How do I enable NSFW mode on SoulGen?

NSFW mode is off by default. To enable it, go to your account settings and toggle the NSFW/adult content switch. Once enabled, both Realistic and Anime styles support explicit image generation. You must verify your age first.

What is the reference photo feature on SoulGen?

SoulGen's reference photo feature lets you upload a real photograph, and the AI will generate new images that maintain the facial structure and appearance of the person in the photo. This is SoulGen's standout feature — it creates consistent look-alikes across multiple generations, which most competitors can't do at this price point.

Is SoulGen better than Promptchan for AI art?

It depends on what you need. Promptchan offers more style variety, community features, and video generation. SoulGen excels at character consistency, reference photo generation, and the 2-in-1 combo of image gen + AI companion chat. For pure variety, choose Promptchan. For consistent characters and chat, choose SoulGen.

Can I create custom AI characters on SoulGen?

Yes. SoulGen lets you build custom characters with specific appearances using prompts or reference photos. These characters maintain visual consistency across generations. You can also use your custom characters in the Soulmates chat feature, creating a companion that matches your generated images.

How to Use SoulGen in 2026: Complete Step-by-Step Tutorial

Updated April 2026 · 12 min read · By NSFW AI Reviews

SoulGen is one of the most unique AI platforms in 2026 — it combines a powerful image generator with an AI companion chat in a single subscription. Whether you want photorealistic portraits, anime art, or a custom AI girlfriend to chat with, SoulGen handles it all.

This guide walks you through every feature step by step — from your first image generation to advanced techniques like reference photos, inpainting, and building persistent AI companions. We scored SoulGen 9.0/10 in our full review, and this tutorial shows you exactly how to get the most out of it.

🎨 Try SoulGen Free

Generate your first AI images — no credit card required.

Start Creating →

1. What Is SoulGen?

SoulGen is an AI art platform that does two things:

Image Generation — Create photorealistic and anime-style images from text prompts or reference photos
AI Companion Chat (Soulmates) — Chat, flirt, and roleplay with AI characters that match your generated images

This 2-in-1 approach is what sets SoulGen apart from pure generators like Promptchan or pure companions like Candy AI. You get both for one price.

Key Strengths

Character consistency — SoulGen remembers your characters across generations
Reference photo system — Upload a real photo, get a consistent AI look-alike
Both anime + realistic — Two distinct art styles, both high quality
Affordable — $7.99/mo on the annual plan covers everything

💡 Pro Tip: SoulGen's biggest advantage over competitors is character consistency. If you want to create a "permanent" AI character that looks the same every time, SoulGen does this better than anyone at its price point.

2. Getting Started (Free)

1 Create Your Account

Go to SoulGen.ai and sign up with your email or Google account. The free tier gives you a handful of image credits to test the platform — no credit card needed.

2 Enable NSFW Mode

By default, SoulGen generates SFW content only. To unlock adult image generation:

Click your profile icon (top right)
Go to Settings
Toggle NSFW Mode to ON
Confirm your age verification

Both Realistic and Anime styles support NSFW once enabled.

3 Explore the Interface

SoulGen's dashboard has three main areas:

Create — The image generation workspace
Soulmates — AI companion chat and characters
Gallery — Your saved generations and favorites

⚠️ Free Tier Limits: Free accounts get limited daily generations with possible watermarks and reduced resolution. It's enough to test quality but not for serious use. The Pro plan removes all limits.

3. Choosing Your Art Style

SoulGen offers two distinct generation modes. Your choice affects everything — the model, the output quality, and what types of images work best.

🎭 Realistic Mode

Photorealistic portraits, bodies, and scenes
Best for: real-looking characters, reference photo look-alikes, portrait photography style
Skin textures, lighting, and anatomy are solid
Not quite as photorealistic as PornWorks AI or Seduced AI, but very good

🎨 Anime Mode

Clean linework, vivid colors, manga/hentai style
Best for: hentai, anime waifus, fantasy characters, artistic compositions
Quality rivals Promptchan's anime output
Excellent proportions and artistic consistency

Feature	Realistic	Anime
Best For	Portraits, look-alikes	Hentai, fantasy, waifus
Quality	Very good (8.5/10)	Excellent (9.3/10)
NSFW Support	✅ Full	✅ Full
Reference Photos	✅ Works great	✅ Supported
Character Consistency	Excellent	Excellent
Generation Speed	10-20 seconds	10-15 seconds

💡 Recommendation: If you're new, start with Anime mode — it's more forgiving with prompts and consistently produces great results. Switch to Realistic once you're comfortable with prompt structure.

