I really liked the semi-realistic face style of Kakarot but found the flat colours a little unwieldy to work with and so decided to merge it with a similar model that I had previously had good luck with.
BlazaRadiance
This is a 50/50 merge model of Blazarot and AstreaPixieRadiance.
The intent here was to capture some of the bright lighting of Astrea while also moving a little closer to anime faces.
Recommendations:
VAE: vae-ft-mse-840000-ema-pruned (Outputs will appear washed-out without a good VAE)
CFG scale: 5 - 9 (I typically generate all images at 5)
Resolution ratio: 1x1.5 (e.g. 512x768) for solo character work, 1x1 (e.g. 768x768) for >2 characters, 2:1 (e.g. 1024x512) for landscapes, etc (Trying to generate characters with landscape aspect ratios will very often give splitscreen views and/or multiple characters)
Miscellaneous: ADetailer for aesthetic faces
Strengths:
Blazarot - I primarily use this as a character model, with a focus on a semi-realistic look that sits somewhere between classic anime models and realistic models. It can be prompted with Danbooru style tags without much issue seemingly.
BlazaRadiance - Bright scenes and strong lighting. Closer to anime faces than Blazarot.
Weaknesses:
Blazarot - Influence of Kakarot often means that faces will appear to have a pale skintone/flat colouration, even compared to the rest of the body. I have tinkered with this in later versions.
BlazaRadiance - AstreaPixieRadiance has a strong face style and so this model might not have as much face variability as its parents or other models. Perhaps a bit heavy on the god rays.
Conclusions:
Blazarot - Use this model if you would like anime-style illustrations with 'realistic' bodies and semi-realistic faces.
BlazaRadiance - Use this model if you want semi-realistic characters with closer to anime faces than Blazarot/etc
