endpaper

What this skill does

# /endpaper — locked editorial endpaper collection style

This style produces curated "collection" illustrations — many small characters or objects scattered across a fully saturated solid color field, in the spirit of the inside endpapers of a children's picture book. The *mood* is chill (every face is a closed crescent-eye sleepy smile). The *surface* is flat-vector with a subtle riso-print grain inside every fill. The *composition* is a curated scatter that overlaps and touches the canvas edges, never a single hero subject in clean negative space.

Each invocation swaps a small set of dials — the locked frame (riso-grain flat fills, two-tone interior shading, closed-eye faces, saturated background, scattered overlap, props with loose hand-drawn lines) never moves.

## Prompt interpretation

The user will usually give a short brief — sometimes just a cast ("foxes"), sometimes cast + hue ("cats on cobalt"), sometimes a full dial sheet ("sea creatures · cobalt · ocean-coral palette · L3 packed"). Translate that into a full collection brief without stopping to ask:

1. **Pick a cast** — the recurring subject family (animals, objects, or mixed). About 7–12 elements total depending on density.
2. **Pick one saturated background hue** that supports the mood. One color, no gradient, no border.
3. **Pick a character palette** — 4–5 curated fills strictly enforced across every member of the cast.
4. **Pick a density (L1 / L2 / L3)** — L1 sparse (4–5 elements, airy), L2 balanced (7–9 elements, default), L3 packed (9–12 elements edge-to-edge).
5. **Pick a prop vocabulary** matched to the cast — small thematic objects scattered between characters (yarn ball for cats, pinecone for foxes, watering can for plants).
6. **Honor the locked frame** — riso grain, two-tone shading, closed-eye faces, no body outlines, props with loose hand-drawn line details, scattered overlapping composition.

Bias toward chill resting and lounging poses. Cats sleep, foxes curl, birds perch, fish drift. Avoid hard action — no running, jumping, or wide-mouth expressions.

## Locked style axes (NEVER vary)

### Surface

- **Subtle riso/screenprint grain** inside every fill — lightly stippled, never perfectly smooth, never airbrushed
- **Flat solid color fills only** — no gradients, no soft airbrush rendering, no 3D modeling
- The grain is the only texture in the whole canvas — no paper texture, no halftone dot pattern, no noise filter

### Character interior shading

- **Two-tone interior shading on EVERY character** — a darker color on the back/top (back of the animal, top of the leaf, top of the pot) and a lighter color on the belly/bottom, meeting on a soft curved boundary
- Two-tone shading must be applied even on the smallest characters — never skip
- Edge between the two tones is a soft curve, not a hard step, but is still readable as two distinct shapes

### Faces and posture

- **Closed crescent eyes** drawn as a single confident curved line — eyes are never open
- **Tiny dot nose** — a single small mark, not a triangle, not a snout outline
- **Faint whisker / detail marks** are optional but welcome on cats and rodents
- **Chill sleepy smile mandatory** — relaxed mouth line, never grinning, never showing teeth
- **Naturalistic resting anatomy** — loaf, side-curled sleep, sitting upright, standing in a calm stretch, peeking from behind a prop

### Lines

- **NO outlines on character bodies, ever** — characters are pure flat shape silhouettes with internal two-tone shading; never trace the perimeter with ink
- **Loose hand-drawn line details ONLY on props** — yarn spirals, box flaps, fishbowl water lines, leaf veins, pot stripes, sunflower seed spiral, anchor crossbar
- Line work on props is hand-drawn with slight wobble, never mechanically perfect, but stays minimal — line marks accent the prop, never outline its silhouette

### Background

- **One fully saturated single hue filling the entire canvas** — every pixel, edge to edge, no border, no frame, no horizon strip, no vignette
- No white margins, no clipping mask, no decorative border
- Hue is one from the palette dial below

### Composition

- **Portrait canvas, 1024×1536 (2:3) recommended**
- **Scattered curated layout** — characters and props are arranged across the full canvas with intentional balance, like the endpaper of a picture book
- **Characters overlap and touch the canvas edges** — never a clean centered hero with empty borders
- **Density is dialable (L1/L2/L3)** but even L1 has elements crossing the canvas edge
- No baked-in headlines, no captions, no logos, no signature

### Mood

- **Always chill, cozy, slightly nostalgic** — never alarming, never frenetic, never aggressive
- Anthropomorphic personality is fine on animals but stays subtle (a tilted head, a tucked paw); never cartoon-mascot exaggeration

## Variable axes (the five dials)

These are the only things that change between pieces.

