Getting Character Art: Four Paths at Four Price Points
AI generation (fast, free) for one-shots. Hero Forge screenshots (custom, $0-45) for PCs. Commissions ($50-200) for campaign-long characters.
Path 1 — AI generation (fastest): RPG Builder's Text to Image tool generates character portraits from text descriptions. "Elven wizard with silver hair, blue robes, holding a staff topped with a crescent moon" produces usable art in seconds. Best for NPCs, one-shot characters, and placeholders. Path 2 — Hero Forge (custom, your exact character): design your character in 3D, pose them, screenshot the result. Free to design, $20-45 if you want the STL file for 3D printing.
Path 3 — Stock art (cheap, legal): DriveThruRPG and itch.io sell character art packs ($5-20 for dozens of portraits) with commercial licenses. Path 4 — Commissions (expensive, personal): hire an artist ($50-200 per character) for a piece that's uniquely yours. Best for campaign-long PCs you'll play for years.
Making the Token: Crop, Border, Export
Circle crop, color-coded border, 280x280 PNG. That's the standard. Everything else is style.
The universal VTT token standard: 280x280 pixel PNG with a transparent or colored border. Roll20 recommends 280x280 (or 256x256 for older systems). Foundry handles any resolution but 280x280 loads fastest. Owlbear Rodeo is resolution-agnostic but 280x280 looks crisp at default zoom. RPG Builder's token maker exports exactly this format with one click.
Border color convention: gold for player characters, red for enemies, silver for neutral NPCs, bronze for allies. This isn't just aesthetics — it's an instant-read tactical aid. On a crowded battle map, a player can identify every token's allegiance by border color alone, without reading names or recognizing art. Pick one convention for your campaign and stick to it for every token.
VTT Setup: Roll20, Foundry, and Owlbear Rodeo
Upload to your VTT's token library once per campaign. Name them clearly ("Goblin_Archer", not "token_7"). Create folders.
Roll20: drag your PNG onto the table, right-click, "Add to Journal." This saves the token to your library and lets you assign it to character sheets with HP bars. Foundry: drop tokens into your user data folder (FoundryData/Data/tokens/), then they appear in the file picker. Create subfolders by campaign or creature type. Owlbear Rodeo: just drag-and-drop from your computer — no library, no setup, but also no persistence between sessions unless you use the paid extension.
Organization tip: name your tokens with a consistent convention. "CampaignName_CreatureType_Name.png" — "SKT_Giant_Frost Giant.png" or "CoS_Undead_Strahd.png". In six months when you're prepping a new campaign, you'll be able to find tokens instantly instead of scrolling through "token (1).png" through "token (47).png."