If you’ve been experimenting with AI image generation models like WAN or Flux to create digital influencers, you might have noticed a common issue: the skin often appears unnaturally smooth or plastic-like. This artificial texture can easily give away that the image is AI-generated, detracting from the realism you want to achieve. In response to frequent requests from my community, I’ve developed a detailed workflow using Comfy UI that enhances skin texture and adds natural imperfections, making your AI-generated characters look far more lifelike.
Why Skin Details Matter in AI-Generated Faces
When generating images using AI, skin often lacks the subtle textures and imperfections that characterize real human skin, such as pores, blemishes, and natural tone variations. Without these details, the images appear “too perfect,” which ironically reduces their realism and impact. Therefore, adding realistic skin details is crucial for anyone looking to create convincing AI influencers for social media, marketing, or creative projects.
Overview of the Skin Detail Enhancement Workflow
This workflow leverages several powerful tools and models within the Comfy UI pipeline, specifically designed to enhance skin and facial beauty shots. The key steps include:
- Uploading Your Character Image: Start by loading the AI-generated image you want to improve.
- Model Selection: We use the SDXL and SDXLAS models, with the Juggernaut XL checkpoint being a preferred choice due to its high-quality output. You can experiment with other SDXL checkpoints available on civit.ai.
- Skin Imperfection Lora: To add realistic skin textures, a specialized Lora model trained on skin imperfections is applied.
- Inpainting Method: This technique selectively enhances areas of the skin using a mask, allowing you to add texture without affecting the entire face.
- Masking: You have two options here — manual masking, where you paint the areas to enhance, or an automask feature that detects facial features automatically.
Manual vs. Automask Skin Enhancement
Manual masking gives you precise control to target specific areas like cheeks or forehead. After setting your mask, you run the inpainting process using prompt details like “close-up photo of a woman with natural skin imperfections, fine skin pores, and realistic skin tones.” This approach significantly improves skin texture while maintaining the character’s unique traits.
The automask option is more convenient, automatically selecting facial areas to enhance. However, it may sometimes alter key facial features like eyes or lips undesirably, which leads us to the next step—facial feature recovery.
Restoring Original Facial Features
One downside of skin detail enhancement is that original facial features such as freckles or unique marks can get lost. To fix this, the workflow includes a facial recovery section:
- You reload the original image and manually mask the areas you want to restore, such as freckles on the nose and cheeks.
- Using either manual or automated face parsing masks, you selectively restore details while keeping the enhanced skin texture intact.
This combination of enhancement and selective restoration ensures your influencer looks both natural and detailed.
Upscaling Workflow for Even Greater Realism
To further improve image quality, I also developed an upscaling workflow combining multiple models:
- Skin Diff Detail Model: Adds high-frequency skin texture and removes subtle blur.
- Superior Upscaling with SDXL: Uses the Juggernaut XL lightning checkpoint to amplify details and restore color fidelity.
- Flux SRPO Upscaling: Addresses common AI-generated image issues like distorted faces by intelligently processing the image in overlapping tiles with semantic awareness.
This multi-stage process significantly enhances resolution and detail, making your influencer’s skin and facial features pop with photorealistic clarity.
Running the Workflow on the Cloud
If you don’t have access to a powerful GPU locally, you can run this entire workflow on the cloud using a Runpod template optimized for GPUs like the Nvidia 3090 or 4090. This makes it accessible to hobbyists and professionals alike.