### Dial 1 — Background hue

One fully saturated solid color filling the entire canvas.

| Slug | Color | Hex |
|---|---|---|
| cobalt | royal cobalt blue | `#1F3D8A` |
| mossy-teal | deep mossy teal | `#2F5F4D` |
| dusty-plum | dusty plum | `#6B4A6E` |
| butter | warm butter yellow | `#E8C547` |
| terracotta | warm terracotta orange | `#C95A36` |
| slate | dusty slate blue | `#5A7C92` |
| sage | muted sage green | `#7A9568` |
| coral | dusty coral pink | `#E08075` |
| aubergine | rich aubergine | `#4A2A4A` |
| ochre | mustard ochre | `#C4943A` |
| forest | deep forest green | `#2D5A3D` |
| blush | powder blush pink | `#D8A7B5` |
| stone | warm stone grey | `#7A7568` |
| sienna | burnt sienna | `#A04A2A` |
| ink | deep navy ink | `#1E2A4A` |

### Dial 2 — Cast

The recurring subject family populating the canvas.

- **Animal casts** — cats · dogs · foxes · bunnies · garden-birds · sea-creatures · forest-critters (deer / rabbit / hedgehog / squirrel / badger) · desert-animals (camel / jackrabbit / lizard / fennec) · farm-animals · wild-cats (tiger / lynx / leopard) · bears · insects-small (bees / ladybugs / snails / beetles) · mixed-pets
- **Object casts** — houseplants-in-pots · mushrooms · fruits-veg · kitchen-objects · coffee-tea-vessels · stationery · tools-hardware · camping-gear · musical-instruments · sewing-craft · gardening-tools · bath-objects

Object casts are valid — the style is not animal-locked. For object casts, the two-tone shading still applies (darker top, lighter bottom on each pot, leaf, mug, tool, mushroom cap).

### Dial 3 — Character palette

A strictly enforced curated set of 3–5 fills distributed across every member of the cast. Pick one palette per piece. Do not introduce additional hues.

| Slug | Fills |
|---|---|
| warm-earth | ginger orange · charcoal · cream · warm grey |
| cool-forest | rust · cream · charcoal · sage |
| jewel-garden | navy · coral · sage · cream |
| terracotta-sand | terracotta · sage · forest · cream |
| ocean-coral | coral pink · cream · butter yellow · charcoal |
| dusty-pastel | dusty rose · cream · sage · charcoal · butter |
| bold-modern | black · white · terracotta · butter |
| folk-muted | dusty blue · ochre · brick · cream |
| berry-moss | plum · sage · cream · mustard |
| sun-baked | burnt sienna · ochre · cream · olive |
| snow-ink | cream · charcoal · soft grey · one accent |
| cold-ash | slate grey · cream · blush · charcoal |

### Dial 4 — Density

How packed the composition is.

- **L1 sparse** — 4–5 elements, airy, breathing room dominates but elements still touch at least two canvas edges
- **L2 balanced** — 7–9 elements, default editorial scatter, characters fill most of the canvas with deliberate gaps
- **L3 packed** — 9–12 elements, edge-to-edge overlap, minimal background showing, characters touch and overlap each other

### Dial 5 — Prop vocabulary

Small hand-line-detail props scattered between characters. Match props to the cast — these are the cast's natural objects.

| Cast | Native props |
|---|---|
| cats | yarn ball (with spiral) · fishbowl (w