4. How to Write Great Prompts

SoulGen's prompt system is straightforward but rewards specificity. Here's the formula for getting consistent, high-quality results:

The Prompt Formula

[Subject] + [Appearance Details] + [Pose/Action] + [Setting] + [Quality Modifiers]

Realistic Example

beautiful woman, long dark hair, green eyes, fit body, standing in bedroom, natural lighting, photorealistic, high detail, 4K

Anime Example

anime girl, silver hair, red eyes, school uniform, sitting on desk, cherry blossoms in background, detailed, vibrant colors, masterpiece

NSFW Example

beautiful woman, athletic body, lying on silk sheets, bedroom setting, seductive expression, intimate pose, soft warm lighting, photorealistic

Prompt Tips That Actually Matter

Be specific about appearance — "long blonde hair, blue eyes, athletic build" beats "pretty girl"
Include lighting — "natural lighting", "studio lighting", "golden hour" dramatically improve results
Add quality tags — "high detail", "4K", "masterpiece", "sharp focus" push quality up
Specify the setting — backgrounds add depth and context
Use negative prompts — tell SoulGen what to avoid: "ugly, deformed, blurry, low quality"

💡 Power Move: Want more prompt ideas? Our Best AI Art Prompts for NSFW guide has 50+ tested prompts with examples.

5. Using Reference Photos (SoulGen's Killer Feature)

This is where SoulGen truly separates itself from the competition. The reference photo feature lets you upload a real image and generate AI versions that maintain the same facial structure and appearance.

1 Upload Your Reference

In the Create workspace, click the Reference Photo option. Upload a clear, front-facing portrait. The AI works best with:

Good lighting
Face clearly visible (no sunglasses or heavy shadows)
Neutral to moderate expression
Resolution above 512×512

2 Add Your Prompt

Combine the reference with a text prompt to control everything except the face:

[reference: uploaded photo] wearing red dress, standing on beach, sunset background, photorealistic, 4K

3 Generate Variations

Use the same reference with different prompts to create multiple images of the same character in different settings, outfits, and poses. This is how you build a consistent character library.

⚠️ Important: Only use reference photos of yourself, consenting adults, or fictional characters. Creating non-consensual look-alikes of real people is against SoulGen's terms of service.

Why Reference Photos Matter

Most AI image generators produce random faces every time. Even with identical prompts, you'll get a different person. SoulGen's reference system solves this — create your ideal character once, then generate them in any scenario. This is essential for:

Building a consistent AI companion
Creating image series with the same character
Content creators who need visual consistency

6. Image Generation: Full Walkthrough

Here's the complete process from blank canvas to finished image:

1 Open the Create Tab

Click Create in the navigation bar. You'll see the generation workspace with prompt input, style selector, and settings panel.

2 Select Style

Choose Realistic or Anime. This toggles the underlying model — you can't mix styles in a single generation.

3 Write Your Prompt

Enter your text description. Optionally upload a reference photo. Use the prompt formula from Section 4.

4 Adjust Settings

NSFW Toggle — Enable for adult content
Number of Images — Generate 1-4 variations per prompt
Quality/Resolution — Higher quality uses more credits
Seed — Set a specific seed for reproducible results (leave blank for random)

5 Generate

Hit the Generate button. Wait 10-30 seconds depending on complexity and server load. Your images appear in the workspace.

6 Refine

Not perfect? You have options:

Regenerate — Same prompt, new random seed
Edit prompt — Tweak wording and try again
Inpainting — Select a region and regenerate just that part
Save — Download or save to your gallery

💡 Pro Tip: When you get a great generation, note the seed value. You can reuse it with slight prompt variations to get similar results with minor changes — perfect for building image sets.

7. Inpainting & Image Editing

Inpainting lets you edit specific parts of a generated image without regenerating the whole thing. This is huge for fixing small issues.

How to Inpaint

Open a generated image from your gallery
Click the Edit/Inpaint tool
Paint over the area you want to change (hands, face, background, clothing, etc.)
Enter a new prompt describing what should replace that area
Generate — only the masked region changes

Best Uses for Inpainting

Fix hands — AI hands are notoriously bad. Inpaint just the hands with "natural hands, five fingers"
Change clothing — Mask the outfit area, prompt a different outfit
Fix faces — Regenerate a face that came out wrong while keeping everything else
Swap backgrounds — Keep the character, change the environment
Remove/add elements — Add accessories, change hair, remove unwanted artifacts

💡 Pro Tip: Inpainting is the difference between "that's close" and "that's perfect." Instead of regenerating from scratch (wasting credits), fix the one thing that's off. Experienced users inpaint 2-3 times per image.

8. Soulmates: AI Companion Chat

SoulGen's companion feature — Soulmates — lets you chat, flirt, and roleplay with AI characters. It's the "girlfriend" side of the platform.

Getting Started with Soulmates

Click Soulmates in the navigation
Browse existing AI characters or create your own
Click a character to start chatting
The AI adapts to your conversation style over time

Creating a Custom Companion

This is where SoulGen's 2-in-1 design shines. You can:

Generate images of your ideal character using the Create tool
Use those images as the avatar for a Soulmate character
Define personality traits, backstory, and conversation style
Chat with a companion that looks exactly like your generated images

Chat Quality

Honest take: SoulGen's chat is good but not the best. It handles flirting and explicit roleplay reasonably well, but compared to Candy AI, responses feel slightly more generic. Think of it as a solid bonus feature rather than the main attraction.

