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 atreferences/art-styles/<style>.md. -
Tones (7):
neutral,warm,dramatic,romantic,energetic,vintage,action. Full definitions atreferences/tones/<tone>.md. -
Presets (5) with special rules beyond plain art+tone:
Preset Equivalent Hook ohmshamanga + neutral Visual metaphors, no talking heads, gadget reveals wuxiaink-brush + action Qi effects, combat visuals, atmospheric shoujomanga + romantic Decorative elements, eye details, romantic beats concept-storymanga + warm Visual symbol system, growth arc, dialogue+action balance four-panelminimalist + 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 int