SRAI · Semi-Realistic Animation Illustration

Create a storyboard in a 3x3 grid format, with each panel numbered 1-9 and a short action caption at the bottom of each panel. Use thin white gutters between panels so each one reads as a separate frame.

Story: An anthropomorphic orange tabby cat father returns home from work to find a broken vase and conducts a formal HR-style interview with his seven-year-old human daughter, who is visibly guilty. The tone mixes modern corporate language with traditional family-home setting.

Main characters, keep both visually IDENTICAL across all 9 panels:
- Cat dad: anthropomorphic orange tabby cat, standing upright like a human, wearing an olive-green button-up shirt and round silver reading glasses perched on top of his head, always carrying a manila clipboard.
- The daughter: a seven-year-old Asian girl with a single long black braid, wearing a white t-shirt and rust-red denim overalls. Small, nervous posture.

Art style: Semi-realistic animation illustration, Western animation concept art aesthetic. Semi-realistic animated faces with natural expressive features but simplified smooth contours. Clean black ink linework over soft gradient color washes. Warm glowing tungsten key light in a dim moody Chinese family home interior (wooden furniture, hanging red lantern, framed calligraphy on walls, terracotta floor tiles). Dreamy romantic atmospheric cinematic color grading. Subtle manga-inspired facial simplifications on the cat character. Light film grain. Dust motes in lamp light. Consistent character design across all panels.

Color palette: deep amber and warm tungsten indoor tones throughout, shifting from tense deep-shadow opening to softly-lit warm resolution. Red lantern accent in background panels. Cool night-blue only in the exterior arrival panel.

Panel layout:
- Panels 1-3: Setup — wide shot of shattered ceramic vase on terracotta floor next to toppled wooden stool; cat dad enters through the front door carrying his clipboard, puzzled expression; the daughter peeks around a doorway then tries to slip away upstairs.
- Panels 4-6: Development — cat dad calmly sets up an "interview table" with lamp and clipboard; he puts on his reading glasses and asks formal questions; the daughter sits across from him fidgeting with her braid under the lamp, sweat drop.
- Panels 7-9: Resolution — cat dad's face softens, he pulls out a tube of craft glue from his shirt pocket; the two of them sit on the floor together reconstructing the vase piece by piece; final panel warm close-up of both smiling as the repaired vase stands on a shelf.

Camera variety: wide shot for scene 1 (crime scene), medium for entrance, medium over-shoulder for the hiding attempt, wide for the interview setup, close-up for glasses-going-on moment, close-up for braid-fidgeting, close-up for softening face, medium for joint-repair, warm medium close-up final.

Emotional tone: starts with comedic tension (deadpan noir detective vibe in a warm domestic setting), peaks at formal interrogation (slight nervous humor), lands on tender father-daughter warmth.

Captions in English, short (4-7 words each):
1. Scene of the incident.
2. Lead investigator returns to residence.
3. Primary suspect attempts passive withdrawal.
4. Interview protocol engaged.
5. Reading glasses deployed.
6. Witness fidgets under questioning.
7. Verdict: deferred. Remediation recommended.
8. Joint reconstruction operation.
9. Case closed. Family reinstated.

Cross-Reference

Sister capabilities · same axis