South Park AI Filter: You as a Paper Cut-Out Cartoon

Add a photo of you, your friends or your pet. AI redraws it as a flat paper cut-out cartoon with a big round head and oval eyes, standing in the snow of a small mountain town. Your hair, beard, glasses and outfit come along.

The original South Park Filter reel by @generationalbrandriskOriginal reel
  • 1 photo you add
  • 2K photo you can turn into a video
  • 9:16 for TikTok, Reels, Shorts
  • No watermark

No prompt to write: Add your photo and tap once

Create your own

Ready in a few minutes · Photo · 3 credits

The South Park AI filter is the TikTok trend where one photo becomes a flat, construction-paper cartoon of you in the style of the animated show: a big round head, two big oval eyes, mitten hands and a snowy mountain town behind you. Here you add one photo of yourself, your friends or your pet.

Example

What the South Park Filter photo looks like

This is the original reel that started the trend. Your video is a new clip made from your photo in the same style, not a copy of these shots. No two runs come out the same.

Original reel by @generationalbrandrisk, 10 s

The original post by @generationalbrandrisk: his own photo, then the paper cut-out version. The dreadlocks, beard, face tattoos, nose rings, headphones and hoodie print all made it into the cartoon. The sign with the show's name is blurred.

Original reel by @blazeofcuteness, 10 s

The Pet version, from the original post by @blazeofcuteness: "Mavis goes to South Park". The black cat becomes a paper cut-out cat with big oval eyes in the snow. The sign is blurred.

Step by step

How to make the South Park Filter photo on MakeViral

Everything runs in the browser. No editing app, no prompt to write, no watermark.

  1. Add your photo

    Press "Create your own" and add you, waist up or full body. Take it with the camera or pick it from your library.

  2. Press Generate

    The button shows the price. Nano Banana 2 puts your photo into the South Park filter scene and makes one 2K photo. You write no prompt.

  3. Download or share

    The photo is ready in a few minutes as a 9:16 2K image. Download it, share it from your phone, turn it into a video, or find it later in your Library.

Which photo works best?

Upload one sharp photo: for Human, a photo of you alone, waist up or full body if you have one; for Friends, one group photo with 2 to 4 people; for Pet, your pet with its whole body in view.

  • Face the camera in good light. The cartoon keeps what it can see: your hairstyle, beard, glasses, piercings and tattoos.
  • Wear what you want your cartoon to wear. Your clothes, their colors and their prints carry over. A close selfie works too; the AI then adds simple trousers and shoes.
  • Friends: everyone's face in view, nobody cut off at the edge, at most four people.
  • Pets: the ears, the fur markings and any collar or bandana in view.
  • Use your own photo, or a photo of friends who said yes. Never a celebrity or a stranger.

Where did the South Park Filter trend start?

The trend took off on TikTok in the last week of September 2026. CapCut template makers built AI templates that redraw a photo in the flat, construction-paper look of South Park, the long-running animated show. The first how-to video we found went up on 26 September: @jord627__x8's "south park ai filter tutorial" had 594,100 views by 14 October. Later that day, @sophiebennett0303 posted the version that the biggest tutorials show: a wooden sign drops over your photo, and a cartoon of you wipes in, standing in the snow of a small mountain town. By 14 October, 6,942 TikTok videos used that post's sound.

The posts show the real photo first and the cartoon second, usually with the caption "Nah why'd they do me like that". How-to videos spread it further: one by @wudishaoxia from 2 October passed 1.8 million views and 64,300 likes, and US Google searches for "south park filter" peaked on 7 October. The idea is older than the templates: in August 2025, the German tech site GIGA shared ChatGPT prompts that turn a portrait into a figure in the show's style.

  1. The German tech site GIGA publishes three ChatGPT prompts that turn an uploaded portrait into a figure in the show's style; the first one puts it in front of snowy mountains and a small town. GIGA

  2. @jord627__x8 posts the first "south park ai filter tutorial" we found, for a CapCut template; it has 594,100 views and 10,000 likes by 14 October. TikTok

  3. @sophiebennett0303 posts the sign-drop template, where a wooden sign falls over the photo and the cartoon wipes in. Its sound is in 6,942 TikTok videos by 14 October. TikTok

  4. A how-to video by @wudishaoxia goes up; it passes 1.8 million views and 64,300 likes by 14 October, the most viewed post of the trend we found. TikTok

  5. US Google searches for "south park filter" reach their peak. Google Trends

  6. Another how-to video, by @ciqingyongcun22, passes 1.1 million views and 34,900 likes by 14 October. TikTok

Copy and paste

The South Park Filter prompts

You do not need this: the one-tap flow runs it for you. The photo prompt puts your photo into the scene. Want to change it? Copy it and edit it in AI Photo.

