Character & Style
Mixed Media Experiments on Meeting Scenes
Subtle Combined Mixed Media
Incorporating ALL mixed media styles into a single realistic submerged scene. The scene is 80% photographic reality with 20% handcrafted art woven through it. Based on founder feedback from Batch 1 favorites and the proven "sunny reef" prompt language from the progression tab.
Key direction: foreground 3D paper mache collage coral, realistic middle, subtle ink/watercolor fragments blended into the far background (not overtaking it), one or two gouache-painted fish as discoveries. NO ears on Ollie. Every material is undeniably itself — dry paper, wet ocean — yet they coexist as one reality.
Torn paper mache coral formations with dimensional lift, felt sponge cauliflower coral, kraft paper rock textures. Fiber edges visible. Fully immersed in water.
Characters, surrounding coral, and fish remain fully photorealistic. This is the anchor of reality in the scene.
Fragments (not full coverage) of ink line silhouettes and watercolor washes blended into the deep background. Mixed with photographic ocean, not replacing it.
One or two fish painted in thick gouache brushstrokes. Subtle, submerged, with caustics on their painted surfaces. Hidden treats, not dominant.
Isolated Mixed Media Style Tests
Testing individual mixed media styles on two character meeting scenes. Each style tested in isolation to understand what works before combining them. Two approaches per variation: Regenerate (full generation) and Edit (using original scene as reference).
One or two background fish rendered in thick gouache brushstrokes, hand-painted quality, while remaining submerged with caustics.
Coral formations as torn paper collage, fabric cutouts, with hidden ink detail artwork. Fiber edges visible, immersed in water.
Distant background transitions to ink line silhouettes with watercolor washes. Foreground stays photorealistic.
All three elements combined: gouache fish, collage coral, and ink/watercolor background in a single scene.
Original Scene 1
Initial Brief
Batch 1 Feedback
Okay, so I think the regen worked the best. It seems that they have either the various styles, but I want them to all be combined in one image so it can be more subtle. Some of these are looking good. I think the best one is for scene 2 V1, painted fish regenerate.
Favorite: Scene 2, V1 Painted Fish (Regenerate)
We want this to also have a subtle watercolor background, or maybe the far background coral reef is watercolor with very subtle linework. Maybe some of the very front foreground coral is that kind of 3D collage look, but we keep a lot of the middle of the scene realistic. We need to make sure that all he generates with no ears.
This one came out the best for ink.
Favorite: Scene 2, V3 Ink Background (Regenerate)
But I don't want it to be completely covering the background of the underwater scene. I want it to be kind of like blended reality, blending ink and watercolor with the reality, so it's not overtaking the entire background. It's just fragments of the scenes background; for the full blend scene that was done, it's like too much over-taking the reality of the coral reef. We want it to just be like those little pieces that I discussed before.
I think we're missing this 3D kind of paper mache style coral where it's like it looks like real coral but it's like a 3D type collage.
We had it in the progression tab. We use that type of style to generate the sunny reef scene, but I don't know if any of the prompts that were used on that page are actually describing the 3D nature of the mixed media style that's in there. Yeah, I think the torn paper mache coral formations growing in a photographic Hawaiian reef, tulle fabric undulating as ocean current, craft paper rock texture, and crystal clear tropical water. Every material is undeniably itself, dry paper or wet ocean, painted character real show. They coexist as one reality. I think that's like a big part of the prompt that made it successful.
Batch 2 Generation Notes
8 variations generated combining all mixed media styles into one subtle scene. Used the proven "sunny reef" prompt language for 3D collage coral: "Torn paper mache coral formations growing in a photographic Hawaiian reef. Tulle fabric undulating as ocean current. Kraft paper rock textures in crystal-clear tropical water. Every material is undeniably ITSELF — dry paper, wet ocean — yet they coexist as one reality."
Temperature spread: 0.85, 0.95, 1.0 (x2), 1.05 (x2), 1.1, 1.15. Model: NB2. Refs: Ollie 3D + Dot 3D. Platform: Google AI Studio (free tier, $0 cost). All 8/8 successful.
I want to try a couple of different paths to bring in our mixed media style into some of the character scenes that we've been developing. I'll give you the character scene. I want to try a couple of different approaches:
1. Regenerating the character scene. Currently, the whole background of the scene looks like almost like a real coral reef, with a lot of brightly colored plants and coral and fish, like realistic underwater fish. I want to mix in some of our mixed media style concepts into these, keeping the background looking very realistic and the fish looking very realistic. Maybe one or two of the fish will be painted over so it looks like it's almost illustrated in the background. Some of the coral might be a collage effect of different material cutouts and little detail artwork, blending with the reality of the scene. In the far distant background, maybe have some ink line work outlining the silhouette and maybe a subtle watercolor.
2. Editing the current image and regenerating the current image. I think you could try maybe four different types of prompts to do that for each of those, coming out with eight different images. Use the same model and prompt that we use to get the scene for the character scene that I'll send you, but just update it to include some of this mixed reality and painting style. I think we had this gauche style, highly detailed painting, and keep all the painted and collage-style elements looking immersed in the water, just like the rest of the scene. It all still looks like it's submerged and part of the underwater scene. I'll give you two different character scenes to try. So we'll do 16 output images and make sure that you include all the details of the generations, like the prompt and the reference images. I made sure that all the details are preserved from the original prompt that made these character scenes like the scene details and character prompts and sizing and scale etc. Make sure you're using the same prompt and reference images as the original character scene that I'm sharing with you. Have the page be laid out the same as we have the character consistency page.
Source scenes:1 — batch19-meeting/3d/b3_fix_1.png
2 — batch19-meeting/3d/b6_fix_3.png