Knowledge Comic Creator
Adapted from baoyu-comic for Hermes Agent's tool ecosystem.
Create original knowledge comics with flexible art style × tone combinations.
When to Use
Trigger this skill when the user asks to create a knowledge/educational comic, biography comic, tutorial comic, or uses terms like "知识漫画", "教育漫画", or "Logicomix-style". The user provides content (text, file path, URL, or topic) and optionally specifies art style, tone, layout, aspect ratio, or language.
Reference Images
Hermes'
image_generate
tool is
prompt-only — it accepts a text prompt and an aspect ratio, and returns an image URL. It does
NOT accept reference images. When the user supplies a reference image, use it to
extract traits in text that get embedded in every page prompt:
Intake: Accept file paths when the user provides them (or pastes images in conversation).
- File path(s) → copy to
refs/NN-ref-{slug}.{ext}
alongside the comic output for provenance
- Pasted image with no path → ask the user for the path via
clarify
, or extract style traits verbally as a text fallback
- No reference → skip this section
Usage modes (per reference):
| Usage | Effect |
|---|
style
| Extract style traits (line treatment, texture, mood) and append to every page's prompt body |
palette
| Extract hex colors and append to every page's prompt body |
scene
| Extract scene composition or subject notes and append to the relevant page(s) |
Record in each page's prompt frontmatter when refs exist:
references:
- ref_id: 01
filename: 01-ref-scene.png
usage: style
traits: "muted earth tones, soft-edged ink wash, low-contrast backgrounds"
Character consistency is driven by text descriptions in
characters/characters.md
(written in Step 3) that get embedded inline in every page prompt (Step 5). The optional PNG character sheet generated in Step 7.1 is a human-facing review artifact, not an input to
image_generate
.
Options
Visual Dimensions
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|
| Art | ligne-claire (default), manga, realistic, ink-brush, chalk, minimalist | Art style / rendering technique |
| Tone | neutral (default), warm, dramatic, romantic, energetic, vintage, action | Mood / atmosphere |
| Layout | standard (default), cinematic, dense, splash, mixed, webtoon, four-panel | Panel arrangement |
| Aspect | 3:4 (default, portrait), 4:3 (landscape), 16:9 (widescreen) | Page aspect ratio |
| Language | auto (default), zh, en, ja, etc. | Output language |
| Refs | File paths | Reference images used for style / palette trait extraction (not passed to the image model). See Reference Images above. |
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, Tone & Preset Catalogue
-
Art styles (6):
ligne-claire
, manga
, realistic
, ink-brush
, chalk
, minimalist
. Full definitions at references/art-styles/<style>.md
.
-
Tones (7):
neutral
, warm
, dramatic
, romantic
, energetic
, vintage
, action
. Full definitions at references/tones/<tone>.md
.
-
Presets (5) with special rules beyond plain art+tone:
| Preset | Equivalent | Hook |
|---|
ohmsha
| manga + neutral | Visual metaphors, no talking heads, gadget reveals |
wuxia
| ink-brush + action | Qi effects, combat visuals, atmospheric |
shoujo
| manga + romantic | Decorative elements, eye details, romantic beats |
concept-story
| manga + warm | Visual symbol system, growth arc, dialogue+action balance |
four-panel
| minimalist + neutral + four-panel layout | 起承转合 structure, B&W + spot color, stick-figure characters |
Full rules at
references/presets/<preset>.md
— load the file when a preset is picked.
-
Compatibility matrix and content-signal → preset table live in references/auto-selection.md. Read it before recommending combinations in Step 2.
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}.md
| Saved source content (kebab-case slug matches the output directory) |
analysis.md
| Content analysis |
storyboard.md
| Storyboard with panel breakdown |
characters/characters.md
| Character definitions |
characters/characters.png
| Character reference sheet (downloaded from image_generate
) |
prompts/NN-{cover|page}-[slug].md
| Generation prompts |
NN-{cover|page}-[slug].png
| Generated images (downloaded from image_generate
) |
refs/NN-ref-{slug}.{ext}
| User-supplied reference images (optional, for provenance) |
Language Handling
Detection Priority:
- User-specified language (explicit option)
- User's conversation language
- Source content language
Rule: Use user's input language 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 Analyze content
- [ ] 1.2 Check existing directory
- [ ] 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
- [ ] 7.1 Generate character sheet (if needed) → characters/characters.png
- [ ] 7.2 Generate pages (with character descriptions embedded in prompt)
- [ ] Step 8: Completion report
Flow
Input → Analyze → [Check Existing?] → [Confirm: Style + Reviews] → Storyboard → [Review?] → Prompts → [Review?] → Images → Complete
Step Summary
| Step | Action | Key Output |
|---|
| 1.1 | Analyze content | analysis.md
, source-{slug}.md
|
| 1.2 | 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 (if needed) | characters/characters.png
|
| 7.2 | Generate pages | *.png
files |
| 8 | Completion report | Summary |
User Questions
Use the
clarify
tool to confirm options. Since
clarify
handles one question at a time, ask the most important question first and proceed sequentially. See
references/workflow.md for the full Step 2 question set.
Timeout handling (CRITICAL):
clarify
can return
"The user did not provide a response within the time limit. Use your best judgement to make the choice and proceed."
