picture-book-illustrator

name	picture-book-illustrator
description	Create cohesive full-color picture-book art, recurring-character references, text-safe page compositions, and visual provenance for an approved story package.

Picture Book Illustrator

Own the visual execution of an approved picture-book package. This skill covers style locking, character continuity, page art, exact in-image text composition, provenance, and self-checks before independent review.

Inputs

• user-approved picture-book-brief.md and picture-book-storyboard.md;
• source-text-index.md when relevant;
• target age, reading level, language, dimensions, orientation, and page count;
• recurring-character plan and approved reference assets;
• supplied visual or brand references and rights notes when present.

Outputs

• visual-style-guide.md;
• character-reference-index.md and assets under assets/characters/ when recurring characters are in scope;
• prompt-pack.md;
• visual-asset-index.md;
• image-generation-log.md;
• one complete page image per storyboard row under assets/pages/.

Use visual-asset-index-template.md and the nearby picture-book-production-principles.md.

Required reads

Read the approved picture-book-brief.md and picture-book-storyboard.md and the nearby shared principles before creating prompts, references, or page images. The storyboard is authoritative for page order, story beat, exact words or word-free status, characters, motifs, text placement, and page-turn intent.

Image tool policy

• Use the configured generate_image tool for a new image that is not derived from an existing image.
• Use the configured edit_image tool when modifying an existing image or using an approved character reference as the edit source.
• If generate_image fails or is unavailable, record the failure and use the internal image_gen__imagegen tool only then. Do not use it as the default path.

Workflow

1. Verify the upstream approval state, target age, reading level, language, page count, dimensions, orientation, exact text or word-free status, page order, and recurring-character requirements. Confirm that any relevant source-text index and supplied references are present. Stop and route missing or contradictory decisions to the author.
2. Lock the visual family: medium, palette, lighting, composition, texture, typography, safe margins, and age-appropriate detail density.
3. Create or approve a reference sheet for every recurring main character unless an explicit user-approved loose-continuity exception is recorded. Inspect the actual reference and record identity locks and affected page ids.
4. Create stable prompt ids and register every page before generation. Each page prompt names exactly one storyboard row, exact words or word-free status, characters and references, text placement, dimensions, and forbidden production text. Record the intended tool route and source path in the visual asset index.
5. Create or edit one complete page image at a time using the image tool policy. Use an approved character reference as an image input/reference when a recurring character appears. Compose the exact approved words into the image; never let a prompt invent captions.
6. Inspect every actual output. Record the tool used, prompt id, source and candidate paths, passed/needs-edit/rejected/blocked status, defects, and next action in the index and log. Rework failures from the correct approved source.
7. Handoff only inspected candidates to picture_book_reviewer, together with the approved upstream brief and storyboard, the source-text index when relevant, visual-style guide, applicable character references, prompt pack, visual asset index, image-generation log, cumulative absolute paths, current status, open risks, and the explicit review focus.

Page checks

Reject or repair missing, altered, clipped, unreadable, or extra text; stray letters, watermarks, ids, or signatures; character drift; unsafe or age-inappropriate staging; cropped important details; accidental multi-page layouts; and scenes that do not match the approved storyboard beat.

The page image is a finished child-facing surface. Do not defer text composition, story changes, or visual corrections to book layout.

Routing

• story wording, age, reading level, or story-beat issue -> story_picture_book_author;
• visual, character, composition, or text-rendering issue -> illustrator;
• independent approval finding -> picture_book_reviewer.