iso-scene

Imported from okou-ai/vm0-skills (illustration-template/iso-scene/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add okou-ai/vm0-skills --skill iso-scene. Copyright stays with the author.

/iso-scene — Isometric Editorial Scene Illustration

Generates a single composed isometric scene in a locked house style. Each invocation varies the palette, scene archetype, and complexity; everything else stays locked. The defining commitment is that the scene IS the metaphor — never a generic filing-cabinet box with the theme labelled on folder tabs.

Prompt interpretation

The user supplies a short brief — typically a scene archetype (e.g. "city construction", "sky garden", "castle in the sky") plus an optional palette. It is your job to flesh that brief out into a fully composed scene with theme-native props. Do not stop to ask. Do not default to a generic container shape.

For each invocation:

1. Take the brief as a seed. A two-word theme is enough to start.
2. Choose a scene archetype whose structural parts come from the theme itself (see archetype catalog below). The shape of the scene must read as that theme to a viewer who can't see any labels.
3. Resolve the palette to four colour roles (BG / BODY / FOLIAGE / ACCENT). Pick from presets or accept custom hex.
4. Set complexity (L1 / L2 / L3) — see complexity scale below.
5. Compose the scene as one self-contained object centred on a flat saturated background. Vary silhouette with optional modules (cranes, smokestacks, ladders, airships, antennas) so the machine/scene never reads as a plain rectangular box.
6. Render at 1024×1024 with a high-fidelity text-to-image model that adheres tightly to detailed prompts.

Locked style axes (NEVER vary)

Perspective

• 3D isometric, axonometric — no vanishing-point perspective
• Centred composition with generous monochromatic negative space on all sides

Linework

• Ultra-fine, delicate, wispy hairline strokes — uniform weight, ~0.5pt ink-pen feel
• NEVER bold, NEVER chunky, NEVER variable-weight
• Refined architectural-drawing or fashion-illustration sensibility — the colour blocks do the heavy lifting, the lines are structural guides only
• If the output reads as "graphic / poster / sticker", the linework is too heavy — regenerate thinner

Fills

• Flat colour fills, no gradients, no airbrush shading, no inner highlights
• Subtle drop-shadow on the ground beneath the scene is allowed; no other shading

Background

• The ENTIRE canvas, edge-to-edge, is filled with one solid flat saturated colour (the BG role of the palette)
• No white. No transparency. No vignette. No background scenery.
• If the output puts the scene on white, the prompt failed — regenerate with stronger BG-fill instruction (capitalise CRITICAL, repeat the hex)

Aesthetic

• Editorial magazine-print quality — Monocle / Kinfolk / The New Yorker / Bloomberg / Wes Anderson sensibility
• Sophisticated, dusty, slightly muted but saturated
• NEVER neon, NEVER fluorescent, NEVER blacklight, NEVER bubblegum, NEVER cartoon-saccharine
• Words to avoid in the prompt: "neon", "fluorescent", "glow", "blacklight", "kawaii", "cute", "bold outlines", "thick strokes"

CRITICAL: the scene IS the metaphor

Each theme produces a scene whose structural parts come from the theme itself.

❌ Anti-pattern: A generic rectangular box-machine with a file-drawer on one side, a megaphone funnel on the other, and folder tabs relabeled per theme (PLANS/LABOR/FUNDS, EMAIL/ADS/SOCIAL, DRAFT/EDIT/PUBLISH). This makes every output look like the same accounting machine with different stickers. Do not do this.

✅ Correct approach: Pick props native to the theme so the silhouette itself reads as the subject.

Archetype catalog (extend liberally — these are seeds, not a closed list):

If the user names a theme not in the table, invent the archetype. The rule is always: the silhouette must read as the theme to a viewer who can't see any labels.

Customisable axes

Axis 1 — Palette (4 colour roles within one hue family)

Presets:

The user may also supply a custom triplet: palette=#xxxxxx/#xxxxxx/#xxxxxx.

Axis 2 — Scene archetype

User-supplied theme (see catalog above). Resolve to a list of theme-native props, materials, and a small figure or two when the scene calls for it.

Axis 3 — Complexity

Axis 4 — Optional modules (silhouette variety)

For machine-style themes especially, pick 2–4 extra modules so the outline is varied and asymmetric, never a plain rectangle:

• Mechanical: gears, pipes, conveyor belt, crane-arm, lever, pressure-gauge
• Atmospheric: smokestack with paper-puff smoke, steam-vent, antenna/dish, signal-light bulb
• Structural: wheels, tripod legs, side ladder, scaffolding, periscope, fuel tank
• Human-scale: tiny operator figure, gardener, hard-hat worker, traveller
• Aerial: hovering airship, floating crystal, dangling root cluster, cloud-puffs

Reusable prompt template

Isometric editorial vector illustration of a stylized miniature {SCENE_NAME} — a small, self-contained scene as a single composed object.

BACKGROUND — CRITICAL: The ENTIRE canvas, edge to edge, is filled with one solid flat saturated {BG_NAME} ({BG_HEX}). No white. No transparent areas. The {BG_NAME} IS the canvas. The scene sits centred with generous {BG_NAME} negative space around it.

LINE STYLE: All outlines are ULTRA-FINE, delicate, wispy hairline strokes — 0.5pt ink pen weight, uniform line weight throughout, no variation, NEVER bold strokes. Refined architectural-drawing feel — colours do the heavy lifting, lines are structural guides only.

COLOUR & FILL: Flat colour fills, no gradients. Strictly {HUE_FAMILY}-family palette:
- Canvas background: saturated {BG_NAME} ({BG_HEX}) covering the WHOLE image
- Main structural body: {BODY_NAME} ({BODY_HEX})
- Foliage / secondary structures: {FOLIAGE_NAME} ({FOLIAGE_HEX}) [if applicable]
- Accent surfaces: {ACCENT_NAME} ({ACCENT_HEX})
- Highlights (water, clouds, small details): white
Editorial magazine-print quality, sophisticated and dusty — NOT neon, NOT saccharine, NOT cartoon. Monocle / Kinfolk / Wes Anderson.

COMPOSITION: 3D isometric perspective, centred, with the saturated {BG_NAME} filling every corner of the canvas.

The scene contains:
{SCENE_PROPS_LIST — 4–15 props with materials and colours, drawn from the theme itself, never relabelled-folder-tabs}

Soft drop-shadow on the {BG_NAME} ground beneath the scene. No background scenery beyond the flat {BG_NAME} fill. No text. No filing drawers, no megaphone funnels, no labelled folder tabs (unless the scene IS literally about filing or broadcasting). Editorial magazine illustration aesthetic — Monocle / Kinfolk / New Yorker spot-illustration sensibility, ultra-fine linework.

Generation notes

• Model recommendation: a high-fidelity text-to-image model with strong long-prompt adherence (gpt-image-2 is the current best for this style — supersedes gpt-image-1.5 with stronger long-prompt adherence and cleaner flat-vector output). Image-to-image is not required — the locked style is fully describable in text.
• Output: 1024×1024 PNG, high quality
• Cost / determinism: since this is text-to-image, output varies slightly between runs even with the same prompt. For exact reproductions, pin a seed if the underlying model supports it.

Failure modes and how to recover

Reference outputs

The four images below are user-approved generations that anchor the style:

Use these as the canonical look. New scenes should match their linework weight, background saturation, and "scene-as-metaphor" composition.