a red-haired girl with round glasses, cozy green sweater, soft smile
Style guide
Anime avatars that keep their expression at 40 pixels
Line art, clean silhouettes, and just enough story. Built to survive small profile crops.
4 credits for two avatars 30 free credits to start
Why this style works
Anime simplifies features into shapes, which is exactly what a 40px profile picture needs.
- Recommended export
- 1024 × 1024 px
- Circle-safe area
- Keep the face inside the middle 80%
- Reads best at
- 40–128 px
Uploads and prompts are private. Never used to train models.
A recent example
Example 
a calm swordsman with a silver ponytail facing the viewer, wind in his hair
Sketching…
WorkingYour avatars
Saved to your Dashboard. Click Make it talk to give either one a voice.
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Using the style
How to make it work
Anime is a forgiving style for a profile picture: line art does the work at small sizes. The trick is to ask for a specific character rather than “anime girl” — round glasses, a chipped mug, a scarf that is slightly too big. Those details survive the circle crop and give the avatar a story. We keep faces centered and head-and-shoulders so Discord never cuts an eye in half. Avoid naming existing characters or real actors; describe the person you want instead.
A mid-tone background usually beats a busy scene, especially when the picture is 40 pixels wide in a server list. Clean cel shading reads better than painterly rendering, and a bold hair shape gives people something to recognize before they read the face. If you want a talking version later, a front-facing, unobstructed mouth gives the video model the best chance. Start with a prop and a mood; the style will follow.
Prompt notes
Five things that change the result
These are specific to anime. The same prompt in another style will produce something different.
- 01
Name the character, not the genre
“A tired bookseller with ink-stained fingers” gives the model a person. “Anime girl” gives it a category, and categories look generic.
- 02
Choose one prop
Glasses, headphones, a scarf, a tiny earring. One clear object is legible at avatar size; five objects become noise.
- 03
Protect the silhouette
Ask for a strong hair or hat shape. If the outline is recognizable, people will find the face even in a busy server list.
- 04
Ask for cel shading
Clean line art and flat-ish shadows hold together when shrunk. Painterly rendering often turns muddy at 40 pixels.
- 05
Plan for talking
If you want a talking video, keep the character front-facing with an unobstructed mouth. A strong side profile is a beautiful still and a bad lip-sync.
Examples
Four anime starting points
A few questions
Anime FAQ
Something not covered? Email support@avatarsay.com. A person replies, usually within one business day.
Can I ask for an existing anime character?
No. We do not generate real people, public figures, or recognizable copyrighted characters. Describe an original character with the traits you like instead.
Why does my anime avatar look noisy when it is small?
Too many details. Strip the scene down to a face, one prop, and a simple background. You can also generate a second version with a bolder hair shape.
Will an anime avatar work as a talking video?
Yes, especially with a front-facing head and a visible mouth. Upload the original 1024px image from your Dashboard on the talking avatar page.
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