Browsing Styles

Browse and preview 100+ artistic styles for image generation. Launch an interactive grid preview server or list styles from the command line.

When to Use

This skill should be used when:

• Browsing available art styles for image generation
• Previewing style thumbnails before selecting one
• Searching for a specific style by name or category
• Exploring styles by art movement, technique, or era

Style Categories

Category	Count	Examples
movement	27	Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism
cultural	15	Ukiyo-e, Persian Miniature, Celtic
technique	20	Watercolor, Charcoal, Mosaic
photography	10	Cinematic, Noir, Polaroid
digital	15	Pixel Art, Cyberpunk, Vaporwave
illustration	13	Anime, Comic Book, Fantasy Art

Quick Reference (Top 20 Styles)

Short	Name	Category
impr	Impressionism	movement
cube	Cubism	movement
ukiy	Ukiyo-e	cultural
deco	Art Deco	movement
wtrc	Watercolor	technique
char	Charcoal	technique
pixl	Pixel Art	digital
cybr	Cyberpunk	digital
anim	Anime	illustration
barq	Baroque	movement
surr	Surrealism	movement
minm	Minimalism	movement
noir	Film Noir	photography
vapr	Vaporwave	digital
cine	Cinematic	photography
comi	Comic Book	illustration
fant	Fantasy Art	illustration
stmp	Steampunk	illustration
lpol	Low Poly	digital
botn	Botanical	illustration

Usage

Launch Preview Server

Start an interactive browser-based style grid:

bun run scripts/preview_server.ts

Opens at http://localhost:3456 with:

• Thumbnail grid of all styles
• Click to view full size
• Filter by category
• Search by name
• Copy style ID on click

List Styles (CLI)

Output styles as JSON for scripting:

# List all styles
bun run scripts/list_styles.ts

# Filter by category
bun run scripts/list_styles.ts --category movement

# Search by name
bun run scripts/list_styles.ts --search "art deco"

# Output specific fields
bun run scripts/list_styles.ts --fields id,shortName,promptHints

Fetch Reference Images

Download reference images from museum APIs:

# Fetch all styles (creates ~/.cache/gemskills/styles/)
bun run scripts/fetch_styles.ts

# Fetch specific style
bun run scripts/fetch_styles.ts --style impressionism

# Force re-download
bun run scripts/fetch_styles.ts --force

Integration with generate-image

Use styles with the generate-image skill:

# Using style ID
bun run ../generate-image/scripts/generate.ts "mountain landscape" --style impressionism

# Using short name
bun run ../generate-image/scripts/generate.ts "portrait" --style ukiy

The style's promptHints are prepended to your prompt automatically.

Style Registry

Styles are defined in /styles/styles.json at the plugin root. Each style includes:

{
  "id": "impressionism",
  "shortName": "impr",
  "name": "Impressionism",
  "category": "movement",
  "era": "1860-1890",
  "artists": ["Monet", "Renoir", "Pissarro"],
  "promptHints": "visible brushstrokes, pure unmixed colors...",
  "sources": [
    {"api": "met", "objectId": 437133, "title": "Water Lilies"}
  ]
}

Reference Images

Reference images are fetched from museum APIs with CC0/public domain licenses:

• Metropolitan Museum of Art - Primary source, 492K+ images, no auth required
• Rijksmuseum - 800K+ images, CC-BY license
• Art Institute of Chicago - 50K+ IIIF images

Images are cached locally at ~/.cache/gemskills/styles/<style-id>/:

• thumb.jpg - 256x256 thumbnail for preview grid
• ref-1.jpg, ref-2.jpg - Full resolution reference images

Adding Custom Styles

To add a custom style, edit /styles/styles.json:

1. Choose a unique id (lowercase, hyphens)
2. Assign a 4-character shortName
3. Write descriptive promptHints (comma-separated descriptors)
4. Optionally add Met Museum objectIds for reference images

Then run bun run scripts/fetch_styles.ts --style <your-style-id> to download references.

See Also

• references/museum-apis.md - API documentation for image sources
• references/style-catalog.md - Full descriptions of all 100+ styles
• references/prompt-hints.md - Detailed prompt engineering guidance