Remixing images: creating new scenes and characters
Image editing isn’t just about swapping backgrounds or resizing dimensions. The real creative potential often begins when you remix what you already have. Think of this section as a hands-on workshop for giving your images new life—whether that means tweaking a character’s color palette, changing their pose, or restyling an entire scene. Each variation acts like a new outfit or setting for your visual concept, helping it evolve and adapt to different needs.
Different platforms offer different remixing capabilities—and just as importantly, they use different user interface (UI) styles to support those workflows. For example, ChatGPT-4o uses a prompt-based interface where you upload an image and guide the remix through text instructions. In contrast, platforms like Adobe Firefly or Leonardo AI offer web-based visual interfaces, where most interactions—like color changes, object placement, or background swaps—are performed using mouse actions, buttons, or canvas tools. While both approaches often begin with dragging and dropping an image, the creative workflow feels quite different depending on whether you're typing prompts or clicking through design controls.
In this section, we’ll use ChatGPT-4o as our case example. Its text-driven workflow makes it especially well-suited for practicing and refining your prompting skills.
Remixing Character Images
Once you’ve generated a character image, that’s rarely the final step. Whether you’re working on a storybook, a game, or a collectible series, remixing opens the door to building out your visual universe in richer detail.
Creating Color Variations
Creating different color variations is one of the most straightforward ways to explore a character's potential look and feel. These changes can help you identify the most emotionally resonant design or adapt the character for different settings and themes.
Case Example: Furferno
Let’s revisit Furferno, the fluffy creature we introduced earlier and removed the background from in the last section. Instead of generating all variations at once (which often leads to quality issues), it's better to give ChatGPT-4o one prompt at a time with a focused visual description.
Make this character appear as if it’s powered by blue fire. Change the orange fur to icy blue and adjust the glow and tail accordingly."
While the generated image may not replicate the original in every detail, ChatGPT-4o generally does a good job of maintaining character consistency.
Creating Style Variations
Style changes allow your character to shift into different artistic modes—ideal for adapting them to various media or genres.
Prompt example:
Change this character to a pop-art style.
Change this character to a pixel art game character in 16-bit style.
Change this character to a watercolor illustration.
Each variation provides a new artistic lens through which your character can be viewed, useful for cross-platform design across web, print, and digital products.
Adding accessories, expressions, or context
Remixing doesn’t stop with colors or styles. You can also add personality, seasonal elements, or thematic props to expand character depth.
Prompt example:
Add a witch hat and a glowing wand to this character.
This is an effective way to create holiday editions, emotional variants, or collectible series with a consistent base character.
Remixing scene images and combining with characters
Just as you can remix characters, you can remix scenes to build consistency and variety into your visual storytelling. Scene variations let you shift mood, reframe composition, or match the setting to a character’s new style.
Adjusting artistic styles
Changing the scene’s artistic style allows it to align with character adaptations.
Prompt example:
Change this scene into a pop-art style.
You’ll receive a remixed scene image in the chosen style.
Once the style is aligned, you can use image editing tools to overlay your character onto the new scene.
Removing the character’s background beforehand gives you flexibility in placement and scaling.
Scene remixing allows you to experiment with tone, structure, and context—whether you’re working on background art, visual novels, or social media content. It helps maintain variety while keeping your visual world coherent and engaging.
As you continue practicing remixing techniques, remember that experimentation is essential. The more you explore variations in color, composition, style, and structure, the more confident you’ll become in shaping images that match your creative goals. If you’re ready to deepen your skills, the next section will introduce additional ways to expand and refine your visuals, including advanced workflows for combining multiple remixing strategies.