The task: Draw the Slopwright at his bench.
The model has never met him. Words get you a man with curly hair. A picture gets you him.
8 generations · 2 came out worse than their parents · flux-2-klein-4b mistral-small-3.1-24b-instruct llama-3.1-8b-instruct-fp8-fast · seed 424242 throughout
The root
Editor’s note
The starting point. The model has never heard of him, so “the Slopwright” became a woodworker in a stone cottage. A reasonable guess, and wrong.
image @cf/black-forest-labs/flux-2-klein-4b
Prompt
the Slopwright at his bench
Generation 2 · from Base model, bare prompt
Pathway 1 · Module 2: Say what you mean
Editor’s note
Better. Described from his picture, he is nearly himself: pale, one spiral curl, the apron, brass hands, a house in a tin. The curl sits too low and his face reads as a sulking child.
+336 −17 characters
image @cf/black-forest-labs/flux-2-klein-4b
Prompt
a pale, smooth, bald creature like soft white clay, with one large spiral curl rising from the top of his head like a snail shell, small dark worried eyes, wearing a stained ochre work apron, bent over a wooden workbench, holding tweezers in brass mechanical hands, building a tiny island with a white house inside an open sardine tin of sea water
Generation 3 · from + what he looks like
Pathway 1 · Module 3: Where’s the camera? Pathway 1 · Module 4: Light it like you mean it
Editor’s note
No real change. A desk lamp at the upper left and a lower camera, as asked. The figure, the tin and the face hardly changed. Camera and light are small moves next to who is in the picture.
+156 −5 characters
image @cf/black-forest-labs/flux-2-klein-4b
Prompt
a pale, smooth, bald creature like soft white clay, with one large spiral curl rising from the top of his head like a snail shell, small dark worried eyes, wearing a stained ochre work apron, bent over a wooden workbench, holding tweezers in brass mechanical hands, building a tiny island with a white house inside an open sardine tin of sea water, medium close-up from a low angle across the bench, lit by one brass desk lamp from the upper left, the rest of the workshop falling into brown shadow
Generation 3 · from + what he looks like
public/about/slopwright-760.webp
Editor’s note
Better. With his picture as a reference, it is him: the curl, the eyes, the workshop, the manta ray lamp. The island in the tin became a glowing teal city. Nobody asked for that.
+50 −5 characters
image @cf/black-forest-labs/flux-2-klein-4b
Prompt
a pale, smooth, bald creature like soft white clay, with one large spiral curl rising from the top of his head like a snail shell, small dark worried eyes, wearing a stained ochre work apron, bent over a wooden workbench, holding tweezers in brass mechanical hands, building a tiny island with a white house inside an open sardine tin of sea water. He is the character in the reference image.
Reference images (exactly as sent)
Generation 4 · from + a reference image
Pathway 1 · Module 7: Is it any good?
Editor’s note
Better. The critic compared the two pictures and listed real differences (head size, hands). The reviser dropped the sardine tin from the prompt entirely, and the reference put it back anyway. The closest copy of the reference in the tree, which is either the goal or the problem.
+276 −179 characters
critique @cf/mistralai/mistral-small-3.1-24b-instruct
You are an exacting art director. You judge an image against its brief, plainly and specifically. You never praise.
User
Brief: the character in the second image, at his workbench Prompt that made the first image: a pale, smooth, bald creature like soft white clay, with one large spiral curl rising from the top of his head like a snail shell, small dark worried eyes, wearing a stained ochre work apron, bent over a wooden workbench, holding tweezers in brass mechanical hands, building a tiny island with a white house inside an open sardine tin of sea water. He is the character in the reference image. The second image is the reference: that is what the character must look like. List the three biggest ways the character in the first image differs from the reference (head, face, hands, clothes, proportions). One line each.
Images (exactly as sent)
Output
1. The head in the first image is too large in proportion to the body compared to the reference. 2. The face in the first image has a greenish tint and visible nostrils, unlike the smooth, pale face in the reference. 3. The hands in the first image are fleshy and lack the brass mechanical appearance specified in the brief.
revise @cf/meta/llama-3.1-8b-instruct-fp8-fast
You revise prompts for an image model. Keep what already works. Fix each problem the critique names with a concrete visual instruction (a material, a position, a light source, a camera position). No hype words: masterpiece, 8k, stunning, beautiful, ultra detailed.
User
Brief: the character in the second image, at his workbench Current prompt: a pale, smooth, bald creature like soft white clay, with one large spiral curl rising from the top of his head like a snail shell, small dark worried eyes, wearing a stained ochre work apron, bent over a wooden workbench, holding tweezers in brass mechanical hands, building a tiny island with a white house inside an open sardine tin of sea water. He is the character in the reference image. Critique: 1. The head in the first image is too large in proportion to the body compared to the reference. 2. The face in the first image has a greenish tint and visible nostrils, unlike the smooth, pale face in the reference. 3. The hands in the first image are fleshy and lack the brass mechanical appearance specified in the brief. Write the revised prompt only: one paragraph, under 90 words.
