rendered from four sides in the engine — Our first version of Rowan, rendered in Arcwright: the cloak wraps him like a blanket, the face is blurry.

Use the attached image as the character and keep him exactly this young hero: the same age, the same hair, the same blue tunic with white triangle trim. Redraw him as a polished, high-detail stylized 3D game character turnaround: front, three-quarter, side and back, relaxed A-pose, plain light grey background. Fix these problems: the cloak hangs from both shoulders down his back with a soft hood, open at the front; a detailed face with clean defined eyes; hair in crisp layered locks. The same design in every view, no text.

Nano Banana's corrected turnaround — Nano Banana's correction: the same boy, now with a hooded cloak behind him, bracers, pouches and a clear face. This becomes the new reference.

3. A face sheet: faces at full detail

A full-body sheet holds a face in a few dozen pixels. For a sharp face, make a head sheet: front view first, then three-quarter, profile and a couple of expressions. Arcwright finds the eyes in the drawing and places the face on your character's head by them, so the drawn eyes, brows, nose and mouth land exactly right.

The attached images show our game hero. Keep him exactly this young boy. Make a head and face detail sheet for a stylized 3D game character: front view, three-quarter view and side profile of the head and shoulders, plus two expressions (determined, smiling), plain light grey studio background. Clean defined eyes with iris, pupil, catchlight and upper lash line, expressive eyebrows, a small nose, soft lips, a defined jaw. Consistent in every view, no text.

A head and face sheet — The face sheet. Put the front view first: that's the one the face is painted from.

Rowan's face in the engine, painted from the face sheet — The result in the engine: the face painted from the sheet, placed by the eyes, with layered hair.

4. More things Nano Banana does well for games

Use	How to ask
Recolour a character or prop	Attach the picture: "Keep everything the same, change the tunic to dark red and the trim to gold."
Surfaces and materials	"A flat, evenly lit, top-down photo of mossy cobblestones, seamless, no shadows, no perspective." Use it as a material picture.
Show a surface up close	"A close-up of the bark on this tree, front-on, evenly lit, plain background" (attach your tree).
Props from every side	"Product sheet of this lantern: front, side, top and back, plain light grey background, no text."
Places and levels	"A stylized fantasy village square seen from above at 45°, readable paths and buildings, game concept art." Use it to lay out a level.
Enemies and creatures	The same turnaround prompt as heroes, with "original game enemy design" and what makes it readable at a distance.
Fix something specific	Attach your render and say exactly what's wrong: "the hands are mittens; give him four fingers and a thumb holding the sword grip."

Rules that make it work

Always a plain light grey background. The Forge separates the figure from it.
Always "the same design in every view" and "no text".
Attach a picture whenever you have one and say "keep this exactly". Nano Banana edits far more faithfully than it invents.
Generate several (four at a time works well) and pick the best; regenerate rather than fight a bad one.
Download the full-size picture (2K), not the thumbnail.

Arcwright doesn't make pictures itself: use Google Flow or Gemini with the prompts above, then bring the picture in.

Arcwright Beta 2 (0.4.0) · generated from the engine source (25e375c86)Something wrong or missing? Tell us