Scene Tracker

Durable per-scene comment lineage — so the final stretch of edits stops losing direction.

Draft 3 · 10 scenes traced · batch-26 → realismport → R5/R6 → overnight

Every enhancement round must (1) anchor on the scene's canonical APPROVED base (not an arbitrary favorite), (2) clear its STILL-OPEN checklist (nothing dropped), and (3) fold in the shared DTS style without recomposing. ⚡ marks the OPEN items the overnight round just addressed. Machine source of truth: COMMENT_LEDGER_FINAL.md.

⚡ addressed by overnight OPEN done superseded

Cover Sunny Reef Hide and Seek Reef Edge Down They Swam Friendly Glowing Fish Giant Shadow Dot Floats Near Name It / Breathing Whale Reveal

Cover s01 · 1:1

Overnight winner deployed View on Pages →

Regression flag: R5 live tab (coverr5) was a fresh regen that lost fish/sizing/no-turtle/scale. Re-anchor on batch24-A1.

canonical base Cover — Canonical basebatch24-A1/s01_b24A1_v8.jpg (★4/5)
batch24-b26D1 sidecar (NB2, t1.05, 1:1)

overnight winner Cover — Overnight winnerovernight/s01_b30blend_v1.jpg (t1.0)

Date / Batch

What it delivered

Needed next

Batch 24 / B25 ★4/5 ← BASE

White eye-dot fix; shiny inner-lit Dot

kill white eye-dot; Dot shiny/inner-lit; keep everything

Realism-Port (Jun 30)

Grafted DTS realism onto b24b26D1

remove shimmer-school; kill rainbow PAPER; keep rainbow LIGHT; keep comp

Cover-c1 / MSG13-14

1:1 descent, glint-only-on-Dot

reef LEFT only; right full-dark; add seahorse/butterflyfish/clownfish/snail/turtle

coverr5 / MSG21 scale

live tab (regen)

massive reef; clownfish=butterflyfish=Ollie; giant far turtle; rainbow LIGHT not paper

2026-07-01 R5 (live)

coverr5 first tab (4 imgs)

“lost ALL our direction… the scale” — ENHANCE b24, don't regenerate

⚡ OVERNIGHT

Photoreal figurine Ollie (no cartoony dot); b24-A1 comp; rainbow LIGHT flare; solid pearl Dot; caustics+bubbles

cleared multiple OPEN items; nits: Dot ~35% oversized, giant turtle not clearly present

[Composition/camera] Keep locked b24-A1 comp — enhance not regenerate ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Composition/camera] Enormous reef scale vs tiny characters OPEN
[Props/creatures] Clownfish & butterflyfish = Ollie-size; giant far turtle OPEN
[Props/creatures] Creature set: seahorse, butterflyfish, clownfish-in-anemone, snail, shimmer-fish OPEN
[Mixed-media/3D] Reef mixed-media blended with reality (not flat/pasted) OPEN
[Color/light] No rainbow PAPER; keep realistic rainbow LIGHT bottom-right ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Color/light] Glint/sparkle ONLY on Dot's head OPEN
[Color/light] Separate Dot's inner-glow from the lens-flare OPEN
[Composition/camera] Reef LEFT only; RIGHT open dark deep-blue OPEN
[Composition/camera] Realistic Snell's-window surface top-left ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Ollie] Remove cartoony white eye-dot → env reflection ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Dot] Solid shiny pearl ~20%, inner-lit not matte OPEN
[Ollie] Arm around Dot, side-by-side descent OPEN
[Mixed-media/3D] Gold-foil stipple present + cohesive ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Props/creatures] Real tiny baby snail, head out OPEN
[Mixed-media/3D] Real bubbles + particles + DOF, submerged ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Composition/camera] “Past Batches” parent tab (UI) OPEN
[Composition/camera] 4 images per temperature done
[Composition/camera] Update mockup.html currentPick to b24-A1 OPEN

Sunny Reef s04 · 2:1

Overnight winner deployed View on Pages →

Regression flag: Live R6 drifted OFF C10 (anchored on older A3_mixmedia_r4) — lost mussels, pebble sand, caustics-on-characters. Re-anchor on C10.

