How to make your character's portrait
- Start fast. Press Random portrait, or pick a kind of race (elf-like fair folk, dragonblooded, beastfolk…) to start from a fitting face.
- Change any part. Use the tabs: face, skin and markings, ears and horns, hair, extras (tusks, beard, halo, wings, gills…), clothes and background. Every change shows instantly.
- Pick exact colours. Choose a ready-made swatch or the colour picker for any shade you like.
- Keep it. Download a tall portrait, a square avatar or a round token for Roll20, Foundry or Owlbear Rodeo. Share a link that opens the same portrait, or save it to My portraits.
Changed something you don't like? ↶ Undo steps back through your last 30 changes.
Every part you can change
The maker has six tabs. Each tab has its own 🎲 button that rerolls only the parts on that tab, so you can keep a face you love and just try new hair, or new clothes.
- Face: four head shapes (oval, round, square and long), four brows from calm to fierce, four mouths from a smile to a grim line, and five kinds of eyes: round, slit, glowing, no pupils or insect eyes, in any colour.
- Skin: skin, scale, fur, bark and stone shades, plus 14 markings such as freckles, tide lines, stripes, ember veins, glowing runes, frost and cracks. The markings have their own colour.
- Ears & horns: 16 ear choices, from human and long elven ears to fins, frills, cat, wolf, bat and leaf ears or antennae, and seven kinds of horns, including ram horns, antlers, branches and crystal.
- Hair: 14 styles, from long hair, braids and a topknot to a mane, feathers, flames, moss, a mushroom cap or metal plates. Or go bald.
- Extras: add as many as you like: tusks, fangs, whiskers, gills, a beard, a brow gem, a third eye, a halo, wings, a beak, pearls, flowers, glow spots, smoke, an inner light, a scarf or a shell.
- Clothes & background: robes or armour, a colour for clothes and one for trim and jewellery, and 15 painted backgrounds, from forest and desert to deep ocean, great cities and the otherworld. Armour is always steel grey; choosing a clothes colour switches back to robes.
Start from a kind of race
The Start from a kind of race menu lists 24 kinds of people, such as fair folk, stoneborn, tidefolk, emberkin, sporefolk, golemborn and star-born. Choosing one builds a new face that suits that people, using the same engine as the Fantasy Race Generator. Tidefolk get fins and tide lines, emberkin get ember veins, and the dragonblooded nearly always get horns and scales. After that, every part is yours to change.
Why a portrait maker with no AI?
Many character portrait tools now use AI image generators. They are often slow, usually need an account and credits, and can't promise where their art came from. This maker draws every portrait instantly in your browser from hand-made shapes, so it is free, private, instant and yours to use, in your campaign, your book or your stream. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is trained on your choices.
Using portraits as virtual tabletop tokens
Switch on Token view to see the round, gold-ringed version, then download the token PNG (1024 × 1024, transparent corners). Drop it straight onto your map in any virtual tabletop. Make one for every player character and NPC; the share link remembers each design, so you can tweak it later.
Which download should I choose?
- Portrait (960 × 1200): the tall picture with its painted background. Good for character sheets, handouts, books and wiki pages.
- Square avatar (1024 × 1024): the same portrait in the middle of a square filled with the background colour. Good for profile pictures in chat apps and forums.
- Round token (1024 × 1024): a gold-ringed circle with see-through corners, ready for a virtual tabletop map.
- SVG (vector): a file that stays sharp at any size, for printing big or editing in a vector drawing program. It follows Token view, so switch that on first if you want a round SVG.
Saving and sharing
★ Save keeps up to 60 portraits in My portraits. Tap a saved one to open it and carry on editing. They are kept only in this browser, so clearing your browsing data removes them. 🔗 Share copies a link with the whole design written into it: a friend, your game master or your future self opens exactly the same face. Nothing is uploaded; the link itself holds every part and colour.
The daily portrait puzzle
Every day there is a new target face, the same for everyone. Rebuild it with the controls. The badge counts how many of the nine parts match: head shape, ears, horns, hair, eyes, brows, mouth, markings and extras. Colours don't count, so you can match the shapes in your own colours. The hint beside the target names up to three parts that still don't match.
Start with the big shapes (horns, ears and hair), then look closely at the brows and mouth, which are easy to miss. Extras must match exactly: every extra the target has, and none that it doesn't. When all nine match you get a message, and a new face waits for you tomorrow.
Tips for a memorable fantasy face
- One strong feature beats five small ones. Great curled horns or glowing eyes read better on a small token than many details.
- Let colour tell the story. Ember skin and flame hair say fire-blooded; sea-glass skin and fins say tidefolk.
- Match the expression to the personality. A smirk and fierce brows make a rogue; a calm face and halo make a healer.
- Give your party a shared look, such as the same background or trim colour, so their tokens belong together.
Ideas for game masters and writers
- Make NPCs in a minute. Roll a random portrait, change one or two parts, then save it. A shopkeeper, a rival and a mysterious stranger take about a minute each.
- Use the tab dice for families. Keep the face and ears, then reroll hair and clothes to make brothers, sisters and cousins who clearly share a bloodline.
- Check it small. Turn on Token view before you download. If you can't tell who it is at token size, make the main feature bigger or brighter.
- Show change over time. Save a "before" portrait, then add a scar, frost or glowing runes for the same hero after a big story moment.
Example portraits
Frequently asked questions
Is this D&D portrait maker really free and without AI?
Yes. There is no AI, no account and no limit. The portraits are drawn by code from original vector shapes, right in your browser.
Can I use the portraits commercially?
Yes. Portraits you make are yours to use, including in published games, books and streams. A credit is welcome but not required.
How do I make a token for Roll20 or Foundry?
Press Download and choose Round token. You get a 1024 × 1024 PNG with a gold ring, ready to upload as a token image.
Can I make a portrait for the race I generated?
Yes. Every race from the Fantasy Race Generator already comes with a matching portrait. Start here from the same kind of race to fine-tune the look.
Is this a full D&D character creator?
No. It only makes your character's portrait. To choose a race, try the D&D Race Picker; for a name, the D&D Name Generator. Ability scores, class and level still go on your own character sheet.
Can I make a full-body character?
Not here. Every portrait shows the head and shoulders, which reads best on a token or a character sheet. To compare how tall your party is, use the simple figures in the Height & Weight Calculator.
Can I make animal-folk or monster faces?
Yes, as a head-and-shoulders portrait. Cat or wolf ears with whiskers and fangs make beastfolk; insect eyes and antennae make insect folk; scales, frills and slit eyes make reptile folk. For a whole creature with its own body, try the Species & Creature Generator.
Will my saved portraits still be here tomorrow?
Yes, in the same browser on the same device, unless you clear your browsing data or use a private window. To move a portrait to another device, send yourself the share link or download it.
Last updated: