art-director

Art Director

Use this skill when the work is an art-direction search for a media production workspace.

The skill coordinates this loop:

brief -> references -> generation branches -> HTML preview -> feedback -> next branches -> selected direction

For single-image production, use the host repo's image-generation or media-run instructions. For comic pages, albums, storyboards, or platform-specific assets, use the host repo's format-specific playbook when one exists.

Default Output Shape

For a project under art-direction/<project>/, each serious search pass should leave:

art-direction/<project>/
  prompts/vNN/YYYY-MM-DD-vNN-<slug>-prompts.md
  process/vNN/YYYY-MM-DD-vNN-<slug>-log.md
  styles/YYYY-MM-DD-<style-system>.md
  assets/vNN-<slug>/
    <variant-id>.png
  vNN-<slug>.html

For a first run in an empty workspace, create the minimal folders before writing prompts:

mkdir -p art-direction/<project>/{prompts/v01,process/v01,styles,assets/v01-style-search}
cp skills/art-director/assets/style-search-map-template.html art-direction/<project>/v01-style-search.html

If the skill was installed without assets/style-search-map-template.html, create the same folders and write a simple local HTML preview from the cluster schema in this file.

If the run continues an existing direction, increment vNN and make every new node point back to its parent decision.

The visual map must be an iteration-cluster direction graph:

idea
  -> iteration cluster
      -> option leaf nodes
      -> selected option node
      -> carry forward / drop
  -> next iteration cluster
      -> option leaf nodes
      -> selected option node
      -> output

Keep the important path explicit: iteration checkpoint -> option nodes -> selected option node -> next iteration checkpoint. Unselected options stay as leaf nodes with their status.

Workflow

1. Read the current project files: index.html, latest vNN-*.html, process/v*/, prompts/v*/, styles/, and relevant research/.
2. Identify the active question: what style, artifact, audience, format, or campaign is being decided.
3. Build an iteration cluster before generation: incoming brief, 3-8 option leaves, difference axes, expected selection criteria, and what may carry forward.
4. Write prompts in prompts/vNN/. Each prompt needs iteration id, option id, role, difference axis, prompt, negative prompt, and reject criteria.
5. Generate or collect assets through the host repo's approved image-generation path.
6. Create or update the HTML direction map as the first section of vNN-<slug>.html.
7. Put preview cards under the map with anchors matching tree node ids.
8. Capture feedback as first-class nodes in the tree and in process/vNN/...log.md.
9. Create the next iteration from feedback: feedback -> interpretation -> new branch -> asset -> decision.
10. Mark selected, rejected, paused, and next branches explicitly.