canonical base Sunny Reef — Canonical basesunny-c10/s04_b30blend_v3.jpg (C10 — APPROVED)
prompts/s04_sunny-reef_c10.txt

overnight winner Sunny Reef — Overnight winnerovernight/s04_b30blend_v3.jpg (t1.05)

Date / Batch

What it delivered

Needed next

Jun 30 MSG 6

Prior port missed style+comp

DTS mixed-media reef + exact A3 comp

Jul 1 MSG 15 (R3)

“closest, really good”

Snell sky-surface; natural starbursts; bigger reef; MUSSEL collection; real snail; photographic turtle

Jul 1 MSG 16-18

glow/size/caustics

Dot glow in bright; Dot 20%; caustics ON reef+characters

Jul 1 MSG 22 → C8

12 imgs folding all asks

pebble sand; intentional mussels; brown-out/nacre-in shell; ~50%; big butterflyfish; abundant both-sides reef

Jul 1 MSG 33 → C10

in-shell fix (APPROVED)

C10 = canonical: in-shell + top-right + camera-in-reef + no turtle + mussels + pebble sand + caustics-on-characters

Jul 1 R5/R6 (live)

DRIFT off C10 onto A3

re-anchor on C10

⚡ OVERNIGHT

Caustics rake Ollie's domed head; curated mussel cluster; pebble-macro hero sand; butterflyfish ~Ollie-size + seahorse; in-shell; turtle absent

cleared the biggest C10 open items

[Props/creatures] Curated MUSSEL-SHELL collection, intentional ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Composition/camera] Pebble-macro sand as hero cue ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Color/light] Caustics PROJECTED ON the characters ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Mixed-media/3D] Abundant reef both sides + seagrass OPEN
[Ollie] Eyes reflecting environment; facing camera ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Composition/camera] Turtle REMOVED (MSG31 supersedes) ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Dot] Solid pearl ~20% + yellow eye-glow in bright light done
[Composition/camera] In-shell + 30-40% top-right + camera-in-reef ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Props/creatures] Big butterflyfish ~Ollie-size + seahorse + hidden snail ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Ollie] Ollie's ARM AROUND Dot (sunny-specific) OPEN

Hide and Seek s05 · 2:1

Overnight winner deployed View on Pages →

Regression flag: BIGGEST: live first tab is a MAY batch-16 image, months stale — no R5/R6/c5/c9 ever landed. Overnight is the first realism-port tab to deploy first+default here.

canonical base Hide and Seek — Canonical basebatch16/b16_t085_v1.jpg (STALE live — approved COMP = b26)
prompts/s05_hide-seek_b26.txt (b26 comp)

overnight winner Hide and Seek — Overnight winnerovernight/s05_b30blend_v2.jpg (t1.0)

Date / Batch

What it delivered

Needed next

Batch 26 (APPROVED COMP)

b26 Where's-Waldo comp

graft style onto b26; keep comp

Jul 1 c9 = Comment 9 (gen)

c9a-d

real snail; harder mixed-media; giant photoreal turtle IN VIEW; lens-flare on mussel; bright/sunny; caustics on chars; fish not all inward

Jul 1 r5 (gen; not live)

no-clownfish regen

“fish looking INWARDS… DON'T want that”; unique/abundant; missing mixed-media 3D/particles; bubbles not real

Jul 1 R6

H&S NOT in R6 trio

live tab still B16

⚡ OVERNIGHT

Densest Where's-Waldo; strongest 3D paper-craft coral; Ollie hidden LEFT w/ mussel-shell glint; giant near-photoreal turtle IN VIEW; varied fish not-inward; bright/sunny; snail

cleared key c9/r5 items; Ollie slightly findable

[Composition/camera] Deploy a b26/realism-port batch as first+default ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Props/creatures] No clownfish; unique/varied fish; not all facing center ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Mixed-media/3D] Mixed-media 3D depth + water particles ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Color/light] Realistic bubbles (lit by caustics, not flat) OPEN
[Color/light] Caustics as KEY LIGHT; brighter/sunnier, no dark edges ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Props/creatures] Giant near-photoreal turtle clearly IN VIEW ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Props/creatures] Lens-flare on the iridescent mussel-shell ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Props/creatures] ONE tiny real snail; remove puka shells OPEN
[Ollie] Ollie hidden/camouflaged (70-80%), not sticker OPEN
[Dot] Solid pearl ~20%, golden arcs, no mouth, not a bubble OPEN
[Color/light] Carry Sunny-Reef bright-blue palette OPEN

Reef Edge s06 · 2:1 · REFERENCE SCENE

Overnight winner deployed View on Pages →

Regression flag: Live tab was R6-enhance (derivatives, unresolved v1-vs-v2). Re-anchor on batch21-b22. NOTE: the favorite still has the old blue-paint wash on right; latest direction wants dark-blue DEPTH.

canonical base Reef Edge — Canonical basebatch21-b22/s06_b21b22_v1.jpg (dialed-in favorite)
batch21-b22 sidecar (NB2, t0.95)

overnight winner Reef Edge — Overnight winnerovernight/s06_b30blend_v1.jpg (t1.0)

Date / Batch

What it delivered

Needed next

Batch 20 r3b (4★)

named book's realism+mixed-media reference

scale; RIGHT open water; distant back-left turtle; top-left key light; full rainbow spectrum

Batch 21 → B22 (FAVORITE)

cleanest page, gate 6→7

preserve the winning recipe verbatim

Jul 1 R5

FAILED wholesale redesign (swim-past-middle)

“turning out like junk… enhancing not changing” — restore perched-cliff comp

Jul 1 R6 (deployed, not validated)

favorite comp + 3 asks

3D mixed-media reef; same reference way in ALL scenes; extend reef down-left; dark-blue right not blue-paint

⚡ OVERNIGHT

Best character lock: Ollie perched at cliff lip, mouth-open, no rosy cheeks; torn-paper+gold 3D reef LEFT down; rainbow cliff refraction; faint distant turtle back-left; dark-blue depth right

cleared R6 asks with correct character+comp

[Mixed-media/3D] 3D mixed-media beautiful reef (was flat/2D) ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Mixed-media/3D] Reef prompted same reference way across ALL scenes OPEN
[Composition/camera] Reef constrained LEFT and extends down-left ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Color/light] RIGHT = dark-blue DEPTH, not flat blue-paint ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Props/creatures] Distant faint sea turtle back-left (not blown up) ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Color/light] Prismatic rainbow on white cliff edge (light not pigment) ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Ollie] Perched at cliff lip, leaning, mouth open, gold stipple, no silver/ears ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Dot] Solid pearl ~20%, golden arcs, no mouth, beside Ollie done
[Color/light] Top-left key light; full-spectrum bright rainbow reef ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Composition/camera] Low camera, huge env dwarfs characters (soften) done
[Mixed-media/3D] Real bubbles / marine snow / god-rays / DOF done
[Props/creatures] Baby sea snail superseded

Down They Swam s07 · 2:1 · STYLE KERNEL

Style kernel (source scene) View on Pages →

Regression flag: Don't conflate b27 (origin hero) with v27 (latest caustics descendant). v27 caustic TEST not fully locked (verdict pending). Hold v13 submersion + solid-pearl clause. Batch 40 created the never-edit + mandatory-visual-check rules.

canonical base Down They Swam — Canonical basebatch67-v27/s07_b30blend_v1.jpg (v27 — style kernel)
prompts/s07_dts_v27.txt (book's styling kernel)

No overnight batch

—— not a port target (this is the style SOURCE)

Date / Batch

What it delivered

Needed next

Jun 12 Batch 18 (mix)

joyful 45° dive favorite b18mx_v4

the dive reference reused when facing/energy drifts

Jun 25 Batches 34-43 (Batch 40 correction)

dir explorations

kill fake rainbow → water-light; truly submerged; never edit; mandatory visual check

Jun 28 Batch 53 · v13 (APPROVED)

research-driven true submersion

“ok this is looking good! i want to generate more”

