ReelConsistent cartoon characters with Claude Code
To keep a cartoon character consistent in Claude Code, define it once as code: one SVG or HTML character sheet with fixed colours, proportions and poses, plus a style file that names them. Then tell Claude to import that sheet in every scene instead of redrawing the character. Three checks catch drift: compare a contact sheet of every scene, compare the colours against the palette, and compare the head-to-body proportions.
This is how our own channels keep a cast the same from the first Short to the next. Below are the steps, a prompt you can paste, and the table we check each film against.
Why characters drift
Claude draws the character fresh each time it writes a scene. Nothing ties scene 4 to scene 1, so the hair gets a slightly different brown, the head grows ten percent, the eyes move. Each scene looks fine alone. Side by side, the character is a different person.
A video model has the same problem for another reason: it has no memory of the last clip. Code does, if you give it a place to keep the character. The fix is the same in both cases: stop regenerating the character and start reusing it.
Step 1: build the character sheet as reusable code
Ask Claude for one file that draws the character and nothing else. A function works well: it takes a pose and an expression and returns the drawing. The same input gives the same output, every time.
Create character.js for our hero. One function, drawHero(ctx, {x, y, scale, pose, face}).
Everything the character is made of lives in this file: shapes, colours, proportions.
No scene may draw the hero any other way.
Keep it separate from the scenes. If the hero's shapes appear inside a scene file, they will be edited there and drift.
Step 2: lock palette and proportions in the style file
Put the numbers in a style file that both the character and the scenes read:
| What to fix | Example entry | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Palette | skin, hair, shirt, outline as hex values | Colours cannot be "close" |
| Head-to-body ratio | head is one third of total height | The most visible drift |
| Outline | width in pixels at 1080 wide, one colour | Thin lines change the whole look |
| Eye and mouth shapes | one list of allowed shapes | Faces change first |
| Scale range | smallest and largest allowed size on screen | Keeps the hero readable |
Then add one rule to your instructions: scenes may use these values and may not invent new ones.
Step 3: add poses and expressions as variants
Do not ask Claude for "the hero looking sad". Give the sheet a short list of named poses (stand, walk, point, slump) and expressions (neutral, shocked, happy, sad), and let scenes pick from the list. A new need means a new entry in the sheet first, then use. The character grows in one place, and every earlier scene still matches.
Step 4: run a drift check across scenes
Before the full render, ask Claude for one still of the hero from every scene and tile them into one contact sheet. Look at it yourself. You are checking three things:
- Same face and body. Does the hero read as one person across the whole sheet?
- Same colours. Ask Claude to read the hero's colours from the stills and compare them with the palette in the style file.
- Same proportions. Is the head the same size relative to the body in every tile?
Fix drift in the character file, never in the scene. Then render the sheet again. It costs a few stills, much less than a full render.
A prompt to start with
Read style.md and character.js. Make scene 5 of 8 for our hero. Use drawHero with a pose and face from the lists. Do not draw the hero any other way and do not add colours that are not in style.md. Then write one still of the hero to stills/scene-05.png.
For a vertical film, the framing rules are in our Shorts guide. The wider setup (one look, a cast, a repeatable format) is in how to start a faceless channel, and the code-only drawing method is in animated videos with Claude Code.
What other guides cover
Other Claude Code video skills show the idea in different ways: the open-source code-cartoon skill ships a palette table, a storyboard table and demo videos, but has no section on keeping a character the same. Studio sites and skill directories that came up for this question did not cover it at all in the pages we opened. That is why we put the table and the drift check above.
Styles that ship with fixed characters
A ReelStyles kit is this method, already done: the character sheet, the palette, the poses and the checklist Claude grades its stills against. Two examples:
- Round-head newsroom cartoon: round-head characters in bright offices, vaults and courtrooms. It has a vertical template and example film.
- Night-city TV toon: big-eyed characters with thick outlines and flat colour.
There are 119 styles in all, 39 of them tested in 9:16. You can build your own character as shown above for free. The kits save you the steps if you want a finished look; one payment covers every style, with every style we add later, on the pricing page.
Sources
The steps and checks come from how our own kits are built and tested. The other tools were read on 26 October 2026: code-cartoon, Lore and Skills Directory.