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