Jun 29 Batch 55 3D-reef branch

abundant 3D reef + real bubbles

added “DOT is SOLID pearl, NOT a transparent bubble” clause

Jun 30 v27 (Batch 67, base)

swimming-pool caustics as KEY LIGHT

confirm caustics read; keep solid-pearl Dot; pick a locked hero

Jul 1 all-pages rollout

v27 caustics language grafted onto every scene

full-book style consistency; DTS hero still not finally locked

[Composition/camera] Final DTS hero not locked (v27 is a 4-img test) OPEN
[Dot] Solid-opaque pearl vs transparent bubble (v2/v3/v4 regressed) OPEN
[Ollie] Arm-around-Dot / side-by-side (NB2 front-cups) OPEN
[Composition/camera] Face DOWN-RIGHT into deep, never the reef done
[Color/light] Directional top-left caustics + water-light on all surfaces OPEN
[Color/light] Fake rainbow → water-light; prismatic only on reef, never characters done
[Color/light] Truly-submerged look (no wet-gloss, blue-green cast) done
[Mixed-media/3D] Batch-46 watercolor + gold-foil torn-paper reef done
[Props/creatures] Photoreal clownfish families in anemones + hidden snail done
[Mixed-media/3D] Real bright glossy underwater bubbles (not CG) OPEN
[Ollie] Gold eyes, raised gold-foil stipple, env catchlights, matte, no ears done
[Dot] Two golden arc eyes from within nacre, no mouth, ~20%, warm glow done

Friendly Glowing Fish s08 · 2:1 · DARK

Overnight winner deployed View on Pages →

Regression flag: c1 (glowing) used BRIGHT refs on a DARK scene → lost the dark scene. c1 (friendly) went over-colourful. Both fixed in r5. Founder implied dark-bioloom glowing is the preferred hero tab.

canonical base Friendly Glowing Fish — Canonical baseglowing-fish/batch29-realism/s08_close_b29real_v1.jpg
prompts/s08_glowing-fish_b29real_CLOSE.txt (DARK refs)

overnight winner Friendly Glowing Fish — Overnight winnerovernight/s08_b30blend_v3.jpg (t1.0)

Date / Batch

What it delivered

Needed next

Jun 17/18 Batch29 (GOOD BASE)

dark near-black ocean, biolum school, silver stipple, DARK refs

ENHANCE this base, not replace

Jul 1 c1 (regression)

glowing lost dark scene; friendly rainbow-crowd

DARK refs; restore dark reef; kill rainbow crowd

Jul 1 R5

dark reef restored, vivid flowing biolum, silver stipple

muted (not overly dark); unmistakable silver stipple; better ripples; tab-order

⚡ OVERNIGHT

DARK gate PASSED: Dot BLUE arcs + blue glow; Ollie SILVER stipple; most abundant flowing biolum swirl; muted-but-COLOURED reef bottom; turtle silhouette

cleared muted-not-flat + colourful-flow

[Color/light] Restore DARK reef + dark scene done
[Color/light] More MUTED, not flat dark-blue ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Props/creatures] Bioluminescent fish more colourful + flowing ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Color/light] Better underwater ripples OPEN
[Mixed-media/3D] Silver stipple-dot foil edges, not kitchen foil OPEN
[Mixed-media/3D] Reef prompted same way as other scenes OPEN
[Composition/camera] Dark-bioloom glowing = default-active hero tab ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Color/light] (Friendly) C1 too colourful → restrained meeting done
[Composition/camera] (Friendly) Keep literal 'meets ONE friendly fish' beat OPEN
[Dot] (Friendly) Dot HELD in Ollie's arm, ~20%, warm arcs OPEN

Giant Shadow s09 · 2:1 · DARK

Overnight winner deployed View on Pages →

Regression flag: BIGGEST: R5 base rendered Dot as a warm GOLDEN glowing light source — founder repeatedly demanded BLUE inverted-U eyes, NO body glow for this dark scene. Overnight CORRECTED this. Also confirm floating-apart pose + silver irises.

canonical base Giant Shadow — Canonical basev2-test/shadow_t1_v1.jpg (whale-above; prompt RECONSTRUCTED)
prompts/s09_giantshadow_r5.txt (working)

overnight winner Giant Shadow — Overnight winnerovernight/s09_b30blend_v4.jpg (t1.1)

Date / Batch

What it delivered

Needed next

May 28/29 batch5d (gold-standard)

full-realism shadow

silver irises (global dark rule); Dot blue U-eyes; whale distant spanning full width; apart; Dot smaller; Ollie up

Jun 12 batch18

NB2 realism (2/5)

