The family look

Eight rules that hold in every zone, on both sides of the wall.

A frame that keeps these eight rules is recognisably Eventyrland. They hold inside and outside; a zone may set its own values for what a rule leaves open (the hour, the glow, the shape motif) and may not relax "no black", "round where she can touch", "eyes first" or the ornament rule.

1. Painted by hand, three or four tones

Every surface is three or four close tones of its own colour in clear shapes. No photo texture, no flat single-colour fill nearer than 20 m to a path, no detail finer than 1 % of the screen's height except at the frame's one focal point.

Solengen's square: cobbles in a few tones, fur as soft masses, one door painted in detail. — Rules 1, 3, 4, 5 and 8. Detail sits on one painted door; everything else is a few big shapes.

Do

Cobbles, turf and fur as soft masses in two or three tones.
Fine detail at the one focal point only.

Never

Fur strands, noisy cobble texture, photographic grain.
Flat vector fills, or a single colour across a wide ground.

2. No black, no white

At most 3 % of a daytime frame under display luma 0.08, at most 8 % at night; nothing pure white. The darkest tones are deep teal #1F3A44 or deep violet #2B2447; the lightest is cream #FFF4DC.

A pine, a ruin, a lake and a snow range: the darkest tone is teal and every shape stays readable. — Rules 1, 2 and 7 outside the wall (Nordporten's view).

3. Light is warmer than shade, and shade has a colour

Inside, sun #FFE2A8 and blue-violet shade #5A5C9A. Outside, light #F2C28A and teal shade #2E4A55. Never grey shade. The zone sets the hour. No block, grade or prompt shared by all zones may set a light colour.

A valley, lake and mountains at golden hour with a tipped cart; everything is orange and brown, and a painted scroll sits on the cairn. — Rejected: 'warm amber light' in a shared block turned every zone orange.

4. Round where she can touch

Every edge within reach is bevelled by at least 8 % of the part's smallest dimension, on both sides of the wall. Taper, lean and points belong to silhouettes above 2 m.

5. Eyes first

Every living thing has bright eyes with a highlight, readable at 15 m. Each eye is at least 1/5 of the face's width, with strong expressive brows on folk (one design for human folk inside and outside the wall). Mouths smile or are goofy; no bared teeth.

A line-up of five villagers in the bottom row: a farmer, a grandmother, a girl, a fisherman and a guard, stocky, with big bright eyes and strong brows. — The bottom row is the design for all human folk, inside and outside the wall: 4.5 heads, big eyes. The top row (3 heads) is retired.

6. A warm light where folk are

Every place people use has a lit window or a lantern: on by day in the art, glowing at night in the game. Lantern light is butter #F4D35E inside and ember #FF8A3D outside; Alvheim's lanterns are honey #FFD166. A warm light seen from far means safety and somebody home.

Solengen at dusk: every window and six lanterns warm butter-yellow, a violet-rose sky, the ground still tan and green. — Rules 2, 3 and 6 at night inside. The ground keeps its colour; nothing is dark or empty.

Night outside: a green-teal and violet sky, blue land, one campfire and a lantern the only warm things. — The same rules outside. Land in deep blue and teal, every shape readable, one fire and nothing else warm.

7. Glow means magic or fire

Four glow colours only: cyan #4FF3E0, ember #FF8A3D, violet #C77DFF, gold #FFD166. Together at most 10 % of a frame, and each zone owns one (the compass rule in the zone system). Alvheim adds a cool family of its own, inside Alvheim only.

8. Handmade, with one ornament

Built things are wood, stone, turf and wool; no plastic, no sheet metal. Each building or prop cluster carries one ornament:

Inside: painted rosemaling. Flower scrolls in rose, butter and blue.
Outside: carving, unpainted. A sun wheel, knotwork, a woven band.
Never on rocks, trees or animals. Ornament covers at most 5 % of a frame.

Six props twice: a lantern post, bench, signpost, fence, barrel and well. The top row is honey wood with painted scrolls; the bottom row is silvered wood on stone with carved wheels and knots. — The same six props on both sides of the wall (rules 4 and 8).

A market street where every wall carries a painted flower scroll. — Broken on purpose: ornament on every wall (Møllebakken).

A forest with a carved wheel cut into a living tree. — Broken on purpose: a carving on a living tree (Fjellfoten).

Alvheim at dusk, a little dark in the foreground. — Broken on purpose: 6.8 % of pixels under luma 0.08. Lift the foreground.

What the image rounds taught

A shared light colour kills the zones. State the hour in the zone line, and the share of the frame its key colour takes.
Ornament spreads. Say where it goes and where it must not.
Outside folk lose their eyes unless the eye size is a number.
Outside buildings go black and grim unless the darkest tone is named: "the darkest wood is a mid slate teal".
An old forest goes too dark unless told to stay mid-value.