EVGENY MIGUNOV — BLACK & WHITE CHARACTER ILLUSTRATION | LoRA

One weight slider — and the frame transforms into the expressive, psychologically charged black-and-white book illustrations of the Soviet sci-fi golden age. No color, no flat backgrounds: this is the world of pure ink, where every wrinkle, sneer, and wide-eyed stare tells a story through masterful pen hatching and grotesque emotional caricature.

About the Artist & The Style

• Evgeny Migunov (1921–2004) was a legendary Soviet book illustrator, caricaturist, and animation artist, famous for his iconic black-and-white pen-and-ink illustrations for sci-fi novels (Strugatsky brothers, Stanislav Lem, Alexander Belyaev).

• Signature Concept: Emotion as the main detail. The background is minimal; the focus is entirely on the psychological state, facial expressions, and character quirks of the subjects.

• The Manner: Pure monochrome book graphics. Pen, ink, dry brush, and precise crosshatching on white paper. The style relies on the stark contrast of black and white, with gray tonal values achieved strictly through hatching density and expressive, slightly grotesque facial exaggerations.

• Palette & Light: Strictly monochrome — black ink on white paper, pen and ink, dry brush hatching, monochrome tonal wash. No color palettes.

• The Subjects: Mad scientists, bewildered cosmonauts, cynical bureaucrats, time travelers, and ordinary adults facing the absurdities of the future. Strictly adult characters, focusing on mature facial structures and psychological weight.

Tested Generation Settings (Krea2)

Parameter

Value

LoRA

MIGUNOV_krea2_3400430_epoch_20

Base model

Krea2

Steps

8 (Crucial: preserves the crispness of the ink line and prevents the hatching from over-blending into digital gray smudges)

Sampler

Euler A

Scheduler

Bong Tangent

Resolution

1024×1536 (vertical book page) / 1536×1024 (horizontal scene)

LoRA weight

0.95–1.0 (at 1.0 the ink contrast and facial grotesque lock in perfectly)

Positive-only discipline

black and white illustration, pen and ink, expressive facial emotion, adult characters only

Trigger Words

Core Triggers: black and white illustration in the manner of Evgeny Migunov, Soviet book illustration pen and ink, expressive character portraiture Boosters: grotesque facial emotion, precise ink hatching, psychological caricature, white paper background, monochrome tonal wash

Versions

V1 (Epoch 20) — The Monochrome Character Edition. 40 prompts focused entirely on adult psychological states, facial expressions, and satirical sci-fi scenarios.

Rights & Ethics

• Unofficial style study capturing the mid-century Soviet sci-fi book illustration and editorial caricature manner.

• Strict Age Discipline: The dataset and prompts are heavily filtered to exclude minors. All characters are explicitly defined as adults (25–60+). Global negative prompt required: no children, no school scenes, no child figures, no teenagers.

Technical Notes & QA

• The Monochrome Lock: The model is strictly black and white. If any sepia, yellowed paper, or color bleeds into the generation, add strictly monochrome, pure black ink on pure white paper, no color, no grayscale wash to the positive prompt, and color, sepia, tint to the negative.

• The Emotion & Grotesque Lock: Migunov's faces are not photorealistic; they are psychological caricatures. Tokens like grotesque facial emotion, exaggerated weary despair, manic enthusiasm, and skeptical squint force the model to push the facial anatomy into expressive, slightly distorted territory rather than smooth, generic AI faces.

• The Hatching Lock: To prevent the model from generating smooth digital shading, the tokens precise ink hatching, dry brush crosshatching, and pen and ink line art are heavily weighted. The 8-step Krea2 configuration is essential here; higher step counts will cause the ink lines to melt into soft airbrushing.

• Test-Five for QA: Lines 1 (mad scientist), 10 (bureaucrat), 15 (robot inspector), 23 (mad scientist glee), and 40 (final master plate). If the faces show deep, expressive ink wrinkles and the background remains stark white paper, the LoRA is locked and ready for publication as the "Black & White Character Illustration" volume.