Dot photoreal pearl NO glow, blue eyes; whale above; silver dots

~May 17 v2-test (APPROVED base)

whale above, pair low, jellyfish, muted-blue

fix flat/2D reef; keep muted-but-present

Jul 1 R5 (live, held out of R6)

reef 2D→3D; muted-present; solid Dot; 20 variants

reef-3D+multi-variant addressed; NOT re-validated; Dot's warm glow still WRONG

⚡ OVERNIGHT

DARK gate PASSED: Dot BLUE arcs + BLUE glow, NO warm; Ollie dark-brown SILVER stipple; whale barely-recognizable overhead; most dimensional paper canyon + DOF; muted-present

CORRECTED the base's warm-glow defect

[Composition/camera] Shadow ABOVE the characters done
[Composition/camera] Ollie & Dot floating APART vs resting-together OPEN
[Mixed-media/3D] Reef edges 3D (were flat/2D) ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Mixed-media/3D] Silver edge foil = stipple-dot, not kitchen foil/gold ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Color/light] Colours muted-but-present; fish dim & blue ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Dot] Realistic pearl w/ BLUE inverted-U eyes + NO body glow ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Dot] Dot REALISM (batch-22 quality) + smaller OPEN
[Ollie] SILVER irises (global dark rule) OPEN
[Composition/camera] Whale spans full width, barely recognizable/blurred ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Ollie] Wide-eyed, up; matte; no ears; brown + silver stipple done
[Props/creatures] Background fish more blurred/darker/dimmed OPEN
[Color/light] No iridescence/prismatic on the characters done
[Composition/camera] Variations per temperature done

Dot Floats Near s10 · 2:1 · DARK

Overnight winner deployed View on Pages →

Regression flag: r5 craft-log was WRONG about the base (a real prompt exists) and used WRONG bright refs. c1 flipped scene to warm/bright — 'lost all its color and character references.' Enhance the DARK b29real base with DARK refs; don't recompose.

canonical base Dot Floats Near — Canonical basedot-floats/batch29-realism/s10_b29real_v1.jpg
prompts/s10_dot-floats_b29real.txt (REAL; DARK refs)

overnight winner Dot Floats Near — Overnight winnerovernight/s10_b30blend_v1.jpg (t1.0)

Date / Batch

What it delivered

Needed next

Jun 19 Batch29 REALISM ★ BASE

dark blue-glow: matte dark Ollie silver-stipple self-hugging LEFT, Dot pearl RIGHT blue arcs + blue glow sole light, surface + god-rays; DARK refs

keep dark mood + blue glow + silver Ollie + correct dark refs

Jul 1 C1 (regression)

fully rewritten BRIGHT: golden Ollie, warm glow, gold reef, pale; BRIGHT refs

“lost all of its color and the character references” — revert to dark base

Jul 1 R5

colorful dark-ish reef + gold-amber Ollie + turtle + arm-holding-Dot; brighter, recomposed, wrong refs

enhance b29real (don't recompose); REAL dark refs; hold blue-glow mood

⚡ OVERNIGHT

DARK gate PASSED: Dot BLUE arcs + BLUE glow-column, no warm; Ollie dark SILVER-stipple blue-lit; muted-saturated dark reef + mussel shell; surface + god-rays (preserves comp); bubbles

closest to canonical base; restored dark mood + colours

[Color/light] Restore lost COLOR (muted-saturated, not pale/warm) ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Ollie] Restore correct DARK char refs (b29 dark set) OPEN
[Composition/camera] ENHANCE, don't CHANGE the scene ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Color/light] Reef colorful (muted-saturated, not pale) ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Color/light] Hold DARK mood / blue glow as sole light ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Mixed-media/3D] Silver stipple / SILVER-foil reef (never gold) ⚡ addressed by overnight
[Dot] Dot as correct character (pearl IS correct here) done
[Props/creatures] Giant turtle (not a dot-floats ask) superseded
[Composition/camera] No center fold / single full-bleed 2:1 done

Name It / Breathing s11 · 2:1 · DARK

Live · pending founder validate View on Pages →

Regression flag: C1 regressed hardest (bare dark-void portrait). R5 folded a dark-clause kernel that drifted; R6 fixed it (anti-drift only). Do NOT let 'Dot=20%' override batch-26's larger, closer Dot here.

canonical base Name It / Breathing — Canonical basename-it/batch24-b26D1/s11_b24b26D1_v1.jpg (b26 — APPROVED)
batch24-b26D1 sidecar (NB2, t1.05, dark_nameit refs)

No overnight batch

—— not in overnight batch (R6-v1 deployed, pending founder validate)

Date / Batch

What it delivered

Needed next

Jun 14/16 Batch24 → b26D1 (FAVORITE)

8 vars, dark VOID, dark_nameit refs, no scene refs

the batch-26 base to enhance

Jul 1 C1 (hardest regression)

stripped bare dark-void portrait

“Go BACK to BATCH 26… we're ENHANCING that. This whole scene changed.”

