# 04 - STYLE BIBLE
### Define the look once. Then defend it on every single render.

## THE LOOK (worked example: THE RESET)
Stylized illustrated animated-cinematic concept art: painterly, semi-realist,
moody. NOT cel-shaded, NOT glossy photoreal CGI, NOT live-action.
- Desaturated, moody base (cold steel, concrete, wet-black, sodium-grey) carried
  by ONE bold accent.
- Heavy atmosphere: rain, mist, steam, volumetric light, wet reflections.
- Filmic: shallow depth of field, strong silhouettes, weighted staging, real-lens
  framing.

## PALETTE DISCIPLINE
- Pick 4-5 named swatches maximum. THE RESET used: STEEL/VOID, WET BLACK,
  SODIUM AMBER (the accent), COLD WHITE/CYAN (the reset flip), BONE/RUST.
- RULE: one accent per frame. The second accent appears ONLY at the story moment
  it belongs to (here: cold-white only at zero).

## THE STYLE ANCHOR (the core technique)
Text descriptions of a style are not sufficient. Models have a strong pull toward
photoreal output and text alone loses that fight partway through a project.
- Create or choose ONE image that embodies the target look exactly.
- Upload it once, and feed it as an image reference on EVERY colour render:
  stills, sheets, keyframes, everything. Monochrome boards are the one exception.
- When a generation comes back perfect, flag it as a north-star exemplar and
  point later corrections at it ("match the treatment of the anchor") instead of
  re-explaining the style in words.

## NEGATION CLAUSES: SAY WHAT IT IS NOT
Generic negatives do nothing. Name the exact drift you are fighting, on every
generation: "NOT photographic, NOT live-action, NOT photoreal, NOT a 3D render."
If skin renders with pores and grit, negate exactly that: "NOT hyper-detailed
photoreal skin, NOT pore texture, NOT gritty realism."

## IDENTITY LOCK FOR CLOSE-UPS (hard-won)
On a tight face shot, a wide mood anchor does NOT govern the face and the model
will drift photoreal or invent a new person. For any character close-up:
- Feed the CHARACTER SHEET as the dominant reference: it governs BOTH identity
  and rendering medium.
- Command the match explicitly: "the SAME man as the sheet, same face geometry;
  rendered in the sheet's exact painterly medium."
- Negate the specific drift you saw last time.

## CAMERA IS PART OF THE STYLE
Unconstrained camera motion reads as live-action or video-game footage no matter
how correct the frames are. Bias to locked and slow deliberate moves; reserve
handheld for violence. A follow-cam behind a walking character reads as a
third-person game: avoid it.

## GENERATION RECIPE
- Colour frames: your locked IMAGE MODEL, widescreen, high quality, style anchor
  + relevant sheets fed as references, stylized negation block appended.
- Pencil boards: same image model, monochrome graphite look, no colour anywhere.

## YOUR TURN
Write your look in 5 lines. Pick your swatches. Generate candidates for your
style anchor until one is undeniable. Lock it and never nurse it: if the project
pivots style, retire the anchor and start a new one.