[Before and after: a reference image and a new scene made with the system]
No. 005
AI system · 2026
Manuscrito Tequila
Manuscrito engraving system
Written rules and reference images that help new label scenes match the engraved style already on the shelf.
What it needed to do
Manuscrito’s labels carry engraved scenes, and new releases need new ones. Some scenes also have to carry on past the edge of one label into the label beside it. Every new scene should look like it came from the same hand as the ones already on the shelf.
An image model on its own drifts from one picture to the next. This system is a set of written rules meant to hold it to one style.
What I built
It’s a Claude project, made of written files:
- Project instructions, which say what the project is for.
- A master style system, the look every scene has to match.
- Material rendering rules, for how different materials should be drawn.
- A reference hierarchy, which says what each kind of reference image is for.
- Prompt templates, so each new request starts from the same place.
Each image prompt takes a style reference and a content reference. The style reference is used for style only. The content reference sets what is shown and how it’s composed. When a scene continues from a neighboring label, that label’s art goes in as well, so the scene can carry on across the edge.
The style it holds
The system locks one style: vintage hand-engraved commercial illustration from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The rules spell out what that means:
- directional hatching
- crosshatching built up through density
- no glow, so light comes only from how dense the hatching is
- warm paper showing through
- a hand-colored tint
What I control
I decide what each scene shows, and I choose which results go forward. Nothing AI-made reaches a client without my review, and nothing ships without the client’s sign-off. For Manuscrito, every scene comes to me first and goes to them before it goes anywhere near a label.
The scene at the top of this page is from the Chapter Two label. I show it here for its style, which is the style the system is written to hold.
Before and after
[before-and-after images to come] [A content reference beside the finished scene, and one scene carried across two neighboring labels.]
The system is for the releases coming next. [Which released scenes, if any, came from it.]
Where this fits
This is the kind of work I mean by brand systems for AI. If your brand has a look that has to hold across a lot of pieces, written rules and good references help each new piece start closer to it. There’s more on the AI services page.