# Spoken Institute — Illustration Brief
## Visual consistency guide for all 5 scenes

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## The Core Rule
**One teacher. Full body. Center frame. Every scene.**

He is the fixed point. The world — settings, people, environments — changes around him. He never changes. His position in the frame never changes. You always know where he is.

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## The Character

| Attribute | Spec |
|-----------|------|
| Age | Mid-30s |
| Build | Slim, average height |
| Hair | Light brown, wavy, slightly across forehead |
| Beard | Neat, dark — always present, never clean-shaven |
| Shirt | White linen, untucked, top button open, sleeves rolled to forearm |
| Pants | Light beige chinos |
| Shoes | Simple leather sandals or shoes |
| Energy | Still. Calm. Present. The eye of the storm. |

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## Illustration Style

**Rough painted.** Not clean linework. Not digital polish. Not photorealistic.

Think: loose editorial painting. Ink sketch with watercolor or gouache wash over it. Gestural. Fast-looking. Confident marks. The kind of illustration where you can see the hand.

**Palette:**
- Black ink for structure and linework
- Warm off-white / cream for the paper/ground
- One warm accent wash — amber, ochre, or dusty terracotta — for light and scene warmth
- No full color. Max 2-3 tones total.

**What it is NOT:**
- Not clean vector illustration
- Not New Yorker editorial (too precise)
- Not comics/manga
- Not photorealistic rendering
- Not AI-smooth. The roughness is intentional and valuable.

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## Framing Rules (Every Scene)

1. **Teacher center-frame, full body** — head to toe visible or nearly so
2. **Wide enough to show context** — we see the environment around him
3. **The world populates the edges** — people, architecture, landscape frame him but don't crowd him
4. **He faces the action** — back to us (Scenes 1 + 5), three-quarter or facing us (Scenes 2, 3, 4)
5. **Generous negative space** — he breathes. Don't fill every inch.

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## Setting: Modern Israel

Israeli architecture — not ancient, not biblical.
- Flat concrete overhangs and ceilings
- Clean horizontal lines
- Glass walls and open courtyards
- Raw concrete and white plaster — but modern, not medieval
- Open to the outside — landscape visible through doors and glass

**Not:** stone arches, ancient walls, olive trees, biblical textures.
**Yes:** Bauhaus-influenced modernism, 1960s-70s Israeli campus architecture, contemporary glass + concrete.

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## The 5 Scenes at a Glance

| Scene | Teacher position | Environment | What surrounds him |
|-------|-----------------|-------------|-------------------|
| 1 — The List | Back to us | Huge chalkboard, modern campus | The board fills the right side, covered in concept words |
| 2 — The Physicist | Three-quarter, facing the room | Outdoor pergola/covered space | Students in loose arc debating, whiteboard alive |
| 3 — The Mentor | Leaning slightly, facing a student | Covered terrace, concrete columns | One young woman across from him, coffee cups between |
| 4 — The Connector | Seated/leaning at table, among peers | Seminar room, doors open to hills | 5 adults, laptops, diagram on screen, golden light from outside |
| 5 — The Student | Back to us | Rooftop terrace, golden hour | Books spread, hillscape behind him, alone |

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## Consistency Across Scenes

- Same character, same proportions, same clothing — scene to scene
- Same illustration hand — all frames feel like they came from the same sketchbook
- Same palette — you can tell they belong together
- Same framing logic — full body, center, breathing room

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*Brief compiled: 2026-03-13*
*Style direction: rough painted, ink + warm wash, modern Israeli campus, teacher center full body*