Human

1 photo: you, waist up or full bodyNano Banana 2Photo · 2K · 9:163 credits
Photo prompt

Use the uploaded image as the base. Turn the person in the photo into a flat construction-paper cut-out cartoon character. Keep their hairstyle, skin tone, and outfit recognizable, redrawn with a round head, big, simple eyes, thick black outlines, and flat construction paper cutout shading. Use a construction paper appearance, simple shapes, small bodies with large heads, and minimalist facial features. Keep the paper cutout aesthetic with simple geometric shapes, flat colors, a snowy mountain town background, a plain deadpan expression, clean outlines, and an authentic TV animation style. The character looks cut from colored construction paper and laid flat: an oversized, almost round head that is about half of the whole height, two big white oval eyes side by side that touch in the middle, each with a small black dot pupil, a short flat line for the mouth, no nose, a small rounded body, stubby arms with round mitten-shaped hands in the skin tone, short legs and simple flat shoes. A soft paper texture on the hair, any facial hair and the clothes; no 3D, no gradients, no realistic skin. It keeps everything that makes the person recognizable, as simple paper shapes: the exact hairstyle, hair length and hair color, any beard, moustache or stubble, glasses, piercings, earrings, tattoos and freckles, any hat, cap, hood, headphones or jewelry, the skin tone, the gender, and the clothes with their colors and prints from the photo. If the photo shows only the upper body, add plain trousers and shoes that go with the outfit. Add nothing else: no knitted winter hat, scarf, gloves or parka unless the photo shows one. The character stands alone in the middle of a snowy street, facing the camera, arms down at the sides, full body from the top of the head to the shoes, in the lower two thirds of the picture. Behind, in the same flat paper style: a quiet small mountain town in winter, with snow on the ground, snowy pine trees, a few small wooden houses with smoke from the chimneys, power lines, big grey-green mountains with white snowy peaks under a pale blue sky, and light snowfall. Vertical 9:16. Exactly one character: an original cartoon of this person, not an existing cartoon character. No sign, no signpost, no text, no letters, no logos, no watermark, no frame. The face is always the flat paper cartoon face described above, never a photo face: the identity rules below apply to the cartoon's hair, facial hair, glasses, piercings, tattoos, skin tone, gender and clothes.

2503 characters

Friends

1 photo: your group photo, 2 to 4 peopleNano Banana 2Photo · 2K · 9:163 credits
Photo prompt

Use the uploaded image as the base. Turn every person in the photo into a flat construction-paper cut-out cartoon character. Keep each person's hairstyle, skin tone, and outfit recognizable, redrawn with a round head, big, simple eyes, thick black outlines, and flat construction paper cutout shading. Use a construction paper appearance, simple shapes, small bodies with large heads, and minimalist facial features. Keep the paper cutout aesthetic with simple geometric shapes, flat colors, a snowy mountain town background, a plain deadpan expression, clean outlines, and an authentic TV animation style. Draw exactly as many characters as there are people in the photo, side by side in the same order as in the photo, from left to right, each about as tall as the others are in the photo. Each one looks cut from colored construction paper and laid flat: an oversized, almost round head that is about half of the whole height, two big white oval eyes side by side that touch in the middle, each with a small black dot pupil, a short flat line for the mouth, no nose, a small rounded body, stubby arms with round mitten-shaped hands in the skin tone, short legs and simple flat shoes. A soft paper texture on the hair, any facial hair and the clothes; no 3D, no gradients, no realistic skin. Each character keeps everything that makes that one person recognizable, as simple paper shapes: the exact hairstyle, hair length and hair color, any beard, moustache or stubble, glasses, piercings, earrings, tattoos and freckles, any hat, cap, hood, headphones or jewelry, the skin tone, the gender, and the clothes with their colors and prints from the photo. Never blend two people, never swap hair, glasses or clothes between them, and never add or drop a person. If the photo also shows a pet, it becomes a flat paper cut-out cartoon animal with its own fur colors, standing with them. If the photo shows only their upper bodies, add plain trousers and shoes that go with each outfit. Add nothing else: no knitted winter hats, scarves, gloves or parkas unless the photo shows them. They stand together in the middle of a snowy street, facing the camera, arms down at the sides, full bodies from the tops of the heads to the shoes, in the lower two thirds of the picture. Behind, in the same flat paper style: a quiet small mountain town in winter, with snow on the ground, snowy pine trees, a few small wooden houses with smoke from the chimneys, power lines, big grey-green mountains with white snowy peaks under a pale blue sky, and light snowfall. Vertical 9:16. Original cartoons of these people, not existing cartoon characters. No sign, no signpost, no text, no letters, no logos, no watermark, no frame. Every face is the flat paper cartoon face described above, never a photo face: the identity rules below apply to each cartoon's hair, facial hair, glasses, piercings, tattoos, skin tone, gender and clothes.

