Art Skill

Complete visual content system for creating illustrations, diagrams, and visual content.

Customization

Before executing, check for user customizations at: ~/.claude/skills/CORE/USER/SKILLCUSTOMIZATIONS/Art/

If this directory exists, load and apply:

PREFERENCES.md - Aesthetic preferences, default model, output location
CharacterSpecs.md - Character design specifications
SceneConstruction.md - Scene composition guidelines

These override default behavior. If the directory does not exist, proceed with skill defaults.

🚨🚨🚨 MANDATORY: Output to Downloads First 🚨🚨🚨

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⚠️  ALL GENERATED IMAGES GO TO ~/Downloads/ FIRST                   ⚠️
⚠️  NEVER output directly to project directories                    ⚠️
⚠️  User MUST preview in Finder/Preview before use                  ⚠️
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This applies to ALL workflows in this skill.

Voice Notification

When executing a workflow, do BOTH:

Send voice notification:

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8888/notify \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"message": "Running the WORKFLOWNAME workflow from the Art skill"}' \
  > /dev/null 2>&1 &

Output text notification:

Running the **WorkflowName** workflow from the **Art** skill...

Full documentation: ~/.claude/skills/CORE/SkillNotifications.md

Workflow Routing

Route to the appropriate workflow based on the request.

Blog header or editorial illustration → Workflows/Essay.md
D3.js interactive chart or dashboard → Workflows/D3Dashboards.md
Visualization or unsure which format → Workflows/Visualize.md
Mermaid flowchart or sequence diagram → Workflows/Mermaid.md
Technical or architecture diagram → Workflows/TechnicalDiagrams.md
Taxonomy or classification grid → Workflows/Taxonomies.md
Timeline or chronological progression → Workflows/Timelines.md
Framework or 2x2 matrix → Workflows/Frameworks.md
Comparison or X vs Y → Workflows/Comparisons.md
Annotated screenshot → Workflows/AnnotatedScreenshots.md
Recipe card or step-by-step → Workflows/RecipeCards.md
Aphorism or quote card → Workflows/Aphorisms.md
Conceptual map or territory → Workflows/Maps.md
Stat card or big number visual → Workflows/Stats.md
Comic or sequential panels → Workflows/Comics.md
YouTube thumbnail (with existing assets) → Workflows/YouTubeThumbnail.md
Ad-hoc YouTube thumbnail (generate from content) → Workflows/AdHocYouTubeThumbnail.md
PAI pack icon → Workflows/CreatePAIPackIcon.md

Core Aesthetic

Default: Production-quality concept art style appropriate for editorial and technical content.

User customization defines specific aesthetic preferences including:

Visual style and influences
Line treatment and rendering approach
Color palette and wash technique
Character design specifications
Scene composition rules

Load from: ~/.claude/skills/CORE/USER/SKILLCUSTOMIZATIONS/Art/PREFERENCES.md

Reference Images

User customization may include reference images for consistent style.

Check ~/.claude/skills/CORE/USER/SKILLCUSTOMIZATIONS/Art/PREFERENCES.md for:

Reference image locations
Style examples by use case
Character and scene reference guidance

Usage: Before generating images, load relevant user-provided references to match their preferred style.

Image Generation

Default model: Check user customization at SKILLCUSTOMIZATIONS/Art/PREFERENCES.md Fallback: nano-banana-pro (Gemini 3 Pro)

🚨 CRITICAL: Always Output to Downloads First

ALL generated images MUST go to ~/Downloads/ first for preview and selection.

Never output directly to a project's public/images/ directory. User needs to review images in Preview before they're used.

Workflow:

Generate to ~/Downloads/[descriptive-name].png
User reviews in Preview
If approved, THEN copy to final destination (e.g., cms/public/images/)
Create WebP and thumbnail versions at final destination

# CORRECT - Output to Downloads for preview
bun run ~/.claude/skills/Art/Tools/Generate.ts \
  --model nano-banana-pro \
  --prompt "[PROMPT]" \
  --size 2K \
  --aspect-ratio 1:1 \
  --thumbnail \
  --output ~/Downloads/blog-header-concept.png

# After approval, copy to final location
cp ~/Downloads/blog-header-concept.png ~/Projects/Website/cms/public/images/
cp ~/Downloads/blog-header-concept-thumb.png ~/Projects/Website/cms/public/images/

Multiple Reference Images (Character/Style Consistency)

For improved character or style consistency, use multiple --reference-image flags:

# Multiple reference images for better likeness
bun run ~/.claude/skills/Art/Tools/Generate.ts \
  --model nano-banana-pro \
  --prompt "Person from references at a party..." \
  --reference-image face1.jpg \
  --reference-image face2.jpg \
  --reference-image face3.jpg \
  --size 2K \
  --aspect-ratio 16:9 \
  --output ~/Downloads/character-scene.png

API Limits (Gemini):

Up to 5 human reference images
Up to 6 object reference images
Maximum 14 total reference images per request

API keys in: ${PAI_DIR}/.env

Examples

Example 1: Blog header image

User: "create a header for my AI agents post"
→ Invokes ESSAY workflow
→ Generates charcoal sketch prompt
→ Creates image with architectural aesthetic
→ Saves to ~/Downloads/ for preview
→ After approval, copies to public/images/

Example 2: Technical architecture diagram

User: "make a diagram showing the SPQA pattern"
→ Invokes TECHNICALDIAGRAMS workflow
→ Creates structured architecture visual
→ Outputs PNG with consistent styling

Example 3: Comparison visualization

User: "visualize humans vs AI decision-making"
→ Invokes COMPARISONS workflow
→ Creates side-by-side visual
→ Charcoal sketch with labeled elements

Example 4: PAI pack icon

User: "create icon for the skill system pack"
→ Invokes CREATEPAIPACKICON workflow
→ Reads workflow from Workflows/CreatePAIPackIcon.md
→ Generates 1K image with --remove-bg for transparency
→ Resizes to 256x256 RGBA PNG
→ Outputs to ~/Downloads/ for preview
→ After approval, copies to ~/Projects/PAI/Packs/icons/