The Frame Is Even All Round
A coloured-pencil illustration held in two nested frames — a border, then an inner panel — where both are measured even on all four sides, because that is what the eye reads before anything inside them. Six fields.
Two runs of the same template. A squirrel in caramel beside a seal in slate teal — same nested structure, opposite temperature. Measured, the first run's borders come out 45, 42, 41 and 40 pixels on the four sides and the second's 17, 17, 16 and 16. Both corners are empty, because neither was given a name to sign with.
Generated from this template with the fields shown above — measured rather than judged, the outer border runs 45 pixels at the left, 42 at the right, 41 at the top and 40 at the foot: a spread of five pixels across the four sides. The reference's baseline measured twelve at the left, twelve at the right, eleven at the foot and one at the top, a twelvefold difference on a single edge. Nothing inside that drawing was wrong and the whole sheet simply looked slipped, the way a badly trimmed print does, which is why this is worth measuring instead of eyeballing. The surround carries visible diagonal hatching with paper tooth through every colour, the panel sits a clear step darker than the ground around it, and the credit corner is empty — the baseline signed itself with a maker's name nobody had supplied, in a corner designed to make exactly that look authentic.
Generated for this library
Input
Panel a round squirrel holding a hazelnut, among acorns,
pine cones and small mushrooms
Around ginkgo and maple leaves, pine sprigs, rowan
berries, scattered star sparkles
Frames outer border pale caramel, inner panel warm
orange, both even on all four sides
Grounds warm apricot outside, deep caramel inside
Title NUT COLLECTION, dark brown caps beneath the panel
Credit none
Returned 1 illustration · 1:1 · warm caramel, pencil texture
border the same width at top, bottom, left and right -
measured, not judged
panel centred, rounded corners, its ground a clear step
darker than the surround
subject the squirrel filling the panel, small companions
ringed around it
texture visible diagonal hatching in the surround, paper
tooth through every colour, no airbrushed blending
corner empty - no signature, because none was givenYou fill in 6 fields — the braced lines at the top. Everything below them is fixed.
- 1The subject in the panel
- 2What surrounds the panel
- 3The two frames
- 4The two grounds
- 5The title
- 6The credit line
The Frame Is Even All Round
Produce ONE image, 1:1 square: a coloured-pencil illustration held in two nested frames. Follow every line. Replace only the FIELDS block; everything after it is fixed.
First — do you have the fields?
If any field below still has braces around it, stop and ask. Put all the questions in one short message, and show the example under each one so they can see the shape of a useful answer. Wait for the replies, then draw. Never fill a brace yourself: a value you invented is a value nobody asked for, and it will look exactly as considered as the ones they did give you.
Ask in whatever language they are writing to you in. Translate the questions and the examples; do not make someone read English to tell you what they want.
The examples are only examples. If someone answers a question, use their answer; never fall back to the example because you prefer it.
If the fields are already filled in, ignore this and carry on.
Fields — replace these six lines only
- The subject in the panel: {what is inside}
- What surrounds the panel: {the outer decoration}
- The two frames: {the border, and the panel edge}
- The two grounds: {outside, and inside}
- The title: {the words, and where}
- The credit line: {a name, or none}
The frame law
A border is read before anything it contains, and unevenness in one reads as a printing fault rather than a choice.
Both frames are the same width on all four sides. The outer border at the top matches the outer border at the bottom, the left and the right. The inner panel likewise.
A reference run of this style produced a genuinely lovely drawing whose outer border measured about twelve pixels at the left, right and bottom — and one pixel at the top. Twelve times thinner on one edge. Nothing inside was wrong, and the whole thing looked slightly slipped, the way a badly trimmed print does.
Check by measuring, not by eye, and check the top first: it is the edge that vanishes.
The panel sits centred in the surround, with equal space above and below it — allowing for the title beneath, which is part of the composition rather than an afterthought hung under it.
The medium
This must look drawn with pencils, not rendered:
- Visible directional hatching, especially in the open ground — strokes running one way, laid down in passes.
- Paper tooth showing through every colour. No area is fully opaque.