— this is NOT user consent to default everything.
- Treat it as a default for that one question only. Continue asking the remaining Step 2 questions in sequence; each question is an independent consent point.
- Surface the default to the user visibly in your next message so they have a chance to correct it: e.g.
"Style: defaulted to ohmsha preset (clarify timed out). Say the word to switch."
— an unreported default is indistinguishable from never having asked.
- Do NOT collapse Step 2 into a single "use all defaults" pass after one timeout. If the user is genuinely absent, they will be equally absent for all five questions — but they can correct visible defaults when they return, and cannot correct invisible ones.
Step 7: Image Generation
Use Hermes' built-in
image_generate
tool for all image rendering. Its schema accepts only
prompt
and
aspect_ratio
(
landscape
|
portrait
|
square
); it
returns a URL, not a local file. Every generated page or character sheet must therefore be downloaded to the output directory.
Prompt file requirement (hard): write each image's full, final prompt to a standalone file under
prompts/
(naming:
NN-{type}-[slug].md
) BEFORE calling
image_generate
. The prompt file is the reproducibility record.
Aspect ratio mapping — the storyboard's
aspect_ratio
field maps to
image_generate
's format as follows:
| Storyboard ratio | image_generate
format |
|---|
3:4
, 9:16
, 2:3
| portrait
|
4:3
, 16:9
, 3:2
| landscape
|
1:1
| square
|
Download step — after every
image_generate
call:
- Read the URL from the tool result
- Fetch the image bytes using an absolute output path, e.g.
curl -fsSL "<url>" -o /abs/path/to/comic/<slug>/NN-page-<slug>.png
- Verify the file exists and is non-empty at that exact path before proceeding to the next page
Never rely on shell CWD persistence for -o
paths. The terminal tool's persistent-shell CWD can change between batches (session expiry,
TERMINAL_LIFETIME_SECONDS
, a failed
cd
that leaves you in the wrong directory).
curl -o relative/path.png
is a silent footgun: if CWD has drifted, the file lands somewhere else with no error.
Always pass a fully-qualified absolute path to -o
, or pass
workdir=<abs path>
to the terminal tool. Incident Apr 2026: pages 06-09 of a 10-page comic landed at the repo root instead of
comic/<slug>/
because batch 3 inherited a stale CWD from batch 2 and
curl -o 06-page-skills.png
wrote to the wrong directory. The agent then spent several turns claiming the files existed where they didn't.
7.1 Character sheet — generate it (to
characters/characters.png
, aspect
landscape
) when the comic is multi-page with recurring characters. Skip for simple presets (e.g., four-panel minimalist) or single-page comics. The prompt file at
characters/characters.md
must exist before invoking
image_generate
. The rendered PNG is a
human-facing review artifact (so the user can visually verify character design) and a reference for later regenerations or manual prompt edits — it does
not drive Step 7.2. Page prompts are already written in Step 5 from the
text descriptions in
characters/characters.md
;
image_generate
cannot accept images as visual input.
7.2 Pages — each page's prompt MUST already be at
prompts/NN-{cover|page}-[slug].md
before invoking
image_generate
. Because
image_generate
is prompt-only, character consistency is enforced by
embedding character descriptions (sourced from characters/characters.md
) inline in every page prompt during Step 5. The embedding is done uniformly whether or not a PNG sheet is produced in 7.1; the PNG is only a review/regeneration aid.
Backup rule: existing
prompts/…md
and
…png
files → rename with
-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS
suffix before regenerating.
Full step-by-step workflow (analysis, storyboard, review gates, regeneration variants): references/workflow.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, minimalist)references/tones/
- Tones (neutral, warm, dramatic, romantic, energetic, vintage, action)references/presets/
- Presets with special rules (ohmsha, wuxia, shoujo, concept-story, four-panel)references/layouts/
- Layouts (standard, cinematic, dense, splash, mixed, webtoon, four-panel)
Workflow:
- workflow.md - Full workflow details
- auto-selection.md - Content signal analysis
- partial-workflows.md - Partial workflow options
Page Modification
| Action | Steps |
|---|
| Edit | Update prompt file FIRST → regenerate image → download new PNG |
| Add | Create prompt at position → generate with character descriptions embedded → renumber subsequent → update storyboard |
| Delete | Remove files → renumber subsequent → update storyboard |
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.
Pitfalls
- Image generation: 10-30 seconds per page; auto-retry once on failure
- Always download the URL returned by
image_generate
to a local PNG — downstream tooling (and the user's review) expects files in the output directory, not ephemeral URLs
- Use absolute paths for
curl -o
— never rely on persistent-shell CWD across batches. Silent footgun: files land in the wrong directory and subsequent ls
on the intended path shows nothing. See Step 7 "Download step".
- Use stylized alternatives for sensitive public figures
- Step 2 confirmation required - do not skip
- Steps 4/6 conditional - only if user requested in Step 2
- Step 7.1 character sheet - recommended for multi-page comics, optional for simple presets. The PNG is a review/regeneration aid; page prompts (written in Step 5) use the text descriptions in
characters/characters.md
, not the PNG. image_generate
does not accept images as visual input
- Strip secrets — scan source content for API keys, tokens, or credentials before writing any output file
