This past week, I successfully automated the generation of stick figure illustrations, not only in large quantities but also with consistent recurring characters. As you can see here, I designed a stick figure with orange hands and a slightly stylized tone. With illustrations like these, I can create a YouTube channel that looks completely unique, different from anything else online. Even better, I can generate any stick figure style I want and turn them into videos incredibly fast.
Many of you have asked me how to make scripts and build full videos around these characters. In a previous video, I explained that creating scripts is easier than you think. Today, I’ll walk you step by step through how you can write scripts, generate voiceovers, and design stick figures you could even sell on Etsy for an additional income stream. In fact, my own Etsy shop generates over $3,000 a month in profit, and digital stick figure packs are a huge opportunity. You can design minimalist, cartoon, 3D, animal-themed, or even pop culture stick figures—there’s a market for all of them.
At the end of this video, I’ll also demo a short video I built using my automated stick figures, complete with script and voiceover, so you can see exactly how it all comes together.
Part 1: Writing Your Script
The first step is the script—and it’s much easier than people think. All you need to do is type a clear prompt into ChatGPT. For example:
“Write me a 2-minute motivational YouTube script in a casual storytelling tone.”
Pause this video, try it, and you’ll see how quickly ChatGPT delivers. Once you have your script, you can expand it into other assets too:
- Video title: “Create 10 high-engagement titles that fit the script above.”
- Description: “Write a 3–4 sentence SEO-optimized YouTube description based on this script.”
- Keywords: “Give me 40 high-traffic YouTube and Google keywords that match this script, sorted from short to long.”
- Hashtags: “Generate YouTube hashtags that fit this script.”
- Time codes: “Create YouTube time codes for my script, optimized for a 2-minute video.”
This whole process takes under five minutes. No expensive gurus or tools needed—just smart prompting. Don’t waste time on things that don’t matter. Instead, focus on strong topics, engaging scripts, and great thumbnails. That’s what holds attention and grows your channel.
Part 2: Creating Voiceovers
Once you have a script, paste it into 11 Labs to generate a natural voiceover. I recommend the Chris voice, the same one used by the popular Wise Joe channel, which reached 40,000 subscribers in under two weeks.
Here’s a quick sample I generated:
“I used to apologize for everything—for taking up space, for taking too long, for not being what others expected of me. Everywhere I went, I felt like I was a burden. I felt like I owed the world an apology for simply existing.”
Clean, emotional, and ready for video. Within minutes, you have professional-sounding narration without needing to record a single word yourself.
Part 3: Generating Stick Figure Illustrations
Now comes the fun part—designing your characters. I started with this prompt:
“Generate five creative prompts for stick figure cartoon characters, each with a unique concept in a stylized cartoon art style.”
From this, I got my first character: the Time Traveler Twig, a quirky stick figure with unique accessories and flair. I loved it so much I could easily build a whole channel around it.
For variety, I asked ChatGPT for 15 more prompts and got characters like Emotebot 3000, each one distinct and ready for animation.
If you need landscape images instead of portraits, just add: “Please create a landscape image.” Simple as that.
Part 4: Automating with JSON and Python
To speed things up, I compiled all my prompts into a JSON file. Each object in the file included the style, prompt, and an organized filename. This structure makes it easy to automate generation with scripts.
Then I asked ChatGPT:
“Create a Python script to generate all the images using the prompts in stick_figures.json via the ChatGPT API.”
Within seconds, I had a working script, complete with usage instructions. Save it as generate_images_from_prompts.py, make sure your JSON file is in the same directory, set your API key, and run it.
Now, let me be clear—it’s not always plug-and-play. If you’ve never coded before, you will run into errors. I had to debug and even rewrite parts of the script myself. To achieve consistent characters across images, I coded a custom extension from scratch. With 15+ years of programming experience, I can handle this. If you’re new, don’t get discouraged—it just takes patience.
Once running, the script automatically generated 15 stick figure images. The logs showed each one appear in my folder as it finished. You don’t need to sit and watch—it will run in the background.
Not every image was perfect, but that’s fine. From my testing, cartoon styles are more consistent than 3D styles. After a quick review, I had a full folder of unique stick figures ready to use.
Part 5: Putting It All Together
Finally, I combined everything. I chose Time Traveler Twig as my main character, paired the voiceover I generated, and dropped both into CapCut. With some quick editing, I had a fully customized stick figure video, ready for upload.
The best part? This whole workflow—from script to final video—can be done in a single afternoon. And once automated, you can scale it up endlessly.
Final Thoughts
Automating stick figure creation isn’t just about fun characters. It’s about building a repeatable system for content:
- Scripts in minutes
- Voiceovers in seconds
- Stick figures on autopilot
- Videos in hours, not weeks
And if you want to monetize beyond YouTube, you can package your stick figures as digital downloads for Etsy or Gumroad, just like I do. That’s how you turn creativity into multiple income streams.
I’ll keep sharing everything I build—scripts, prompts, JSON files, and step-by-step tutorials—in my community launching June 1st. The beginner’s course is already ready, plus prompts and images you can use right away. First month is free if you join early.
Stick figures may look simple, but with the right tools and automation, they can unlock huge opportunities. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you in the next one.