folk-muse

What this skill does

# /folk-muse — locked folk-art gouache portrait style

This skill produces a single-figure folk-art gouache portrait — a contemplative person framed by an asymmetric botanical surround, painted in flat hand-painted gouache. The locked style is what makes every output read as "the same illustrator's hand." Only the six creative dials below should vary between pieces.

See `ref-canonical.png` (hero), `ref-tropical-butterfly.png`, `ref-winter-cat.png`, and `ref-sunset-dove.png` for the visual target. Match the style of those references exactly; do not borrow from any other portrait reference you may have seen.

## How to use this skill

The user provides a brief that names some or all of the six creative dials. Your job:

1. Fill in any dial the user did not specify by picking a tasteful, coherent choice — palette and botanicals should feel like the same season; companion is optional and should be omitted unless the brief invites it.
2. Compose a prompt from the **Style brief structure** below, with the locked axes preserved verbatim and the six dial fields filled in.
3. Generate at portrait aspect ratio (recommended 1024×1536) with the style-bypass mode of the image model, so the model honors the locked style brief rather than overlaying a host style.
4. Inspect the output against the **Quality checks** list before returning it.

If the brief is empty, default to the canonical reference: young woman, warm olive skin, dark chestnut side-parted hair, hand pressed against cheek, terracotta-rust robe with hand-painted yellow quinces and dark-green leaves, dusty powder-blue background with mustard goldenrod + dark sage olive branches + cream magnolia + scattered coral buds.

## Locked style axes (NEVER vary)

### Medium and surface
- **Flat folk-art gouache** with hand-painted matte texture. Soft visible brushwork, faint paper grain.
- **Flat opaque color blocks** — no airbrush gradients, no photorealistic skin modeling, no 3D rendering, no shading inside shapes beyond the gentlest tone shift on the face and hand.
- **No harsh outlines.** Forms are defined by adjacent color blocks, not by inked contours. Edges are soft-painted.

### Composition
- **Single figure**, chest-up, **three-quarter view** facing slightly toward the viewer.
- Head positioned roughly in the upper-center, hair flowing down to chest, robe filling the lower portion of the canvas, botanical surround filling every remaining inch of background edge-to-edge.
- **Portrait orientation** (recommended 1024×1536).

### Face
- **Elongated narrow mannerist oval face** — long, NOT round, NOT cherubic, NOT chibi.
- **Tiny almond-shaped half-lidded eyes** with **painted irises** (small, sleepy, calm gaze). NOT cartoon dot pupils. NOT big anime/Pixar eyes. NOT closed-eye smile arcs.
- **Single soft curved line** suggesting the nose — almost no protrusion, no triangular nostrils.
- **Small painted lips** in a muted brick-red or terracotta — closed or with the faintest smile.
- **A small soft pink blush dot** on each cheek. Optional faint pink at the tip of the nose.
- Subtle hand-painted tone shift on the face for soft volume; never photorealistic shading.

### Hair
- **Smooth, flat solid color shape.** Side-parted, falling past the shoulders unless the dial specifies short hair.
- Hand-painted texture marks may suggest curl or wave, but the silhouette is a single flat color block.
- No rendered strands, no airbrushed highlights.

### Hand and gesture
- **One simplified elongated hand** visible against the face or near it, long fingers, flat color, gentle tone shift only.
- Default pose: **palm pressed against the cheek**, head softly tilted into it. Alternate poses are dial-driven (see Pose dial below).

### Robe
- The robe fills the lower portion of the canvas.
- Base color is a flat opaque block.
- The robe **must carry a clear repeating hand-painted pattern** — a textile motif scattered as a regular all-over print. Without the patterned robe, the piece reads as a generic portrait and loses the folk-art signature.
- Collar is a simple V or band in a complementary contrast color.

### Background
- **Flat opaque background color** filling edge-to-edge.
- **Loose asymmetric botanical surround** in stylized flat shapes — never a symmetric wreath, never a centered halo. Heavier on one side than the other; stems and leaves emerge from the edges and arch around the figure.
- The botanicals should feel **plant-illustrated**, not photographic — large simplified flowers, leaves drawn as flat color shapes, occasional small berries or buds.

### Mood
- **Calm, slightly melancholic, contemplative.** Adult editorial, not a children's book illustration.
- No grins, no comedy, no action. The figure is present and still.

### Style anchors
Carson Ellis, Maja Tomljanovic, Bodil Jane. Use these names in the prompt to anchor the style.

## Six creative dials (user-controlled)

### 1. Palette
The overall color story. Named palettes that work well in this style:

- **Sage Citrus** (canonical reference): sage-green background, dusty pink florals, deep teal leaves, lemon yellow accents
- **Powder Quince** (canonical hero): dusty powder-blue background, terracotta-rust robe, cream magnolia, mustard goldenrod, dark sage olive
- **Tropical Lush**: dusty turquoise background, coral hibiscus, dark green monstera, dark teal robe with cream and gold
- **Cool Winter**: dusty slate-blue background, dusty rose robe, silver-sage leaves, pale gold and cream accents
- **Sunset Warm**: warm dusty peach background, magenta bougainvillea, dark green olive, cream robe with coral motif and a cobalt collar accent
- **Forest Folk**: deep sage background, ochre + rust robe, cream daisies, dark forest leaves
- **Dusk Plum**: dusty mauve background, deep mustard robe, soft lavender florals, sage leaves
- **Custom**: any tasteful muted, dusty, restrained European folk-art palette. Avoid candy-bright saturation. Avoid neon.

### 2. Character
Age, gender, skin tone, hair color and length. Examples:

- Young woman, warm olive skin, long dark chestnut hair, side-parted
- Young woman, deep brown skin, long curly black hair piled over the shoulders
- Mature woman, pale matte skin with the gentlest hint of age lines, long silver-streaked black hair
- Young man, warm tan skin, short tousled wavy black hair, light stubble
- Young man, pale matte skin, chin-length straight auburn hair
- Older man, warm olive skin, salt-and-pepper short curls, soft beard
- Child or teen, any skin tone, simple short hair

Always: elongated face, painted irises, tiny almond half-lidded eyes, single nose line, small painted lips, pink blush dot. The locked face style applies across age and gender.

### 3. Pose / hand placement
Where the hand is and whether the figure holds something.

- **Hand on cheek** (default, canonical) — palm pressed against the face, head softly tilted
- **Hand near lips** — fingertips brushing the lower lip in a quiet pause
- **Both hands cupped at chest** — holding a small held object (a bird, a candle, a single flower, a small bowl, a teacup)
- **Both hands clasped low** — visible at the lower frame, fingers gently interlocked
- **One hand to the temple** — pressing the side of the head, slightly weary
- **One hand resting on a companion** — gentle touch on the head or back of a small creature on the shoulder

### 4. Robe motif
The repeating hand-painted pattern on the robe. Pick one motif + decide the base color. The motif must be clear and repeated as a regular textile print.

- **Fruit**: lemons, quinces, pomegranates, figs, cherries, pears, grapes, oranges, plums — each fruit drawn with a few simple leaves
- **Florals**: small daisies, poppies, roses, tulips, forget-me-nots, magnolias, wildflowers
- **Botanical**: ferns, leaves, vines, olive branches, eucalyptus sprigs, herb sprigs
- **Celestial**: small stars, crescent moons, scattered dots, sunbursts
- **Abstract**: paisley, simple geometric tiles, stripes, polka dots, scattered crosses
- **