- Colour built by layering, so two hues sit over each other and both remain visible. No smooth airbrushed blends, no digital gradients.
- Soft edges everywhere. Every form rounded — no sharp corners on any subject.
If a passage could have been made with a gradient tool, it is wrong.
The two grounds
The inside of the panel is a clear step darker than the surround, in the same colour family. That tonal step is what makes the panel sit forward; it is doing the job an outline would do, which is why the panel edge can stay thin and quiet.
The contents
- In the panel: the main subject, large and central, with three to six small companions ringed around it — all in the same soft rounded manner.
- Around the panel: leaves, sprigs and berries entering from the corners and reaching inward, plus small star sparkles at varied sizes scattered through the open areas.
- Nothing in the surround crowds the panel or touches its edge.
The type and credit
The title sits centred beneath the panel in solid capitals, a dark tone of the main colour, at a size that does not compete with the artwork. A tiny sprig may sit either side of it.
The credit line appears only if the fields give a name. No invented signature, studio, handle or date. A reference run signed itself with a maker's name nobody had supplied, in a corner designed to make exactly that look authentic.
Never
- ✕ borders of unequal width on any of the four sides
- ✕ smooth gradients or airbrushed blending anywhere
- ✕ an opaque area with no paper tooth showing
- ✕ a panel ground the same tone as the surround
- ✕ an invented signature, studio name or date
- ✕ sharp corners on any drawn subject
- ✕ decoration touching or overlapping the panel edge
The result
A page that looks pressed from a real sheet: two frames you could measure and find equal, a panel a shade deeper than the paper around it, and every colour on it laid down in strokes you can still see.
The whole template, in one piece. The steps below are the entire workflow.
How to use it
- Copy the whole template with the button above.
- Replace the six FIELDS lines. Say plainly in the last whether there is a maker's name — if there is not, the corner stays empty rather than being filled.
- Paste it into any image-capable agent or model, in one message. One run returns the illustration.
- Check the four borders against each other before shipping. Hold a finger to each edge in turn: they should all be the same width, and the top is the one that vanishes.
What you swap
- The subject in the panel
- a round squirrel holding a hazelnut, sitting among acorns, pine cones and small mushrooms
- What surrounds the panel
- ginkgo and maple leaves, pine sprigs, rowan berries, scattered star sparkles
- The two frames
- an outer border of pale caramel and an inner panel edged in warm orange, both even on all four sides
- The two grounds
- warm apricot outside the panel, deep caramel inside it
- The title
- NUT COLLECTION, in dark brown caps beneath the panel
- The credit line
- none — I have no maker's name to put there
Before it runs
- A subject that reads small and round. This medium is soft-edged by nature, and anything angular or detailed fights it.
- Two grounds you can tell apart. The panel needs to sit forward, and it does that by tone rather than by outline.
- Honesty about the credit. The corner is designed for a signature, which is exactly why an invented one looks so convincing there.
When to reach for it
When something wants to feel hand-made and gentle: a card, a chapter opener, a small-brand cover, a seasonal print. Templates in this style ask for a border of consistent width and return one thick on three sides and gone on the fourth, which reads as a printing accident.
What changes
- One warm coloured-pencil piece: an outer border, an inner panel of subjects, and a title beneath it.
- Both frames measured even on all four sides, since an uneven border is the first thing a viewer notices and the last thing anyone checks.
- Real pencil behaviour — directional hatching, paper tooth showing through, colour built in layers rather than airbrushed.
- A darker ground inside the panel than outside it, which is what separates the two layers without a heavy line.
- No invented signature, date or maker's name — the credit line appears only if you give one.
Pairs with
- A Shape You Can NameA flat illustration held inside one big silhouette, with the scene breaking out through its edge — where the shape has to mean something and the crossings have to be real crossings. Six fields.
- Colour Goes Over the LineA deliberately unskilled drawing — the kind someone makes slowly in a paint program — with the clumsiness given as construction and counts instead of adjectives. Five fields.
- Every Path ArrivesA full-bleed storybook world you can actually travel through — every route joining two named places, and three sizes of thing so the eye lands before it wanders. Five fields.