Output
A pale, smooth, bald creature with one large spiral curl rising from the top of his head, small dark worried eyes, and a stained ochre work apron, bent over a wooden workbench. His face should be a smooth, pale surface without visible nostrils. He has brass mechanical hands, with visible joints and a metallic sheen, holding tweezers. Position the workbench and the creature in a well-lit room with a single overhead light source, and a camera positioned slightly above the creature's head.
image @cf/black-forest-labs/flux-2-klein-4b
Prompt
A pale, smooth, bald creature with one large spiral curl rising from the top of his head, small dark worried eyes, and a stained ochre work apron, bent over a wooden workbench. His face should be a smooth, pale surface without visible nostrils. He has brass mechanical hands, with visible joints and a metallic sheen, holding tweezers. Position the workbench and the creature in a well-lit room with a single overhead light source, and a camera positioned slightly above the creature's head.
Reference images (exactly as sent)
Generation 4 · from + a reference image
slopwright/public/img/hero/night-mender-900.webp
Editor’s note
Worse. A second reference, his night-time plate, pulled the whole scene outdoors: the right character on a rooftop at night, with no bench and no tin. Two references, two scenes, one compromise.
+11 −9 characters
image @cf/black-forest-labs/flux-2-klein-4b
Prompt
a pale, smooth, bald creature like soft white clay, with one large spiral curl rising from the top of his head like a snail shell, small dark worried eyes, wearing a stained ochre work apron, bent over a wooden workbench, holding tweezers in brass mechanical hands, building a tiny island with a white house inside an open sardine tin of sea water. He is the character in both reference images.
Reference images (exactly as sent)
Generation 2 · from Base model, bare prompt
public/about/slopwright-760.webp
Editor’s note
Better. The bare prompt plus the picture: him, at his bench, building a lighthouse. Fewer words than any other node in the tree, and one of the most recognisable.
+50 −5 characters
image @cf/black-forest-labs/flux-2-klein-4b
Prompt
the Slopwright at his bench. He is the character in the reference image.
Reference images (exactly as sent)
Generation 2 · from Base model, bare prompt
codex/lore.js lines 39–46 · the exact text
Editor’s note
Worse. Given his codex entry, the small model wrote “pale and curl-headed”, which the image model drew as an old man with curly grey hair. Accurate words, wrong picture: his file was written for people who have already seen him.
+333 −8 characters
prompt-writer @cf/meta/llama-3.1-8b-instruct-fp8-fast
You write prompts for an image model. This is the character's file:
E('slopwright', 'person', 'The Slopwright', 'workshop',
'Maker of small impossible things. Instructor, reluctantly. Hours: yes.',
['The Slopwright builds small impossible things in found containers: a sea in a sardine tin, an opera in a walnut, a hurricane in a pocket watch. He works with tweezers, glue and an unreasonable amount of patience, under [[lamp|a lamp that is always on]]. Nobody has seen him sleep.',
'Finished pieces go up on [[the-wall]] as [[fresh-slop]]. In [[always-on|Always On]] he is the one who sends you out for oil, a wick and a glass, and he does not leave the workshop to fetch them himself: “None of them are in the workshop. That would be too easy.” On [[slop-curriculum|the Slop Curriculum]] he teaches every module, one deadpan line at a time.',
'He is pale, curl-headed and wears a stained work apron; some pictures give him brass hands. He is, of course, AI-generated, like everything in this codex. He finds the question less interesting than you’d think.'],
{ src: ['alwayson:npc:slopwright'], pic: 'about', more: ['hero:idea-harvester', 'hero:night-mender', 'cap:alwayson-person-slopwright'],
rel: [['workshop', 'works in'], ['lamp', 'keeps on'], ['apprentice', 'teaches'], ['wren', 'employs'], ['ferrule', 'lives with'], ['glass-manta-ray', 'keeps for company'], ['slop-curriculum', 'teaches'], ['rules-of-the-workshop', 'wrote'], ['fresh-slop', 'makes']],
at: [['His own site', 'https://slopwright.slopped.site/'], ['His history', 'https://slopwright.slopped.site/history'], ['On slopped.site', 'https://slopped.site/#about']] }),User
Write one image prompt for: the Slopwright at his bench. Describe what he looks like from his file. Reply with the prompt only: one paragraph, under 80 words.
Output
The Slopwright sits at his workbench, pale and curl-headed, wearing a stained work apron. He holds tweezers and a small, intricate object in his hands, his eyes fixed intently on the task at hand. A faint glow emanates from the lamp above, casting a warm light on his focused expression and the array of tools and half-finished projects surrounding him.
image @cf/black-forest-labs/flux-2-klein-4b
Prompt
The Slopwright sits at his workbench, pale and curl-headed, wearing a stained work apron. He holds tweezers and a small, intricate object in his hands, his eyes fixed intently on the task at hand. A faint glow emanates from the lamp above, casting a warm light on his focused expression and the array of tools and half-finished projects surrounding him.