Elastic Comedy

Turn a familiar subject into a manic, rubbery comic-book gag. A supplied face stays recognizable; arms, gestures and props are allowed to stretch far past the possible; a described scene keeps its content but gets louder; a context becomes one big physical joke. Deliver the image itself.

Required capabilities and resources

• Use an image-generation/editing tool. For a photograph, use an actual image edit with the photograph attached as the edit target. Do not reconstruct it from a description alone.
• Use netsi-prompt-generator for the internal image prompt. If it is installed, read its instructions. Otherwise read the bundled, complete copy at references/prompt-generator.md and apply that skill's workflow to the prompt subtask.
• Read references/style-profile.md before composing the prompt, and references/tweaks.md when adjustments or a comparison are relevant.
• Inspect the bundled generated examples in https://assets.netsi.dk/skills/netsi-style-like-elastic-comedy/images/ as anonymous visual calibration, especially https://assets.netsi.dk/skills/netsi-style-like-elastic-comedy/images/04-stretching-waiter.png for stretch and background gags and https://assets.netsi.dk/skills/netsi-style-like-elastic-comedy/images/02-car.png for how a real face stays intact while a gesture stretches. When the image tool supports multiple references, supply the input photograph as the edit target and a relevant bundled illustration as the style reference only. In a new scene, the bundled illustrations are style references only. Never copy their subject, composition, identity or labels into the user's result. Do not redistribute historical research scans.
• The prompt generator's output contract applies internally: its English prompt goes to the image tool. The parent skill's user-facing deliverable remains the finished image.
• If image generation is unavailable, say that clearly in the user's language. Do not label an English prompt or a mockup as a generated image. Never silently substitute a different provider or paid API.

Recognize one of three inputs

A — Image. Inspect the photograph. Record the person or subject, face proportions, age, expression, pose, hands, clothing, glasses, recognizable accessories, objects, framing and meaningful setting. Preserve these unless the user explicitly asks to change them. The face, hair, accessories and the meaning of the gesture are fixed; the stretch belongs to limbs, props and the surroundings. Retain the input aspect ratio by default. A style reference is a different role from the edit target; do not swap them.

B — Scene. Extract who or what is present, actions, setting, composition and any explicit constraints. Keep the scene's content and turn its main action into the elastic gag: whoever does the most gets the stretch. If no aspect ratio is supplied, use 16:9 for a scene; follow a stated medium such as a square social post instead when provided.

C — Context. Extract the message, audience, mood and destination from the supplied text or conversation. Choose a concrete, original physical gag in which stretching, coiling or snapping expresses the idea. Do not invent facts, numbers, quotations or branding. Make the message understandable without text by default. Ask only if materially different interpretations prevent a useful result. Use the requested destination's aspect ratio, otherwise 16:9.

If inputs are combined, infer their roles: for example, an image is the subject and a paragraph supplies the illustration's message. Ask one focused question only when the roles conflict.

Optional adjustments: zero to three

The canonical controls are Stretch, Color, and Gags. Values and defaults live in the tweaks reference. Never weaken the identity of this style by changing its bouncy contour and elastic anatomy to a generic filter or another medium.

If the request is clear, apply the explicit values or defaults and generate immediately. Do not require a questionnaire. If the user asks to explore, requests a materially ambiguous adjustment, or a meaningful unresolved choice would change the result, use an AskUserQuestion interaction: the environment's interactive question tool, or the same concise question in chat when no such tool is available.

Offer at most three relevant tweak controls. Ask one focused question at a time, explain its visual effect in plain language, place the recommended/default answer first, and allow a custom answer and discussion. Where tool schemas add free text automatically, do not duplicate it with a fake option. Infer answers already supplied. Do not mistake silence for consent to a material change. If the user simply wants the default image, no question is needed.

Translate questions, explanations and choices into the user's language. Canonical parameter values stay English in prompts and grid labels. Natural-language requests such as "lad armene strække sig helt vildt" may be mapped directly to a suitable value (Stretch = Unbound) without asking again.

