# Gongbi × Xieyi — composed image prompt
# IndexStyle — https://indexstyle.org/compose?ids=gongbi+xieyi
# Gongbi carries the structure and Xieyi appears as the accent.
# Style descriptors only. This prompt names no artist, studio, brand or work.

Produce four original images that take their structure from Gongbi (technique, historical Chinese painting–present) and their accent from Xieyi (technique, historical Chinese painting–present).

## What to make

Make the kind of thing Gongbi exists for: showing the roles of outlines and colour through enlarged artwork details, or balancing identifiable detail and calm composition in plant or animal publications. Choose one subject and hold it across all four.

## Structure comes from Gongbi

- Fine controlled contours
- Distinct details of feathers, leaves or clothing
- Gentle layers of colour within outlines
- Detailed subjects against a quieter ground

Composition: Establish pose and outline first, separating detailed areas from quieter ground. Type and lettering: Put names and explanations on a separate text surface without covering details.

## Accent comes from Xieyi, used sparingly

- Lines and masses reveal brush speed and pressure
- Dark ink, pale washes and spreading edges
- Abbreviated details still convey a subject's pose
- Tension among writing, subject and open space

Let one material quality come from it: Vary pressure, speed and water in the same brush, testing whether few strokes still convey form.

## Colour and feeling

Build the ground on #DDD1B4, carry the structure in #65735E and #805B45, and let a single accent come from #73766B. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette.
Feeling to carry: technique, calm, exhilaration.

## Where they fight

- Gongbi and Xieyi both belong to East Asian Painting, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
- Gongbi and Xieyi are techniques rather than looks. Decide which one runs last in the process, because that is the one that will show.

## What goes wrong

- Gongbi: Precision alone does not make a picture gongbi. Preserve its painting context, and avoid claiming that close observation excludes expressive meaning.
- Xieyi: Disorder or accidental bleeding alone is insufficient. Read observation and skill behind the abbreviations; do not reduce every example to monochrome improvisation.

## Across the four

Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture.

## Constraints

- Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work.
- Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work.
- Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.

Design specs for each entry: https://indexstyle.org/styles/gongbi/design.md · https://indexstyle.org/styles/xieyi/design.md