Seedance has introduced stricter likeness protection around the use of real people’s faces. Because of this, directly using a realistic face reference can sometimes produce inconsistent results or trigger restrictions.

A reliable workaround is to prepare your character as a character sheet first.

The idea is simple:

Reference photo → Character sheet → Seedance video generation

Instead of giving Seedance a raw photograph of a person, you first transform the reference into a controlled character design that clearly preserves the person’s identifiable features.

Step 1 — Prepare Your Reference Photo

Start with a clear photo of the person you want to use as your character.

For the best result, use a photo where:

• The face is clearly visible.
• The person is facing the camera.
• The lighting is reasonably even.
• The hairstyle is clearly visible.
• The clothing and body are visible.
• There are no heavy filters.
• The image is not heavily blurred or compressed.

A clean reference gives the image generator more information to work with.

Step 2 — Generate a Character Sheet

Open your preferred image-generation AI and upload your reference photo.

Then use the following prompt:

Character Sheet Prompt:

Create a 16:9 black-and-white fashion sketch illustration of the person from the photo reference. Three views side by side: full body front view, medium portrait view, and full body back view. Realistic body proportion. Use only monochrome tones: black, white, graphite grey, charcoal grey, and soft pencil shading. No color. No watercolor color fill. No blue, grey-blue, skin tone, or tinted palette. Style: loose expressive pencil lines, high-detail facial shading, fashion design sketch aesthetic, clean white paper background, strong negative space. Face: preserve the original facial structure, eye shape, nose, lips, jawline, hairstyle, and all distinguishing features. Skin: render only with light graphite pencil shading and minimal hatching. Hair: use sharp dark ink lines and deep charcoal shading. Clothing and body: sketch clearly with elegant fashion proportions, natural pose, and clean linework. Final image must look like a professional black-and-white fashion concept sketch on white paper.
The resulting image should contain the same character represented from multiple angles.

This gives you a much more useful reference than a single photograph because the character's face, hairstyle, body proportions, clothing, and silhouette are represented together.

Step 3 — Use the Character Sheet for Seedance

Once the character sheet has been generated, use it as the character reference for your Seedance generation.

The character sheet becomes the visual identity of your character.

When writing your video prompt, describe the action, environment, camera movement, lighting, and cinematography you want.

For example:

The character walks slowly through a crowded futuristic city at night, passing illuminated storefronts and pedestrians. The camera follows from behind before smoothly moving to a front-facing tracking shot. Natural body movement, cinematic lighting, realistic environment, subtle wind affecting the clothing.

Then add a realistic style instruction.

Step 4 — Make the Character Look Realistic

The character sheet is intentionally created as a drawing.

That does not mean your final video needs to look like an illustration.

Tell Seedance that the output should be realistic.

You can add a style tag such as:

Realistic, live-action, photorealistic human, natural skin texture, realistic lighting, cinematic photography

Or place a negative instruction at the end of your prompt:

No illustration, no drawing, no sketch, no anime, no cartoon. Realistic person, live-action, photorealistic.

This tells the model that the character reference is being used for identity and appearance, while the final video should be rendered as a realistic human.

Step 5 — Adding Color to the Character Sheet

The character sheet does not have to remain black and white.

A monochrome sheet is useful because it gives the image model a clean, controlled representation of the character.

However, you may prefer a colored character reference.

Simply ask your image-generation model to colorize the character while preserving the original identity, clothing, hairstyle, and proportions.

Example:

Add realistic natural colors to the character while preserving the exact facial structure, hairstyle, body proportions, clothing design, and visual identity. Keep the three character views consistent. Use realistic skin, hair, and clothing colors based on the original photo reference. Do not alter the character's identity or physical features.

You can then use the colored character sheet as your reference for Seedance.

Recommended Workflow

The complete workflow is:

1. Take a clear reference photo

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2. Generate a character sheet

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3. Verify the face, hairstyle, clothing, and proportions

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4. Add color when necessary

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5. Use the character sheet as the Seedance reference

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6. Write the video prompt around the action and cinematography

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7. Add realistic/live-action style instructions

Why Use a Character Sheet?

A single photograph only gives the model one visual angle.

A character sheet gives it multiple representations of the same character.

This can provide stronger consistency for:

Face — facial structure and distinguishing features

Hair — hairstyle, hairline, and silhouette

Body — proportions and overall physique

Clothing — outfit design and visual details

Views — front, portrait, and rear references

The character sheet therefore acts as a visual identity reference between your original photograph and the final video generation.

Important Note

No prompt can guarantee identical results across every generation.

Seedance may still interpret facial features, clothing, proportions, or other characteristics differently from one generation to another.

The goal of this workflow is to provide a cleaner and more controllable character reference, which can improve consistency when working with likeness-protected or reference-sensitive video generation.