If incredible conversation quality is your #1 priority, Candy AI wins. If you want image generation + decent chat in one package, SoulGen is the better value.

💡 Pro Tip: Invest time in your character's personality description. The more specific you are ("witty, teasing, loves sci-fi, uses playful sarcasm"), the better the chat quality. Generic descriptions produce generic conversations.

9. Pricing & Plans Breakdown

Plan	Price	Features
Free	$0	Limited generations, watermarks, reduced resolution. Good for testing.
Monthly	$14.99/mo	Full HD, ~200 image credits/mo, reference photos, NSFW, Soulmates chat, inpainting.
Annual	$7.99/mo ($95.88/yr)	Same as Monthly. 47% savings.

Is It Worth It?

At $7.99/month annually, SoulGen is one of the best deals in AI art. You're getting an image generator AND a companion chat for less than most platforms charge for just one. For comparison:

Platform	Monthly	Annual	What You Get
SoulGen	$14.99	$7.99/mo	Images + Chat + Reference Photos
Candy AI	$12.99	$5.99/mo	Chat + Images + Voice
Promptchan	$13.99	$5.99/mo	Images + Video + Community
PornWorks	$15.00	$9.99/mo	Images + Video + Face Swap

🚀 Start With SoulGen Pro

Images + AI companion + reference photos — all in one subscription.

Get SoulGen Pro →

Start free, upgrade when ready. Annual plan saves 47%.

10. Pro Tips & Hidden Features

🎯 Maximize Image Quality

Use negative prompts religiously — "ugly, deformed, blurry, low quality, extra fingers, bad anatomy" should be your default negative prompt
Generate 4 at once — More variations = better odds of a great result. Cherry-pick the best.
Save your seeds — When you get a great image, note the seed. Use it as a starting point for variations.
Iterate, don't restart — Inpaint problem areas instead of regenerating from scratch.

🎨 Style Hacks

Mix photography terms in Realistic mode — "85mm lens", "shallow depth of field", "studio lighting" push realism
Use artist references in Anime mode — "in the style of [anime genre]" helps steer the aesthetic
Lighting is everything — Changing just the lighting prompt ("golden hour" vs "neon club lighting") transforms the entire mood

💰 Save Credits

Start low-res — Test prompts at lower quality first, then regenerate winners at full HD
Refine with inpainting — Cheaper than full regeneration
Build a prompt library — Save your best prompts so you don't waste credits experimenting from scratch

🔒 Privacy

Your generated images are stored in your private gallery
SoulGen doesn't publicly display your creations
Billing is discreet (won't show "SoulGen" on statements)
Read the privacy policy — SoulGen is owned by a larger company, data practices may vary

11. SoulGen vs Alternatives: Quick Comparison

How does SoulGen stack up for different use cases?

If You Want...	Best Choice	Why
Images + Chat combo	SoulGen ✅	Only platform that does both well at this price
Best chat quality	Candy AI	More natural conversations, better personality system
Most image variety	Promptchan	More styles, community gallery, video generation
Best photorealism	PornWorks AI	Superior photorealistic output + video
Character consistency	SoulGen ✅	Reference photo system is best-in-class at this price
Best anime/hentai	Tie: SoulGen / Promptchan	Both excellent — Promptchan has more styles, SoulGen has consistency
Free option	Promptchan	More generous free tier

For deeper comparisons, check our head-to-head guides:

12. Frequently Asked Questions

SoulGen offers a limited free tier — you can generate a few images to test quality before subscribing. Free images may have watermarks or reduced resolution. The Pro plan ($14.99/month or $7.99/month annually) unlocks full HD, more generations, reference photos, and all premium features.

NSFW mode is off by default. Go to Settings → toggle NSFW Mode → confirm age verification. Once enabled, both Realistic and Anime styles support explicit image generation.

SoulGen's reference photo feature lets you upload a real photograph, and the AI generates new images that maintain the same facial structure. This creates consistent look-alikes across multiple generations — something most competitors can't do at this price point.

It depends. Promptchan offers more style variety, community features, and video generation. SoulGen excels at character consistency, reference photos, and the 2-in-1 image gen + chat combo. For pure variety → Promptchan. For consistent characters + chat → SoulGen.

Yes. Generate images of your ideal character, then use them as avatars for Soulmates companions. Define personality traits, backstory, and conversation style. The result: an AI companion that looks exactly like your generated images and chats the way you want.

🎨 Ready to Create?

SoulGen — AI image generator + companion chat in one. Start free today.

Get Started Free →

Or read our full SoulGen review first.