Couple's Keepsake: Lights Out

Facial likeness comes first. Use the attached couple photo only to identify the same two adults, the exact man and the exact woman. Preserve each person's hairline, haircut, hair texture and colour, brows, eye shape and spacing, nose, lips, cheeks, jaw, chin, age, skin tone, distinguishing marks and existing facial hair or its absence. Do not swap, merge, beautify, slim or replace their faces. The reference is an identity source, not a pose or setting template.

Create one finished vertical 9:16 two-panel keepsake. The upper 52 percent is a full-width real photograph; the lower 48 percent is its designed paper-art companion, joined by a clean horizontal seam. Fill the canvas: no black screenshot margins, letterboxing, phone interface or extra panels. There are exactly two people in each panel: the same couple appears once above and once below, four depictions of only two identities.

In the upper photograph: A familiar living room during a power cut has an open balcony door, a patterned cotton floor mat and two rechargeable lanterns on a low side table. A plain bowl of snacks sits near the bottom edge. The scene is warmly visible, not pitch-black, with no flames or hazardous wiring. He wears a soft plum cotton T-shirt with grey lounge trousers. She wears a pale blue cotton kurta with plum trousers. A small blue-and-plum checked throw lies over their laps, never over their shoulders or hands. They sit on the mat, him on the viewer's right and her on the viewer's left, backs comfortably supported by the sofa edge. His right hand rests on his own knee above the throw, and his left palm rests on the mat beside his hip. She loops her left forearm lightly around his right upper arm, her left hand resting visibly on his sleeve. Her right hand rests open on her own knee. Their heads incline slightly together without hiding either face. Use a seated eye-level 65mm composition including heads, hands and knees. They look toward the lens with an amused, conspiratorial smile, like they have decided this inconvenience is now a date. Broad warm-white lantern light comes from the camera side at face height, with gentle ambient fill from the balcony. All four eyes remain clear, skin tones natural and facial shadows soft. Preserve true skin texture, real fabric weight, sharp eyes and natural adult body proportions. Keep the important gesture fully inside this panel rather than cutting hands at the seam.

In the lower panel, use soft graphite-and-pastel portrait rendering with pale blue and plum accents, retaining the reference features instead of reducing faces to silhouettes on light lavender drawing paper. Repeat the precise photographed moment: same left-right positions, face angles, expressions, clothes, hand ownership and props. Do not mirror the couple or invent a second pose. Keep them large in the centre and lower portion, with clean side spaces for lettering; simplify the background instead of reducing the people to tiny figures. Translate texture into drawing, never facial anatomy: no anime eyes, baby faces, generic illustrated lovers or changed skin tone. A tiny outlined light bulb and a simple lantern drawing sit in opposite lower corners. A dotted line between them turns briefly into one heart, while a small checked-paper patch echoes the throw.

Letter only the lower panel, using legible deep charcoal handwriting with open letterforms and restrained flourishes. In the empty left area, print these exact lines from top to bottom: "Lights" then "went out.". In the empty right area, print these exact lines from top to bottom: "We stayed" then "bright.". Quotation marks are instructions, not printed characters. Preserve spelling, punctuation and line order; render each caption once, large enough to read on a phone. Text and doodles must not overlap faces, hair, hands or each other. Leave comfortable outer margins; keep the photograph free of lettering.

Each person has two anatomically plausible arms and hands within each panel; fingers and touching limbs remain distinct, and cropped anatomy continues naturally. Add no bystanders, reflected people, extra limbs, speech bubbles, extra captions, logos, watermarks, dates, numbers or unrelated writing. Match both identities between panels before adding ornament; reduce doodles, never likeness or caption readability, when space is tight.