Art Alignment Audit — 2026-07-09#

Purpose#

This replaces the discarded art assessment. It is an inventory-led production plan, not a list that assumes every newer file is better. The source art has a clear visual direction, but it currently mixes approved hero art, alternate versions, unapproved candidates, and large coverage gaps.

The working visual standard is already visible in the art we should preserve: inked naturalist comic illustration; a bright, cared-for Bellwether; warm cream, clear blue, leaf green, teal, navy, brick, and honeyed wood; and darker or stranger treatments reserved for Randy's at night and alien threat. Use CHAR-002_jerry-collins_portrait.png, CHAR-007_marlene-walker_portrait.png, and LOC-001_randys-tavern_exterior_v02.png as the baseline references.

Current Decisions#

These files are the approved anchors. Do not redraw them merely to make all images look newly generated.

Resolved Source Selections#

The following selection work is complete. The displaced files are archive history, not future prompt references.

Alignment Gaps#

The project has enough character portraits to establish a tone, but not enough environment, object, creature, or story art to make Bellwether feel like a coherent playable and serial world.

1. Missing Location Foundation — Highest New-Art Priority#

Randy's exterior and interior are finished environment sources. Make the next two before commissioning more isolated portraits:

1. LOC-002_walker-systems-repair_interior_v01.png — Doug's front room and diagnostics bench: computers, county forms, routers, whiteboards, cables, and a loading-bay logic. This is the shared reference setting for Doug, Jerry, Barry, and equipment art.
2. LOC-004_heritage-grain-public-floor_v01.png and a paired hidden-node view — first show the attractive public brewery, then the cultivated ceramic invasion beneath it. This establishes the central human/Collective contrast.

2. Missing Core Worldbuilding Sheets#

These assets make later scenes and portraits consistent instead of improvised:

1. ART-001_gleaming-cube_prop-sheet_v01.png — hand scale, impossible-edge behavior, silver-blue light affecting surrounding color, and strict absence of decorative alien symbols.
2. FAC-002_hop-collective_shape-language_v01.png — hex cells, bracts, ceramic shells, grown interfaces, and controlled asymmetry near the Cube.
3. ART-RES_resistance-equipment-sheet_v01.png — the Harmonic Purger, Warranty Void board, Last Honest Tap, and practical repair components. Show cause-and-effect parts, not generic tactical gear.
4. LOC-000_bellwether-district-map_v01.png — roads, Little Mercy River, Randy's, Heritage, Walker Systems, the Switchback, water plant, and freight routes. It needs usable story geography, not decorative tourism art.

3. Missing Threat Range#

The three D.A.G.G.E.R.S. riders are sufficiently covered for now. The enemy art is not: there is no visual language for fermentation lifeforms, Collective personnel, or major escalation. Build a small reusable first wave rather than portraits of more riders:

1. ENM-006_hop-creeper_sheet.png
2. ENM-008_keg-mimic_sheet.png
3. ENM-007_foamling_sheet.png
4. ENM-013_bract-trooper_sheet.png
5. ENM-012_curator_portrait.png

Each sheet needs neutral and action reads, scale, function, material behavior, and a noncombat tell. This follows the style guide and will create a usable threat vocabulary before bosses such as Cellar Mother or Marshal Bract.

4. Missing Character Coverage#

Do not create a second generation of the existing principal portraits until the location foundation exists. The next new character portrait should be CHAR-004_randy-boone_portrait.png: Randy is a central civic authority and a major environmental anchor, yet he has no source art.

Then add story-critical people only when their role enters the serial or site: Priya, Tucker, Kayla, Vellum, and Marshal Bract. Treat these as staged story coverage, not a mandate to illustrate every database entry immediately.

5. Missing Story and Website Art#

• KEY-001_last-call-at-randys_v01.png: a clear ensemble key image for the first serial, built after Randy's interior and the final core-portrait choices.
• Replace the temporary Doug crop used by website/section-art/read-last-call-at-randys/01.svg with its specified scene panel. Then create the remaining section panels from art/section-art-prompt.md as the chapters need them.
• Keep the darker section-panel chrome separate from the baseline portrait palette; it is episode rhythm, not the series color standard.

Recommended Production Order#

1. Create Randy's interior (LOC-001), then Walker Systems & Repair (LOC-002).
2. Create the Gleaming Cube sheet and Hop Collective shape-language sheet.
3. Create Randy's portrait and the first fermentation/Collective threat set.
4. Create the Bellwether map and Heritage public-floor/hidden-node pair.
5. Remake Heather against the approved Randy's interior key.
6. Create key art and replace the temporary section panel.

This sequence gives every later image shared places, materials, and objects to reference. It also avoids spending effort on more portrait variants while the world around those people is still largely undesigned.

Source Hygiene#

• art/ contains current approved sources only; move replaced files to art/archive/ with a short reason.
• A generated candidate is not current art until docs/ points to it.
• Keep exactly one portrait per character. After a decision, delete rejected portrait variants rather than retaining alternate character art in the archive.
• Rebuild website/site/ only after source and canonical-document decisions; do not hand-edit published copies.