Early Stages of New AI Production

I have started diving into new territory as tools such as Nano Banano Pro have been further improved. With new projects on the horizon for 2026 I am looking at new approaches to create cinematic style experiences. For now I am using Google AI labs Flow to generate visuals along with Photoshop to create reference sheets.

I am looking at creating a short that will help me build out my pipeline for how I will handle client work this year. The biggest challenge is consistency and minimizing credit burn rate. One major step to meet this challenge is development of all reference material to use in Flow. Nano Banano Pro allows me to create detailed turnarounds of people and props that will be used. This method can be used for environments as well to establish a consistent setting.

Below is how this testing started. The left image shows a photo of my fiance and me. I use this as a reference image for Nano Banana to generate a character sheet in Photoshop.

Thank you AI Video School (@aivideoschool) for the guidance with prompt for this. Prompt: With reference image:

Create a professional character reference sheet based strictly on the uploaded reference image. Use a clean, neutral plain background and present the sheet as a technical model turnaround while matching the exact visual style of the reference (same realism level, rendering approach, texture, color treatment, and overall aesthetic). Arrange the composition into two horizontal rows. Top row: four full-body standing views placed side-by-side in this order: front view, left profile view (facing left), right profile view (facing right), back view. Bottom row: three highly detailed close-up portraits aligned beneath the full-body row in this order: front portrait, left profile portrait (facing left), right profile portrait (facing right). Maintain perfect identity consistency across every panel. Keep the subject in a relaxed A-pose and with consistent scale and alignment between views, accurate anatomy, and clear silhouette; ensure even spacing and clean panel separation, with uniform framing and consistent head height across the full-body lineup and consistent facial scale across the portraits. Lighting should be consistent across all panels (same direction, intensity, and softness), with natural, controlled shadows that preserve detail without dramatic mood shifts. Output a crisp, print-ready reference sheet look, sharp details.

Without Reference Image:

Create a professional character reference sheet of [PUT YOUR CHARACTER DESCRIPTION HERE]. Use a clean, neutral plain background and present the sheet as a technical model turnaround in a photographic style. Arrange the composition into two horizontal rows. Top row: four full-body standing views placed side-by-side in this order: front view, left profile view (facing left), right profile view (facing right), back view. Bottom row: three highly detailed close-up portraits aligned beneath the full-body row in this order: front portrait, left profile portrait (facing left), right profile portrait (facing right). Maintain perfect identity consistency across every panel. Keep the subject in a relaxed A-pose and with consistent scale and alignment between views, accurate anatomy, and clear silhouette; ensure even spacing and clean panel separation, with uniform framing and consistent head height across the full-body lineup and consistent facial scale across the portraits. Lighting should be consistent across all panels (same direction, intensity, and softness), with natural, controlled shadows that preserve detail without dramatic mood shifts. Output a crisp, print-ready reference sheet look, sharp details.

This put me down a road of generating interesting things. I did create a new prompt to get more detailed turnaround:

prompt:

From reference image create a high res three panel character sheet showing the reference in a full body a frame pose in front and back. The third panel on the right of the screen should be a three quarter angle in a dynamic pose. The images should be photorealistic, and high detail. The background should be a 50 percent gray. In the middle of the first two columns generate a high res face image from the front. In the middle of the second two columns generate a ultra high res image from the side.

It is crazy I used a grayscale image of me for this one. This prompt gave me more pixel detail. I found that the previous prompted character sheet gave some weird issues for Veo3 generation.

Then I had the idea of making me into a fantasy style character. Why not something similar to a Viking. This impressed me so much that maybe this could turn into a short story to help me test out narrative content.

For wide shot the look came from this prompt in Flow for image generation. Using reference generate an image of man sitting near a fire, his sword is off to the side leaning against a tree. The scene is set a night in a forest. The man is sitting on a large log. The man is in central focus with anamorphic lens that creates a shallow depth of field and distorted background.