# Character Image Direction

## Goal

Create high-impact base character images for a mature romance dating game. Each image should communicate the character's age, personality, body type, fashion sense, sensual appeal, and romantic tone at a glance.

## Baseline Prompt Rules

- Solo adult woman, clearly 19 or older.
- Full-body standing key art, vertical composition.
- Main direction: premium semi-realistic Korean dating-sim key art with cinematic lighting.
- Use realistic light, fabric, and space, but keep idealized illustrated faces, polished skin rendering, and clean character silhouettes.
- Pure photorealism is now a style test only, not the target.
- Mature, attractive, unmistakably sensual fashion and body language.
- No nudity, explicit sex act, fetish framing, school uniform, childlike styling, or ambiguous age.
- No text, logo, watermark, extra characters, or busy background.
- Use generous margins so the character can be used as a standing portrait asset.

## Quality Checklist

An image passes only when all of these are true:

- The character clearly reads as an adult.
- Outfit, pose, expression, and silhouette match the character brief.
- Face identity is distinct from the rest of the cast, not just the same face with different hair or clothing.
- Face shape, eye shape, brow style, nose/mouth proportions, hairstyle, makeup intensity, and expression habit should all reinforce the character archetype.
- Even shy or pure-hearted characters still carry visible adult sensual charm through styling, posture, and lighting.
- Body type is distinct from the rest of the cast.
- Face is appealing, stable, and not uncanny.
- Hands, legs, and feet have no obvious anatomy errors.
- The asset works as a base standing image in a character screen.
- Resolution is high enough for production review, or the asset is marked as a draft for upscaling/regeneration.

## Cast Variety Targets

- Avoid making every character the same face, height, pose, and body shape.
- Do not default every character to the same oval face, long dark hair, soft eyes, small nose, and gentle smile.
- Rotate visual tone: warm, shy, sharp, glamorous, mature, athletic, artistic, elegant, casual.
- Use fashion to signal route identity before the player reads text.
- Keep sensuality character-specific: shy routes should feel quietly irresistible, career routes sharply confident, public-image routes glamorous, and mature routes restrained but intense.

## Facial Identity Rules

- Every character prompt must include at least three facial differentiators: face shape, eye shape, brow style, hairstyle, makeup level, expression habit, or facial maturity.
- Similar hairstyle and face structure are allowed only when the route concept demands it; otherwise vary hair length, bangs, parting, styling, and volume.
- Approval requires comparing the candidate against existing assets at thumbnail size and full size.
- If a candidate looks like another character in cosplay, mark it `needs_revision` instead of `accepted`.

## Current Asset Notes

- `assets/characters/han_seoyun_v1.png`: current preferred semi-realistic style/composition candidate; needs facial diversity revision.
- `assets/characters/yu_harin_v1.png`: strong shy bookstore candidate; needs facial diversity revision.
- `assets/characters/kang_mirae_v2.png`: accepted sharp career image after facial identity revision.
- `assets/characters/kang_mirae_v1.png`: earlier sharp career candidate; same-face risk remains.
- `assets/characters/jung_naeun_v1.png`: strong tsundere cafe candidate; needs facial diversity revision.
- `assets/characters/oh_sera_v1.png`: strong mature florist candidate; needs facial diversity revision.
- `assets/characters/park_minseo_v1.png`: strong fitness trainer candidate; needs facial diversity revision.
- `assets/characters/style_references/semirealistic_main_reference.png`: user-approved reference for the target look.
- `assets/characters/style_tests/han_seoyun_photoreal_test.png`: useful pure-photoreal comparison, but no longer the main direction.
- `assets/characters/style_tests/kang_mirae_photoreal_test.png`: useful pure-photoreal comparison, but no longer the main direction.
- `assets/characters/style_tests/yu_harin_photoreal_test.png`: useful pure-photoreal comparison, but no longer the main direction.
- `assets/characters/style_tests/han_seoyun_semi_realistic_test.png`: earlier semi-realistic comparison candidate.
- `assets/characters/style_tests/yu_harin_semi_realistic_test.png`: earlier semi-realistic comparison candidate.
