Knowledge Comic Creator

Create original knowledge comics with flexible art style × tone combinations.

Usage

/canghe-comic posts/turing-story/source.md
/canghe-comic article.md --art manga --tone warm
/canghe-comic  # then paste content

Options

Visual Dimensions

Option	Values	Description
--art	ligne-claire (default), manga, realistic, ink-brush, chalk	Art style / rendering technique
--tone	neutral (default), warm, dramatic, romantic, energetic, vintage, action	Mood / atmosphere
--layout	standard (default), cinematic, dense, splash, mixed, webtoon	Panel arrangement
--aspect	3:4 (default, portrait), 4:3 (landscape), 16:9 (widescreen)	Page aspect ratio
--lang	auto (default), zh, en, ja, etc.	Output language

Partial Workflow Options

Option	Description
--storyboard-only	Generate storyboard only, skip prompts and images
--prompts-only	Generate storyboard + prompts, skip images
--images-only	Generate images from existing prompts directory
--regenerate N	Regenerate specific page(s) only (e.g., 3 or 2,5,8)

Details: references/partial-workflows.md

Art Styles (画风)

Style	中文	Description
ligne-claire	清线	Uniform lines, flat colors, European comic tradition (Tintin, Logicomix)
manga	日漫	Large eyes, manga conventions, expressive emotions
realistic	写实	Digital painting, realistic proportions, sophisticated
ink-brush	水墨	Chinese brush strokes, ink wash effects
chalk	粉笔	Chalkboard aesthetic, hand-drawn warmth

Tones (基调)

Tone	中文	Description
neutral	中性	Balanced, rational, educational
warm	温馨	Nostalgic, personal, comforting
dramatic	戏剧	High contrast, intense, powerful
romantic	浪漫	Soft, beautiful, decorative elements
energetic	活力	Bright, dynamic, exciting
vintage	复古	Historical, aged, period authenticity
action	动作	Speed lines, impact effects, combat

Preset Shortcuts

Presets with special rules beyond art+tone:

Preset	Equivalent	Special Rules
--style ohmsha	--art manga --tone neutral	Visual metaphors, NO talking heads, gadget reveals
--style wuxia	--art ink-brush --tone action	Qi effects, combat visuals, atmospheric elements
--style shoujo	--art manga --tone romantic	Decorative elements, eye details, romantic beats

Compatibility Matrix

Art Style	✓✓ Best	✓ Works	✗ Avoid
ligne-claire	neutral, warm	dramatic, vintage, energetic	romantic, action
manga	neutral, romantic, energetic, action	warm, dramatic	vintage
realistic	neutral, warm, dramatic, vintage	action	romantic, energetic
ink-brush	neutral, dramatic, action, vintage	warm	romantic, energetic
chalk	neutral, warm, energetic	vintage	dramatic, action, romantic

Details: references/auto-selection.md

Auto Selection

Content signals determine default art + tone + layout (or preset):

Content Signals	Recommended
Tutorial, how-to, programming, educational	ohmsha preset
Pre-1950, classical, ancient	realistic + vintage
Personal story, mentor	ligne-claire + warm
Martial arts, wuxia	wuxia preset
Romance, school life	shoujo preset
Biography, balanced	ligne-claire + neutral

When preset is recommended: Load references/presets/{preset}.md and apply all special rules.

Details: references/auto-selection.md

Script Directory

Important: All scripts are located in the scripts/ subdirectory of this skill.

Agent Execution Instructions:

1. Determine this SKILL.md file's directory path as SKILL_DIR
2. Script path = ${SKILL_DIR}/scripts/<script-name>.ts
3. Replace all ${SKILL_DIR} in this document with the actual path

Script Reference:

Script	Purpose
scripts/merge-to-pdf.ts	Merge comic pages into PDF

File Structure

Output directory: comic/{topic-slug}/

• Slug: 2-4 words kebab-case from topic (e.g., alan-turing-bio)
• Conflict: append timestamp (e.g., turing-story-20260118-143052)

Contents:

File	Description
source-{slug}.{ext}	Source files
analysis.md	Content analysis
storyboard.md	Storyboard with panel breakdown
characters/characters.md	Character definitions
characters/characters.png	Character reference sheet
prompts/NN-{cover|page}-[slug].md	Generation prompts
NN-{cover|page}-[slug].png	Generated images
{topic-slug}.pdf	Final merged PDF

Language Handling

Detection Priority:

1. --lang flag (explicit)
2. EXTEND.md language setting
3. User's conversation language
4. Source content language

Rule: Use user's input language or saved language preference for ALL interactions:

• Storyboard outlines and scene descriptions
• Image generation prompts
• User selection options and confirmations
• Progress updates, questions, errors, summaries

Technical terms remain in English.

