How to Make a Stickman History Video, Step by Step

Quick answer

Open the Stickman History creator, generate a narration script with the Inside History script type, let Korpi build a cast and location reference set, generate the scenes, then pick captions and optional music on the Audio tab and render. The look is locked for you: expressive stick figures with round white heads, detailed period clothing, and warm parchment-and-watercolour settings. Your job is the story.

What a stickman history video looks like

Every scene is a hand-drawn historical illustration. Characters are simple stick figures with big round white heads and readable expressions, but they wear richly drawn period costume: armour, robes, wigs, uniforms. Streets, courts and interiors are painted in a warm gold and ochre palette with blue accents, on a parchment texture.

One calm narrator reads the whole story over the scenes. Nobody on screen talks, which keeps attention on the narration and makes the format easy to translate.

The strongest episodes put the viewer inside one ordinary historical life for one day: what you eat, what hurts, what you fear, and what you do not know yet.

Step 1: Set up the Script tab

Open Stickman History. The first tab is Script.

• Aspect Ratio. 9:16 is selected for Shorts, TikTok and Reels. Switch to 16:9 for a standard YouTube upload.
• Series mode. Leave it off for a one-off video. Turn it on to make numbered parts that share a series title card and keep the same cast between episodes.

Step 2: Generate the narration script

Click Generate w/ AI above the Narration Script box. In the dialog:

1. 1Script Type. Inside History is the default and fits most history ideas. Ancient Survival, Body Science, Mind & Behaviour and Concept Explainer are also available if your topic is more about the body or an idea than a period.
2. 2Duration. Pick one of the length buttons. Longer scripts get more scenes.
3. 3Pick a source. Idea List suggests episode ideas you can pick from. Custom Subject lets you type a Subject (for example "A Roman Legionary") and an Angle (for example "One Day On The March"), plus optional extra direction. Remix Video takes a link to a video, transcribes it and writes a new script from it.
4. 4Choose the output language if you are not writing in English, then generate.

The script lands in the Narration Script box, where you can edit any line. The version saver lets you keep a draft before you try another take.

Tip: name one real detail per beat (a ration, a tool, a date). Concrete details are what make history narration feel researched rather than generic.

Step 3: Review your elements and generate scenes

On the Scenes tab, click Generate Scenes and Characters. Korpi reads your script, finds the cast and key locations, and makes one reference image for each in the locked stickman history look.

In Review your elements, approve, regenerate or swap any reference. They are reused in every scene, so the same legionary and the same fort stay consistent from the first shot to the last. If you do not need a recurring cast, choose Skip references.

Korpi then generates one image per scene. Each scene is labelled with its visual device (a world scene, a close-up, a title card, a diagram, a map or a comparison) and a fact badge that marks the line as Sourced, Estimate or Framing. Regenerate any scene you do not like, or replace it with your own image or video.

Scenes can stay as stills, or you can animate them one by one or with Generate All and Animate. Generated scene sound is off by default. The narrator is a separate track.

Step 4: Set up audio and captions

The Audio tab shows the narrator voice, a calm and deliberate documentary read.

• Background music is optional and off by default. If you add a bed, the render keeps it low under the narration.
• Captions are off by default for this format. Turn on burned-in captions and pick a caption style if your audience watches with the sound off.

Step 5: Render

Click Generate Video. The button shows the credit cost before anything renders. You can render straight away, or open the project in the video editor first to make changes and add a watermark. Download the finished file when the render completes.

Plan it for free first (optional)

If you work inside Claude or ChatGPT, connect Korpi MCP. Its script and storyboard planning tools are free on every account, no plan needed: draft the narration and a scene-by-scene storyboard in chat, then paste the script into the Narration Script box when you are ready to make it.

What makes a stickman history video work

• One person, one day. "A medieval peasant's worst winter" beats "the Middle Ages".
• Open on a physical sensation. Cold, hunger or noise hooks faster than a date.
• Mark what is known. Use the fact badges as a checklist: estimates and framing lines should sound like estimates and framing, not facts.
• End on what they did not know yet. The unseen consequence is the payoff viewers share.

Stickman History FAQ

Do I need to draw anything?

No. The stick-figure history style is locked in the creator, and every scene, character reference and title card is generated in that look.

Can I use my own script?

Yes. Paste it into the Narration Script box instead of generating one. Korpi plans the scenes from your text.

Can I make a series?

Yes. Turn on Series mode on the Script tab to make numbered parts that share a title card and keep the same cast.

Is it free?

You can watch the example free, and planning a script and storyboard through Korpi MCP is free on any account. Generating and exporting your own Stickman History video needs a paid Korpi plan.