Respect a scene's stated mood and content: a calm, serious portrait for a profile page implies Stretch = Springy and Gags = None, and a request for "a clean background" implies Gags = None. Stated content takes precedence over a style default.

Generate, inspect, deliver

1. Inspect the input and identify its type and invariants.
2. Load the detailed style profile. Resolve any relevant optional adjustments.
3. Apply netsi-prompt-generator to form one self-contained internal prompt with role, task, context/constraints and output format. Explicitly set the entire image-tool prompt to English, regardless of the dialogue language. Preserve requested in-image text verbatim in its requested language; this is the only language exception inside the English instructions.
4. Include the profile's core traits, their priorities, selected tweak values and the input's exact preservation constraints. Decide which limb, prop or object carries the stretch, and describe it concretely. If Gags is not None, choose the background gags yourself from the setting and describe them. Use descriptive traits only. Do not mention artist names, named fictional characters, existing works, signatures or imitation slogans.
5. Generate or edit the actual image. For a local edit target, inspect it before editing and pass the file through the image tool's supported reference mechanism.
6. Inspect the result: recognize the subject; check face, expression, accessories and the meaning of the hand gesture; check scene content; check the bouncy contour, the clearly readable stretch, squash-and-stretch motion, flat bright printed colors and any background gags; check that stretched limbs still connect correctly and hands have the right number of fingers. The style must reshape the drawing, not merely warp a photograph.
7. If a material defect exists, make a focused revision and inspect again. Keep a consistent target identity and do not silently alter the scene to make the drawing easier.
8. Deliver the finished image, with at most a short useful caption in the user's language. Keep the internal prompt hidden unless the user explicitly asks for it. Save final project-bound assets in that project's folder; do not overwrite the source photograph.

Never turn a person into a costumed stretchy hero, an animal or a known cartoon character, and never stretch or melt a supplied face. People keep their own clothes. Elastic exaggeration is for arms, legs, necks of invented figures, props and the world around the subject.

Comparison grids

When requested, create one 16:9 image with 4 columns × 3 rows (12 image cells). Use the same subject, identity, pose, objects and crop in every cell. Reserve a legible label strip under each image, inside the overall canvas. Labels contain the exact English parameter names and values, never artist names. Use the schedule in references/tweaks.md: it includes the default and varies Stretch and Color while keeping Gags at Few. A matrix may explore Gags instead if requested, but must state the exact changed values.

Generate the artwork with the image tool. Use supported layout/text composition tools to assemble a precise grid if available; do not use code to imitate the illustration or warp a photograph as a substitute. A single image-tool call may render the complete labeled grid. Verify 12 cells, order, visible differences, literal labels and a 16:9 canvas (allow one pixel of integer raster rounding) before delivering. Regenerate if lettering or structure is wrong.

Do not claim pixel-identical identity or perfectly isolated experimental control: image generation can vary details. Aim for faithful, visually comparable variations and disclose a material limitation if it remains.

Start with an example

• Attach a photograph: "Apply this style. Keep the face, pose and surroundings recognizable."
• Describe a scene: "A waiter carries a tower of plates through a crowded café while one arm stretches across the whole room to catch a falling cup."
• Supply context: "Illustrate juggling far too many tasks at once, for a newsletter article about workload. No text in the image."
• Explore adjustments: "Show my attached lakeside portrait in a 4 × 3 comparison grid with English tweak labels."

The bundled examples are https://assets.netsi.dk/skills/netsi-style-like-elastic-comedy/images/01-pool.png and https://assets.netsi.dk/skills/netsi-style-like-elastic-comedy/images/02-car.png (photographs), https://assets.netsi.dk/skills/netsi-style-like-elastic-comedy/images/03-tweak-grid.png (the comparison grid), https://assets.netsi.dk/skills/netsi-style-like-elastic-comedy/images/04-stretching-waiter.png (scene) and https://assets.netsi.dk/skills/netsi-style-like-elastic-comedy/images/05-too-many-tasks-context.png (context). See EXAMPLES.md, when present, for source photos and settings.