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Cathode Hush

Photography: ink contour drawing, scanlines, bloom

Cathode Hush example 1
Cathode Hush model comparison 2
Cathode Hush model comparison 3
Cathode Hush model comparison 4

The prompt

{subject}, rendered as if captured off a dim obsolete CRT monitor at night: near-grayscale and low-saturation, precise manga-ink hairline contour linework in off-black tracing the form, {palette} kept muted and powder-gray, faint horizontal phosphor scanlines over the whole frame, a soft white radial bloom glowing from behind the subject, a low-opacity pale-lavender noise veil, and a few tiny cyan-green status sparks. Matte, never glossy, never neon; quiet, lonely, domestic-technical mood. The subject fills the entire frame edge to edge.

Materials
matte finish, phosphor
Techniques
ink contour drawing, scanlines, bloom

phosphor capture, powder gray, manga ink hairline, crt scanline, low saturation

Slot recipes

How the prompt changes for each kind of picture.

  • Hero: {subject} composed wide and full-bleed, soft white radial bloom centered behind it, scanline veil and lavender noise across the whole frame; the form fills 100% edge to edge with no empty margin.
  • Feature: A single {subject} centered tight in frame, manga-ink hairline contours crisp, gentle bloom behind it, muted powder-gray field; clean and quiet, one small cyan-green spark permitted.
  • Avatar: Close-up of {subject} cropped square and filling the frame, near-grayscale with fine ink linework on the edges, faint scanlines, soft bloom halo; intimate and lonely.
  • Empty state: {subject} small and far within a vast quiet powder-gray field, very faint linework, the lightest scanline veil, a lone soft bloom; absence and silence carry the mood.
  • Illustration: {subject} drawn as layered manga-ink hairline linework over a matte powder-gray ground, scanlines and lavender noise unifying the surface, a couple of cyan-green sparks marking key points; reads as both image and monitor residue.

Guidance

Do

  • Render any subject in near-grayscale powder-gray with only a faint cool lavender cast.
  • Trace the form with precise off-black manga-ink hairlines, thin and deliberate.
  • Lay faint horizontal phosphor scanlines across the entire frame.
  • Place a soft white radial bloom behind the subject as the light source.
  • Add a low-opacity pale-lavender noise veil to unify the surface.
  • Reserve tiny cyan-green status sparks for one or two small accents.
  • Keep the subject filling the frame edge to edge; matte, never glossy.

Don’t

  • Do not use saturated cyberpunk magenta, electric blue floods, or rainbow glitch overlays.
  • Do not render the monitor bezel, UI windows, or apparatus — only the captured subject.
  • Do not add text, captions, or watermarks.
  • Do not use glossy plastic 3D, heavy drop shadows, or glassmorphism blur excess.
  • Do not go to pure black and pure white except for the tiniest phosphor sparks.
  • Do not leave empty whitespace borders around the subject in full-frame slots.
  • Do not add anime characters, fan-art, or literal show references.

In the lineage of

  • Analog CRT broadcast imagery, tradition. dim phosphor capture

A generated style is an aggregate of many influences. Credit goes to the artists and traditions it draws on; it is not a claim of authorship.

Produced by unrecorded, sourced by unrecorded, images by unrecorded

Remix with this style

Apply Cathode Hush to any UI language and swap the palette: the preview takes this style's hero image.