Art direction: the Zingers visual canon
In short: This is the style guide for all Zingers artwork. It sets the colors, the mood, and the rules every generated image must follow so the whole world looks like it belongs together.
The look that makes every generated image read as one universe. Bake this into every prompt; feed a locked style-key image as a reference on follow-ups so a batch never drifts.
Palette
| Role | Hex | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Void (base) | #0a0812 | backgrounds, near-black indigo |
| Deep field | #15102a | mid-ground atmosphere |
| Gold (accent) | #f5d020 | seams, glints, the Vault (the sealed store at the world's heart), restraint |
| The Lattice (LOGIC) | #4aa3ff | electric blue |
| The Static (CHAOS) | #ff4ad1 | magenta-pink |
| The Stillness (COMPOSURE) | #36d39a | mint green |
| The Chorus (RHETORIC) | #f0a93a | amber |
| The Spark (CREATIVITY) | #f5d020 | bright yellow |
Force colours match the Force table in forces.md.
Medium & lens
- Painterly cinematic concept key art, not photoreal, not flat vector.
- Volumetric neon rim-light on a dark, foggy field; strong atmospheric depth.
- High detail, dramatic, moody. The Hum (the world's ambient field of leftover thought) reads as drifting motes + faint glyph-text.
- One dominant force-color per image + gold accents. Avoid rainbow.
Forbidden (keeps it premium)
- No text, words, logos, or watermarks rendered in the image.
- No UI/HUD elements, no modern/real-world branding.
- No gore, no photoreal human faces (these are minds, stylized).
- No clutter: one clear subject, deep negative space in the void.
Composition conventions
| Group | Aspect | Framing |
|---|---|---|
| Scenarios / regions | 16:9 | wide establishing shot, atmospheric depth |
| Characters (Minds) | 4:5 | centered figure, ¾ pose, emblem behind |
| Forces / icons | 1:1 | centered emblematic embodiment, tile-able |
Brand chrome (UI mark. Not bible key art)
The product chrome mark is a flat vector robot head (big eyes, thick antenna), not painterly bible art. Keep bible / share key art painterly (below). Do not put the robot mark into generated lore plates; do not put painterly faces into the favicon tile.
Files & embedding
- Key art lives under
public/img/bible/<group>/<slug>.png(forces/,minds/,regions/, scenarios at the root). - Embed in
docs/bible/*.mdwith a repo-relative path (renders on GitHub). - zingers.org serves the same file at
/img/bible/<group>/<slug>.png.
Reusable prompt skeleton
[subject + pose/scene], embodiment of [force in-world name]. Painterly cinematic sci-fi-mythic concept key art. Background deep near-black indigo void (
#0a0812). Dominant color [force hex], gold accents. Volumetric neon rim-light, atmospheric fog, drifting motes and faint glyph-text (the Hum). High detail, dramatic, moody. No text, no logos, no watermark, no UI. [aspect].
Consistency workflow
- Keep
bible-the-grounds-over-the-vault.pngas the style key; pass it as a reference on new generations to lock palette + rendering. - For a recurring character, reuse that character's first approved render as a reference so it stays the same individual across its card art and the bible.