2916 characters

Pet

1 photo: your pet, whole bodyNano Banana 2Photo · 2K · 9:163 credits
Photo prompt

Use the uploaded image as the base. Turn the pet in the photo into a flat construction-paper cut-out cartoon animal. Keep its fur colors, markings, and accessories recognizable, redrawn with a round head, big, simple eyes, thick black outlines, and flat construction paper cutout shading. Use a construction paper appearance, simple shapes, small bodies with large heads, and minimalist facial features. Keep the paper cutout aesthetic with simple geometric shapes, flat colors, a snowy mountain town background, a plain deadpan expression, clean outlines, and an authentic TV animation style. The pet looks cut from colored construction paper and laid flat: an oversized, round head that is about half of the whole height, its own ears as simple paper shapes, two big white oval eyes side by side that touch in the middle, each with a small black dot pupil, a small nose, a tiny simple mouth, a small rounded body and short stubby legs with round paws. A soft paper texture on the fur; no 3D, no gradients, no realistic fur. It keeps everything that makes this pet recognizable, as simple paper shapes: the same species, the fur colors, fur pattern, markings and spots, the ear shape, the tail, and any collar, tag, bandana or sweater from the photo. The pet stands alone in the middle of a snowy street, facing the camera, its whole body in view, in the lower two thirds of the picture. Behind, in the same flat paper style: a quiet small mountain town in winter, with snow on the ground, snowy pine trees, a few small wooden houses with smoke from the chimneys, power lines, big grey-green mountains with white snowy peaks under a pale blue sky, and light snowfall. Vertical 9:16. Exactly one animal and no people: an original cartoon of this pet, not an existing cartoon character. No sign, no signpost, no text, no letters, no logos, no watermark, no frame. The face is always the flat paper cartoon face described above: the identity rules below apply to the cartoon's fur colors, markings, ears and accessories.

2018 characters

How many credits does it cost?

You pay per photo in credits, and the create page shows the exact price on the Generate button before you spend anything. The one-tap price covers one 2K photo, charged once. One photo is 3 credits, so the smallest one-time pack that covers it is $9.99 for 100 credits, with no subscription. A smaller 1K photo costs less if you run the prompt by hand in AI Photo.

ModelSettingsCredits
Nano Banana 2 (this template)2K photo, 9:16, one tap3
Nano Banana 2 (by hand in AI Photo)1K photo, 9:16, same prompt2

One-time packs and plans are on the pricing page. A failed photo gives its credits back.

What does the South Park AI filter keep, and what does it change?

The filter keeps the things your friends know you by and redraws everything else in paper. In the original post at the top of this page, the dreadlocks, the beard, the face tattoos, the nose rings, the headphones and the print on the hoodie all made it into the cartoon.

Stays from your photoBecomes paper cut-out
Hairstyle, hair length and hair colorYour head: big, almost round, about half your height
Beard, moustache, glasses, piercings, tattoos, frecklesYour eyes: two big white ovals with small black dots
Hats, caps, hoods, headphones, jewelryYour hands: round mittens with no fingers
Your clothes, with their colors and printsYour body: small and stubby, with short legs
Your skin tone and genderThe place: a snowy small mountain town with pine trees, wooden houses and big mountains

How MakeViral makes it: your photo goes to Nano Banana 2, Google's image model, with a prompt built on the photo prompt from CapCut's own Dreamina "South Park character maker" page, because the template itself shares no prompt. We added the template's look and scene, describe the style in words instead of naming the show, and leave out the sign. You get one 2K vertical picture (9:16) with no sign, no text and no watermark. The create page shows the exact price on the Generate button, and every run draws you a little differently.

Human, Friends or Pet: which version should you pick?

All three take one photo and give you one picture in the same snowy town.

  • Human is the trend as most people post it: you alone, standing in the snow with a deadpan stare. A waist-up or full-body photo gives the cartoon your real outfit.
  • Friends turns everyone in one group photo into cartoons, side by side in the same order as in the photo. The first template tutorial on 26 September already showed a group selfie turned into a row of characters. Up to four people works best.
  • Pet turns your dog or cat into a paper cut-out animal with its own fur colors, markings and ears, like the black cat Mavis in the second clip above (29,600 views on TikTok).

A pet in a group photo comes along too: it becomes a cartoon animal next to the people.

What goes wrong with the South Park filter, and how do you fix it?

The same complaints come up again and again under the template tutorials, and our prompt is written against them.

