Avatar Archetypes and Reference Sheets¶

Every account has an avatar — a virtual person who delivers that account's content. Two layers define them:

The archetype — who this person is (persona, role, vibe)
The reference sheet — the photo that locks their face

This page covers both.

What an archetype is¶

An archetype is the persona pattern an avatar embodies. It determines:

How they talk (vocabulary, energy, intimacy level)
What they look like (general age range, style, body language)
Where they typically appear (settings that fit the archetype)
What kinds of stories they tell (personal, clinical, casual)

Different accounts have different archetypes so each one feels like a distinct creator. If two accounts had the same archetype, viewers might assume they're the same person (or that the content is recycled).

Common archetype patterns¶

These show up frequently in wellness content. Each one suits different products and audiences:

Archetype	Vibe	Typical settings	Wardrobe vibe
Naturopath / wellness practitioner	Soft authority, holistic, "I've seen this work"	Office, herb garden, calm sunlit space	Linen, scarf, neutrals, soft cardigan
Confessional / relatable	First-person vulnerability, "I went through this too"	Kitchen, bedroom, bathroom vanity	T-shirt, no jewelry, hair down, casual
Authoritative / clinical	Medical-adjacent confidence, evidence-led	Clean modern office, library, lab-feel	Crisp blouse, blazer, fitted, glasses
Aspirational / lifestyle	Polished, trendy, "this is the life I have"	Open kitchen, gym, sunlit living room	Trendy basics, statement earrings, athleisure
Older mentor / wise figure	"Let me tell you what I learned"	Patio, garden, cozy reading nook	Soft layers, vintage warmth, comfortable
Skeptic-turned-believer	"I didn't believe this either until..."	Office, casual kitchen, day-to-day setting	Skeptical-everyman casual, unfussy

The wellness niche has a lot of these because the niche supports many entry points (clinical authority, peer relatability, lifestyle aspiration, etc.). Other niches have their own archetype patterns.

Why archetype matters for wardrobe and setting¶

When you do a Lvl 2 wardrobe variant or set up a new account, the wardrobe should match the archetype, not your personal taste.

A naturopath in athleisure feels wrong. A confessional avatar in a blazer feels wrong. The archetype's wardrobe is what makes that account feel like a coherent person across many videos.

The brand file may suggest preferred archetypes; the account file pins down the specific one for that account.

What a reference sheet is¶

The avatar reference sheet is a photo you upload that locks the avatar's face across every generation in every workflow.

Typical format: a 3-panel vertical showing the same face from three angles:

Front (straight-on, neutral expression)
Three-quarter turn (45 degrees)
Side profile

All three panels show the same face under the same lighting. The model uses this to lock the face when generating new images.

What the reference sheet locks¶

Element	Locked by ref sheet?
Face (features, eyes, nose, mouth)	YES
Hair (default color and texture)	Mostly — strong influence, but can be overridden in prompt
Skin tone	YES
General age impression	YES
Body shape	NO — body isn't visible in the 3-panel head shot
Gender	NO — not locked by face alone
Wardrobe	NO — comes from the prompt per scene
Build (slim / muscular / etc.)	NO — comes from the prompt per scene

This is important: the ref sheet only locks the face. Everything else is determined by the prompt for that scene. That's why per-scene prompts describe wardrobe and build, and why the avatar description rule says don't repeat gender / age / face details in the prompt when a ref is wired.

Where reference sheets live¶

reference/avatar-sheets/
  account-a.jpg     # Account A's reference photo
  account-b.jpg     # Account B's
  account-c.jpg
  ...

Plus a manifest at reference/avatar-sheets/r2-urls.md mapping each account to its R2 URL once uploaded.

The R2 URL is what gets wired into the .nbflow — the local file path isn't used at runtime. (You upload the local file to R2; the R2 URL is the canonical reference everywhere downstream.)

How references get wired into a workflow¶

When a workflow is built, each tab has a Media node with mode: "reference" and imageData pointing to the avatar's R2 URL. That Media node feeds into the image gen nodes for every speaking scene in that tab.

flowchart LR
    M[Media: avatar ref<br/>imageData = R2 URL] --> NB[NanobananaAPI<br/>image gen]
    P[Plain Prompt<br/>scene specifics] --> NB
    NB --> V[Veo3]

One Media node per account, reused across every scene's image gen in that tab. The model uses it to lock the face on every generation.

When the ref sheet doesn't lock the face¶

A few situations where the lock breaks:

Wrong R2 URL — pointing to a different person, or to a 404, or to a stale URL
Broken per-node link refs — the link exists in the central array but not on the Media node's outputs, so PatchWork's UI flow drops the connection (see PatchWork Import Bugs)
Prompt overrides — explicitly describing face / hair / age in the prompt when the ref should handle that (the prompt fights the ref)
Multiple subjects in the prompt — the prompt mentions two people, only one gets the face-lock

The first three are bugs to fix. The fourth is a prompt-design issue (single-subject scenes only when possible).

Updating an avatar reference sheet¶

Sometimes you'll re-upload a refined version of an avatar reference (different lighting, better angles, refined photo). The new R2 URL needs to be propagated:

Upload the new photo to R2 (the gdrive skill or direct R2 upload)
Record the new R2 URL in reference/avatar-sheets/r2-urls.md
Update every workflow that uses that account's reference to point at the new URL
Bump V0-N on each affected workflow (it's a meaningful change)
Regenerate to verify the new ref produces clean output

This is rare but worth knowing. The surgical edits page covers the mechanics of updating ref URLs in existing workflows.

When you're ready¶

→ Next: Sales Channels — TikTok Shop, Amazon, Meta Shop, plus the AI Label Trick and ManyChat funnel mechanics.