Workflow

Progress Checklist

Comic Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Setup & Analyze
  - [ ] 1.1 Preferences (EXTEND.md) ⛔ BLOCKING
    - [ ] Found → load preferences → continue
    - [ ] Not found → run first-time setup → MUST complete before other steps
  - [ ] 1.2 Analyze, 1.3 Check existing
- [ ] Step 2: Confirmation - Style & options ⚠️ REQUIRED
- [ ] Step 3: Generate storyboard + characters
- [ ] Step 4: Review outline (conditional)
- [ ] Step 5: Generate prompts
- [ ] Step 6: Review prompts (conditional)
- [ ] Step 7: Generate images ⚠️ CHARACTER REF REQUIRED
  - [ ] 7.1 Generate character sheet FIRST → characters/characters.png
  - [ ] 7.2 Generate pages WITH --ref characters/characters.png
- [ ] Step 8: Merge to PDF
- [ ] Step 9: Completion report

Flow

Input → [Preferences] ─┬─ Found → Continue
                       │
                       └─ Not found → First-Time Setup ⛔ BLOCKING
                                      │
                                      └─ Complete setup → Save EXTEND.md → Continue
                                                                              │
        ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
        ↓
Analyze → [Check Existing?] → [Confirm: Style + Reviews] → Storyboard → [Review?] → Prompts → [Review?] → Images → PDF → Complete

Step Summary

Step	Action	Key Output
1.1	Load EXTEND.md preferences ⛔ BLOCKING if not found	Config loaded
1.2	Analyze content	analysis.md
1.3	Check existing directory	Handle conflicts
2	Confirm style, focus, audience, reviews	User preferences
3	Generate storyboard + characters	storyboard.md, characters/
4	Review outline (if requested)	User approval
5	Generate prompts	prompts/*.md
6	Review prompts (if requested)	User approval
7.1	Generate character sheet FIRST	characters/characters.png
7.2	Generate pages with character ref	*.png files
8	Merge to PDF	{slug}.pdf
9	Completion report	Summary

Step 7: Image Generation ⚠️ CRITICAL

Character reference is MANDATORY for visual consistency.

7.1 Generate character sheet first:

• Backup rule: If characters/characters.png exists, rename to characters/characters-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.png

# Use Reference Sheet Prompt from characters/characters.md
npx -y bun ${SKILL_DIR}/../canghe-image-gen/scripts/main.ts \
  --promptfiles characters/characters.md \
  --image characters/characters.png --ar 4:3

Compress character sheet (recommended): Compress to reduce token usage when used as reference image:

• Use available image compression skill (if any)
• Or system tools: pngquant, optipng, sips (macOS)
• Keep PNG format, lossless compression preferred

7.2 Generate each page WITH character reference:

Skill Capability	Strategy
Supports --ref	Pass characters/characters.png with EVERY page
No --ref support	Prepend character descriptions to EVERY prompt file

Backup rules for page generation:

• If prompt file exists: rename to prompts/NN-{cover|page}-[slug]-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.md
• If image file exists: rename to NN-{cover|page}-[slug]-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.png

# Example: ALWAYS include --ref for consistency
npx -y bun ${SKILL_DIR}/../canghe-image-gen/scripts/main.ts \
  --promptfiles prompts/01-page-xxx.md \
  --image 01-page-xxx.png --ar 3:4 \
  --ref characters/characters.png

Full workflow details: references/workflow.md

EXTEND.md Paths ⛔ BLOCKING

CRITICAL: If EXTEND.md not found, MUST complete first-time setup before ANY other questions or steps. Do NOT proceed to content analysis, do NOT ask about art style, do NOT ask about tone — ONLY complete the preferences setup first.

Path	Location
.canghe-skills/canghe-comic/EXTEND.md	Project directory
$HOME/.canghe-skills/canghe-comic/EXTEND.md	User home

Result	Action
Found	Read, parse, display summary → Continue
Not found	⛔ BLOCKING: Run first-time setup ONLY (references/config/first-time-setup.md) → Complete and save EXTEND.md → Then continue

EXTEND.md Supports: Watermark | Preferred art/tone/layout | Custom style definitions | Character presets | Language preference

Schema: references/config/preferences-schema.md

References

Core Templates:

• analysis-framework.md - Deep content analysis
• character-template.md - Character definition format
• storyboard-template.md - Storyboard structure
• ohmsha-guide.md - Ohmsha manga specifics

Style Definitions:

• references/art-styles/ - Art styles (ligne-claire, manga, realistic, ink-brush, chalk)
• references/tones/ - Tones (neutral, warm, dramatic, romantic, energetic, vintage, action)
• references/presets/ - Presets with special rules (ohmsha, wuxia, shoujo)
• references/layouts/ - Layouts (standard, cinematic, dense, splash, mixed, webtoon)

Workflow:

• workflow.md - Full workflow details
• auto-selection.md - Content signal analysis
• partial-workflows.md - Partial workflow options

Config:

• config/preferences-schema.md - EXTEND.md schema
• config/first-time-setup.md - First-time setup
• config/watermark-guide.md - Watermark configuration

Page Modification

Action	Steps
Edit	Update prompt file FIRST → --regenerate N → Regenerate PDF
Add	Create prompt at position → Generate with character ref → Renumber subsequent → Update storyboard → Regenerate PDF
Delete	Remove files → Renumber subsequent → Update storyboard → Regenerate PDF

IMPORTANT: When updating pages, ALWAYS update the prompt file (prompts/NN-{cover|page}-[slug].md) FIRST before regenerating. This ensures changes are documented and reproducible.

Notes

• Image generation: 10-30 seconds per page
• Auto-retry once on generation failure
• Use stylized alternatives for sensitive public figures
• Maintain style consistency via session ID
• Step 2 confirmation required - do not skip
• Steps 4/6 conditional - only if user requested in Step 2
• Step 7.1 character sheet MUST be generated before pages - ensures consistency
• Step 7.2 EVERY page MUST reference characters - use --ref or embed descriptions
• Watermark/language configured once in EXTEND.md