What goes wrongWhat people saidWhat our prompt does, and what you can do
You come out as the other gender"they turned me into a girl" (256 likes under the 1.8 million view tutorial)The prompt keeps the gender of the person in your photo
The beard or the hair is off"they missed the beard and to much hair"The prompt asks for the exact hairstyle, hair length and facial hair. Use a sharp photo where both are clear
Glasses or jewelry look odd"Idk why it did my glasses like that", "just got the necklace wrong"Glasses and jewelry are on the keep list. Run it again: each run draws a little differently
It does not look like the show"Mine does NOT look like South Park"The prompt spells the look out: flat paper, a round head, big oval eyes, mitten hands, flat colors
Extra winter clothesNo complaint yet: a risk of the snowy styleThe prompt adds no winter hat, scarf, gloves or parka unless your photo has one

If a result still looks off, run it again with a brighter, sharper photo taken face to the camera. If a run fails, the credits come back.

How do you post it like the trend?

The trend's posts show the real photo first and the cartoon second. MakeViral gives you the cartoon as a picture, so post both as a two-photo carousel on TikTok or Instagram: your photo, then the cartoon.

  • Caption: "Nah why'd they do me like that", or "Why'd it make me look like that". Both are all over the trend's posts.
  • Sound: most posts use the template's "original sound" by Sophie Bennett, which was in 6,942 TikTok videos on 14 October 2026. Tap the sound on any template post to use it.
  • Hashtags: #southparkfilter (3,081 videos on 14 October 2026), #southparkcharacter and #southpark. Keep the platform's AI label on.
  • Profile picture: the cartoon crops well to a square, so it works as a profile picture or an avatar for your friend group's chat.
FAQ

South Park Filter trend questions

What is the South Park AI filter?
It is a TikTok trend from late September 2026: an AI template redraws a photo of you as a flat, construction-paper cartoon in the style of the animated show South Park, standing in the snow of a small mountain town. People post the real photo first, then the cartoon, usually captioned "Nah why'd they do me like that".
How do I do the South Park filter?
Press "Create your own", pick Human, Friends or Pet, add one photo and press Generate. MakeViral turns it into a paper cut-out cartoon in a snowy mountain town and puts the picture in your Library. You need no CapCut template and no prompt.
Is this the official South Park filter?
No. MakeViral has no link to South Park or its makers. The trend uses the show's name as a label for the look. Our template draws an original cartoon of you in a paper cut-out style, not a character from the show, and shows no logo or sign.
Is there a South Park AI filter prompt?
The CapCut templates behind the trend are closed, and none of the tutorials we checked shares a prompt. So our prompt starts from the photo prompt on CapCut's own Dreamina "South Park character maker" page and adds the template's look: a round head, big oval eyes, mitten hands, flat paper colors and a snowy mountain town. It keeps your hair, facial hair, glasses, skin tone and clothes.
Can I make a South Park character of me and my friends?
Yes. Pick Friends and add one group photo with 2 to 4 people. Everyone becomes a paper cut-out cartoon, side by side in the same order as in the photo, each with their own hair and clothes.
Does the South Park filter work on dogs and cats?
Yes. Pick Pet and add a photo of your pet with its whole body in view. It comes out as a paper cut-out animal with big oval eyes and its own fur colors, markings and ears, in the snowy town. The second clip on this page is a cat from the trend.
Why did the filter turn me into a girl, or a boy?
It is the most liked complaint under the biggest tutorial: "they turned me into a girl" (256 likes). Our prompt tells the model to keep the gender of the person in your photo. A clear photo with your face to the camera helps most.
Can I make a South Park-style character without AI?
Yes. Build-your-own character makers on the web let you pick the hair, eyes and clothes from menus, and many commenters on the trend made theirs that way. The AI filter works the other way round: it starts from your photo and keeps your real look.
Can I use it as a profile picture?
Yes. The picture is 2K and vertical, and the cartoon stands in the middle, so it crops cleanly to a square for a profile picture or a group chat avatar.
Can I turn it into a video?
Yes. Under your finished picture, press "Make it a video": it opens AI Video with the cartoon as the first frame, and you choose what happens. The video costs its own credits.
Does the South Park AI filter cost credits?
Yes, a few. A picture costs far fewer credits than a video, the create page shows the exact price on the Generate button before you spend anything, and if a run fails, the credits come back.
Is my photo private?
Yes. MakeViral does not post your photo or the result anywhere or show them to other users. The picture goes to your private Library, and you can delete it there at any time.

Make your own South Park Filter photo

Add one photo and tap once. No prompt to write. 3 credits.

No watermark. A failed video gives its credits back. Secure checkout by Stripe.