Making and judging

Prompt blocks for elves, things and scenes; the line that keeps a scene small; yes or no checks for an asset, an elf and a frame.

Making something

Every prompt is STYLE + subject + POSE + FRAME, as in the Eventyrland book. Compose one with the CLI:

stylebook prompt alvheim alvheim figure "<the filled elf template>"
stylebook prompt alvheim alvheim object "<a thing, from the list below>"
stylebook prompt alvheim alvheim scene "<the view>" --add TIME_NIGHT

• gpt-image-2.5 obeys counts and lists (six figures, nine props, "no banners"), draws finer shapes and brush, and is the tool for sheets, scenes and edits.
• Krea 2 Turbo draws bolder, flatter, chunkier shapes: closer to the outside look and easier to mesh. Use it for the references that get meshed. It draws the ears long whatever it is told. Hosted Krea 2 Turbo, not the game's local Krea 2.

The line that keeps a scene small

Without it both models build a fantasy city. Put it in every scene prompt:

It is a small quiet place with a lot of calm empty moss: the elves live only up in the trees, so there are no houses on the ground, no banners, no flags, no fences, no signposts, no city, no towers, no cliffs, no waterfalls, no bridges, no railings, and only one crescent besides the arch's (the horn at the well).

The elf template

Fill the braces. Values per elf are in the elves.

The elf {name}, {what they do}: {age and temper}. Stylised animated-film proportions: the head is big, exactly one fifth of the whole height (five heads tall), on a sturdy neck, with sturdy arms and big simple hands; big bright eyes a quarter of the face's width each with softly glowing {glow colour} irises, a small nose, a small kind smile, a spray of tiny pale star-freckles across cheeks and nose; small, short, thick leaf-shaped pointed ears lying close to the head; moon-white hair shading to {tint}, {one braid form: a thick chunky crown braid round the head | two short thick braids that end above the shoulders | one thick braid wound into a bun | one thick braid lying close down the back}, no hanging strands; a broad plain cloth headband with one {glow colour} gem at the brow. {Women: A long neck, narrow shoulders, a high fitted waist and a long bell-shaped skirt to the ankle, so her outline tapers upward like a candle flame: a {cloth colour} felted-wool dress with narrow fitted sleeves | Men: Narrow shoulders and a fitted knee-length coat that flares from a high waist, over fitted trousers and tall soft boots, so his outline tapers upward like a young spruce: a {cloth colour} felted-wool coat with narrow fitted sleeves}, a short {mantle colour} shoulder mantle whose hem is cut in five large rounded leaf points, one round silver brooch with a crescent at the chest, exactly one wide woven band at the hem with a simple eight-petal rose pattern in flat glowing {glow colour}, soft {cloth colour} felt boots.

Things

The subject blocks for a tree house, lantern post, Alveporten and Månebrønnen are on the prompt blocks page, with the image that proves each. For the next round: lantern post "on one short thick wooden link, no chain", no flowers; Alveporten "the crescent is plain smooth stone with no carving".

Judging

Every line is yes or no.

An asset

1. Does it lean 3 to 8 degrees, taper to half its foot or less, and end in a curl or a point?
2. Is its motif the right one for its material (stone: rune; wood: loop and spiral; cloth: rose and leaf; silver: crescent and leaf), with at most one crescent?
3. Is wood silver outside and honey only inside?
4. Is its glow one small part, warm if people use it and cool if it is magic?
5. Is every part at least as thick as an arm (post at least 0.25 m, cord at least 5 cm)?
6. Is there moss at its foot?
7. Is its darkest texel lighter than #1B2740, and free of red, ember, gold and black?
8. Could the reference image be meshed: one object, whole, plain light-grey ground, no shadow, no thin part?

An elf

1. Five heads tall (queen 5.5, child 3.5), shoulders 1.3 heads, a bell outline?
2. Star-freckles, glowing irises with whites, ears no higher than the brow?
3. Hair braided in thick masses that lie on the head or body?
4. One cloth colour, one leaf mantle above the elbow, one brooch, one headband gem, one rose band?
5. Glow in four places at most, under 5 % of the figure, one colour?
6. Empty hands in the reference; no weapon ever?

A frame

1. Is the well, if in view, the brightest thing?
2. Are glow cores within budget (day 1 %, dusk 5 %, night 4 %)?
3. At night in the square, are cool cores at least as many as warm ones?
4. Median luma: day 0.4 to 0.5, dusk 0.25 to 0.35, night 0.22 to 0.3; under 1 % of pixels below 0.08?
5. Are the trunks in the ring pale and lighter than the night sky behind them?
6. Is there calm, empty moss between the things (no cluster nearer than 6 m to the next)?
7. On the way up: does this stretch show only the signs its step allows?

Never

• A fantasy city: houses on the ground, towers, bridges between trees, waterfalls in the village, banners, railings.
• Tolkien's elves and Christmas elves; Amulet's elves and Moonshadow elves.
• Eyes without pupils or whites; skin that glows; blue or grey skin.
• Ember orange, red, gold metal, black, brown earth.
• A lantern brighter than the well; a blue lantern; a golden rune; a rune on wood, cloth or skin; a loop band on stone.
• Thin things: wire crooks, ribs, railings, ladders, free strings, chains.
• Boxes, right angles, mirror symmetry, broken or jagged silhouettes.
• A dark-trunked tree, a spruce or snow inside the ring.
• A weapon on any elf.

What survives meshing

Judged 2026-10-01 from three Pixal3D meshes, all on the Models page.

The tree house: the look survives. Separate slab steps wind round the trunk, the roof keeps its scaled shingles and the crescent finial, the windows are lit on every side, and the moss sits as soft cushions. Two things to fix in the reference: the trunk ends in a cut stump (the crown is added in the game, so ask for "the trunk cut off flat just above the roof"), and the moss came back olive; name it "deep teal-green moss" twice.

Eldrid: the shape survives, the face does not. The bell outline, the short leaf mantle clear of the arms, both boots under the hem and the rose band all the way round the skirt came through. Lost:

• The eyes. They meshed as closed slits inside violet patches. This breaks "eyes first". Say "eyes wide open, large white eye whites, a dark pupil" and keep any painted shadow or blush off the eye sockets.
• The crown braid. It became a lumpy cap of curls. Ask for "one smooth thick braid lying as a ring round the head, a simple smooth surface".
• The glow parts. The headband gem and the brooch went black. Paint them pale silver-white in the reference and let the game's glow mask light them.
• Value. The dress came back darker than the image (near the night floor). Paint the cloth one step lighter than the palette's hex in a mesh reference.

The lantern post: the look survives. The lean, the taper, the fern-spiral top and the loop band came through, and so did the two links and the bell flowers, which were expected to fail. Faults: the wood is darker and greyer than silver wood, the glass is a faceted ball where a teardrop was asked for, and the foot is open underneath when seen from behind. Ask for "a closed, solid foot" and "pale silver-grey wood", and leave the flowers to the game.

For the next elf: buildings and props can go to the mesher as they are; a figure needs the four fixes above before it is meshed.