22.09.2026. Built-in OpenAI image generation in Codex.
These are actual tool prompts; Russian prompts in the article are adapted reader-facing versions. No real child photograph was used. The story text is an editorial work with AI, not a separately recorded ChatGPT browser session. Image model version was not exposed by the tool.

1. Initial generation -> scene-1-before.png
Create a finished warm watercolor and colored-pencil children's picture-book illustration, landscape 3:2. Entirely fictional girl age 6, short chestnut bob with straight fringe, round face, yellow raincoat with two big pockets, teal boots, red knitted scarf. She stands in a cozy garden beside a small friendly hedgehog and holds a tiny unlit paper star lantern. Blue dusk, golden cottage windows, cream paper texture, sophisticated restrained colors, gentle expressive faces, airy composition. This is the first scene of an original story 'Mila and the lantern for a hedgehog': she has just met the hedgehog near a currant bush. No real person reference. No text, letters, logos, frames, collage or watermark. All hands anatomically coherent. One single full illustration.

2. Edit. Reference: scene-1-before.png -> scene-1.png
Edit this exact illustration. Change ONLY the paper star lantern and light attributable to it: it must be clearly UNLIT, opaque cool grey-beige folded paper, no yellow glow, no translucent luminous surface, no illuminated ground beneath it. Remove decorative star shaped holes; it has solid closed faces at this story stage. Keep child's identity, face, clothes, scarf, boots, hedgehog, composition, house windows and watercolor pencil style unchanged. This is the failed unlit lantern at the beginning of a story, not a functioning light.

3. New scene. Reference: scene-1-before.png -> scene-2.png
Use reference ONLY for consistent fictional character and watercolor pencil style. Create a NEW single landscape 3:2 story illustration. Same 6-year-old girl Mila, chestnut bob with fringe, yellow raincoat, teal boots, red knitted scarf and friendly hedgehog. New scene: Mila sits at a mint garden bed, working carefully on the same paper star lantern, gently opening its broad folded paper flaps into large windows with her fingers. The star is UNLIT opaque beige paper, NO glowing lantern. One tiny firefly freely flying above mint. Hedgehog watches. Cozy blue dusk. Keep face, age, clothes and style consistent, change pose and setting composition. No text, letters, scissors, candle, fire, logos or collage. Single finished picture-book illustration.

4. New scene. Reference: scene-1.png -> scene-3.png
Use reference for same fictional girl Mila and same watercolor pencil style, not same composition. New final story scene, landscape 3:2 single illustration. Same 6-year-old chestnut bob with fringe, round face, yellow raincoat, teal boots, red knitted scarf. At a tiny hedgehog home beneath roots of an apple tree, Mila hangs a beige folded paper star-shaped lantern on a low branch. The star has broad open folded windows, like a miniature airy pavilion, and TWO tiny glowing fireflies sit visibly on its rim. Gentle faint magical light. Same friendly hedgehog stands at entrance looking at her. Cozy blue dusk, soft restrained colors, cream paper texture. Preserve age and recognizable identity and clothes. No text, logos, candles, fire, additional people, collage. All figures fit frame; no obscured face.