Jul 1 R5 (dark-clause kernel)

silver-foil/biolum/Dot→20%/whale→LOOMING GIANT on b26

“the R5 mistake — R5 changed the scene”; strip kernel drift

Jul 1 R6 enhance (DEPLOYED)

4 vars, surgical anti-drift; default v1 (lead pick over agent's v2)

HOLD scaling until founder validates live

[Color/light] Stay near-black DARK void, no bright collage done
[Composition/camera] Ollie LEFT / Dot RIGHT, APART, no arm-around done
[Dot] Dot size — batch-26 larger Dot wins over '20%' rule OPEN
[Dot] Dot reads as solid round pearl (not disc / not bubble) done
[Dot] No mouth; calm blue arc eyes done
[Ollie] Dark brown, lit only by Dot's blue glow done
[Ollie] All 8 arms curled; single mouth-bubble done
[Mixed-media/3D] Photoreal 3D figurines truly submerged done
[Props/creatures] Silver stipple-dot foil (not gold) on Ollie done
[Props/creatures] Whale shadow far bg = a WHALE (not turtle), blocks light OPEN
[Color/light] Iridescence ONLY on bubbles (original rule) superseded
[Composition/camera] Characters more toward CENTER superseded
[Composition/camera] Founder validation of live R6-v1 OPEN
[Ollie] Use SAME refs as batch being enhanced (dark, not bright) done

Whale Reveal s12 · 2:1 · DARK→LIGHT

Live · pending founder validate View on Pages →

Regression flag: Three different 'base' pointers: R5 live tab (correct), mockup.html=batch19 (stale), pages.html table=batch20 (stale). STANDING RULE: NO scene refs for whale-reveal (character refs only).

canonical base Whale Reveal — Canonical basewhale-reveal/whaler5/s12_b30blend_v1.jpg (R5 live)
prompts/s12_whale_r5.txt (NB2, t1.0)

No overnight batch

—— not in overnight batch (R5 live; reef-3D still open)

Date / Batch

What it delivered

Needed next

Jun 16 Batch 25 (3/5)

s12_b24B2_v8

kill CG; real whale w/ natural skin glow; deep dark-blue left; mixed-media reef

Jun 19 Batch 29 loop v2

b29 realism regen

3D mixed-media + underwater depth still MISSING; photoreal whale

Jun 23→Jul 1 R5 (whaler5)

batch30 kernel on v2 comp; real humpback; 3 deployed first tab

reef still not 3D enough

Jul 1 R5 review

review of whaler5

“the reef does not have the three-dimensional look… or the underwater realism” — keep the whale

[Props/creatures] Right-side reef 3D mixed-media (was storybook-flat) OPEN
[Mixed-media/3D] Underwater realism / submersion / depth OPEN
[Props/creatures] Whale realistic + strong done
[Props/creatures] Whale gigantic + distant, glassy eye, tail in dark paint OPEN
[Composition/camera] Whale from dark-left, pair up toward bright-right; dark→light gradient done
[Props/creatures] Snail tiny + natural (no cartoon eyes) OR removed OPEN
[Ollie] Ollie looking UP in awe done
[Ollie] Transitional colour; silver-foil irises done
[Dot] Solid pearl ~20%, held in arm, warm-gold glow, up, no mouth done
[Composition/camera] Whale looms L/CENTRE, tiny pair, 2:1, no seam done
[Color/light] Caustics + god-rays + prismatic only on reef/whale done
[Props/creatures] Iridescence ON the whale done
[Composition/camera] NO scene-ref image (character refs only) done

Pending trace (9 light spreads): the other book spreads still need the same full lineage trace before their next round — inside-front, title, whale-song, celebration-going-home, interactive-breathing, ending-shell-closed, grown-ups, back-spread, back-cover.