Make characters from anything

Build any Storywish character from a photo, a sketch, or a typed description. Tweak their look, age, and personality, then let Storywish reconcile every detail with one tap.

Step 1 of 6 · Last updated April 21, 2026

Three ways to bring a character to life

You can build any character from a photo, a quick sketch, or a typed description — whichever feels easiest in the moment.

Use a photo

Tap Use a photo or drag an image straight into the modal. If your photo has more than one face, Storywish asks you to Choose a face so the character is unmistakably the right person. We never store your uploaded photos.

Make a sketch

Open Make a sketch for a built-in painter with brush size, color, opacity, eraser, and undo/redo. Even stick figures work — Storywish reads the proportions and expression and renders the rest.

Just describe them

Type a name, an age, a personality, and what they look like. Skip any field — Storywish fills the gaps from what you give it.

Screenshot — character creation inputs

Edit anything, reconcile everything

Once a portrait exists, change any field — name, age, personality, look — and a banner appears asking "Update other fields to match your edits?". Tap Update and Storywish quietly rewrites the rest, then regenerates the portrait so every detail stays in sync.

Each individual field also has a sparkle button. Use it to regenerate just that field — or highlight a sentence first to rewrite only the selection.

Screenshot — Update reconcile banner

The age trick

The age input accepts any number from 0 to 999. Bump it ten years up or down, tap Update, and you'll see the same character significantly younger or older — perfect for sequels set "when Mommy was little" or "ten years from now".

Sketch on top of a portrait

After a character is rendered, opening Make a sketch again drops you into the painter on top of the existing portrait. Doodle devil ears, a wizard hat, a big mustache, a superhero cape — anything you scribble gets rolled into the next regeneration.

It's the fastest way to give a character a costume for a one-off story without losing their canonical look.

Screenshot — sketch-over-portrait
Screenshot — Relationships picker

Wire up your whole cast

Tap Add relationships on any character and link them to other characters in your library. Pick from Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, Brother, Sister, Cousin, Uncle, Aunt, Nephew, Niece, Grandpa, Grandma, Grandson, Granddaughter, Guardian, BFF, Friend, Rival, Peer, or Pet.

Storywish uses those edges when it writes a story — Mom acts like Mom, the rival shows up as the rival, and the family pet wanders through scenes the way you'd expect. Build the family tree once and every future story knows who everyone is.

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