Video · Creator

TikTok character (audio + text)

No AI video. Voice + typography + a single recurring image.

AI video is the slowest, most expensive, most failure-prone part of the recommended stack. Cut it. Use one consistent character image (commission once or generate once) plus ElevenLabs voice and beat-cut typography in CapCut. Ship 3x faster, half the cost.

VIDEOCREATORBEGINNERBeginnerFrom $22/mo
The stack
Claude
Character bible + script

Same as the recommended stack. The character lives in the voice and the writing, not the visuals.

$20/mo Pro · API $3/M tokensAlts: ChatGPT
ElevenLabs
Character voice

Even more important here than in the Pika version: the voice IS the character. One marketplace voice or clone, locked.

$5/mo Starter · $22/mo Creator
CapCut
Typography + edit

Animated text on the character image carries the visual. CapCut's keyframe text is the bottleneck-free way to do this.

Free · $9/mo ProAlts: Descript
Real monthly cost
small
$22/mo
1 ep/day
  • claudeFree
  • elevenlabs$22
  • capcutFree
medium
$42/mo
Daily + 3 shorts
  • claude$20
  • elevenlabs$22
  • capcutFree
heavy
$210/mo
Multi-character agency
  • claude$80 API
  • elevenlabs$99
  • capcut$15
  • + misc$16
Workflow
  1. 1
    Lock the bible (no visual section)Claude

    Same prompt as the recommended stack, minus 'visual style'. Replace it with a single character image and a typography lock-up.

    Prompt · Audio-first character bible
    Build a character bible for a recurring 60-second character account where the visuals are: one fixed character image, animated typography, and short cutaways. NO AI video generation.
    
    Working idea: {{1-line concept, e.g. "a sarcastic raccoon who reviews tech"}}
    Niche: {{e.g. consumer tech, finance for Gen Z, parenting fails}}
    
    Output:
    
    1. **Persona** (120 words): name, age, occupation, where they "live", what they care about, what they hate.
    2. **Voice** (100 words): cadence, pet phrases (list 5), what they NEVER say, sample line. THIS IS THE PERSONA — write more here than for video-driven characters.
    3. **Visual lock-up** (60 words): the one character image (description, art direction). The font for typography. The 2-color palette. Recurring meme/sticker.
    4. **Recurring beats** (5): episode formats this character rotates through.
    5. **Hard rules** (list 5): things the character must never do.
    
    Save as project context for every script.
  2. 2
    Daily scriptClaude

    Same script structure as the Pika version, but every line gets a typography cue instead of a B-ROLL cue.

    Prompt · 60s script with typography cues
    Use the character bible from this project.
    
    Today's beat: {{e.g. "rant review of Apple's new Vision Pro update"}}
    Source material:
    """
    {{paste 1 to 2 articles, tweets, or screenshots-as-text}}
    """
    
    Write a 60-second script (about 150 spoken words) in character voice.
    
    Structure:
    - 0:00 to 0:03 — Hook line.
    - 0:03 to 0:45 — Body. 3 beats. One concrete fact or quote per beat.
    - 0:45 to 0:60 — Payoff line.
    
    Format the output as:
    [0:00] Spoken line
    [TEXT: what appears on screen — a 2-to-5-word punch from the line, NOT the full line]
    
    Stay under 160 words. No "subscribe for more". No filler.
  3. 3

    ElevenLabs renders the script as one audio file. Same voice, same settings, every episode.

  4. 4
    Typography passCapCut

    CapCut: drop voice on track 1, character image as background. Punch text per [TEXT] cue, beat-aligned, with 2 fonts max from the lock-up.

  5. 5
    ShipCapCut

    Upload at 6pm local. Whole loop ships in 25 minutes once the bible exists.

What it produced
Audio-first character account, 4 months

Same niche as the Pika version (sarcastic tech raccoon). 110k followers vs 90k for the AI-video version, mostly because they shipped 1.7x more episodes (no Pika render bottleneck). Visual drift was a non-problem.

Common pitfalls
Visuals get static

One character image only works if the typography pulls weight. Spend the time on the typography lock-up; it's the difference between 'cheap' and 'identifiable'.

Voice fatigue

Audio-first means the voice is everything. Re-clone every 60 days; pin a sample line for QA. Same as the Pika version, but more load-bearing here.

Other ways to do TikTok character account
Curated by @ryan-c
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