Finding References
Finding references is the first step of any creative project, and also the easiest place to waste time. Nephele strings the entire "search, filter, save, use" pipeline together, so you no longer have to bounce back and forth between your browser, your file folders, and your drawing software.
Let the Agent Find Them for You
The most direct approach: tell Nephele what you want, and it plans its own search strategy, calls the tools, and pulls the results together.
You can say things like:
- "Find me some cyberpunk-style reference images"
- "Check out the trending mecha illustrations on Pixiv lately"
- "Find a few pose references that suit chibi character art"
- "Gather some details of windows and doors on European-style architecture"
Nephele opens the browser, searches, downloads, and organizes on its own, then presents the results to you as cards. You check the images you want and save them to a local folder or to Eagle in one click.
技巧
When finding references, try to describe a concrete scene rather than a vague style word. For example, "neon signboards in a cyberpunk night scene" works better than just "cyberpunk."
Search Sources
Nephele's reference search pulls from multiple sources concurrently, split into two categories.
Ready out of the box — cloud image libraries + your local library, no extra setup required:
| Source | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pixiv | Japanese-style illustration, character design | The top pick for illustrators. Automatically translates Chinese keywords into Japanese before searching |
| Konachan | Multi-tag, wallpaper-grade illustration | Anime tag search, large library (SFW) |
| Wikimedia Commons | Real-world references | Architecture, history, artifacts, nature, ethnic cultures, and more, under CC / public-domain licenses; resolves Chinese entity names into authoritative English names before searching |
| Eagle local library | Your own collection | Reads your local asset library — controllable results, fast |
Requires the Wisp browser extension — collected through your own real browser:
| Source | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Color schemes, composition, mood inspiration | Automatically translates Chinese into English tags before searching | |
| ArtStation | Concept design, environments, realistic styles | Scrapes portfolios through your real browser |
| Huaban | Chinese design references | Chinese-first, keeps the original keywords |
提示
Sites like Pinterest / ArtStation / Huaban have strong anti-scraping measures, and headless browsers are easily blocked. So Nephele hands them off to the Wisp browser bridge — using your own already-logged-in real browser to collect, which both bypasses the anti-scraping and reuses your login session. When you need these sources, first confirm that the Wisp status in the sidebar shows "Connected," then tell Nephele "also look on Pinterest / ArtStation."
技巧
The anime cloud image libraries — Pixiv / Konachan — are all locked to the SFW (all-ages) range.
Reusing Your Local Assets
Many illustrators overlook one fact: your own asset library often understands you better than the internet does.
If you've already built up a large stash of reference images in Eagle, Nephele can help you:
- Filter by tag — provided you've completed Library Indexing
- Similar-image search — upload a sketch and find the assets in your library that are stylistically closest. See Similar-Image Search for details
- Text-to-image search — describe the picture in a sentence and retrieve the assets that match it most closely in meaning
提示
The quality of similar-image search and text-to-image search depends directly on how complete your library index is. If you haven't indexed yet, both of these features will be significantly less effective.
Saving and Organizing
Once you've found references, you have several ways to handle them:
| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| Save locally | Downloads to a folder you choose, sorted automatically by date |
| Save to Eagle | Imports directly into Eagle, where you can add tags, ratings, and notes |
| Pin to reference board | Pops out an always-on-top window so you can draw and look at the same time |
| Batch select | Handle multiple images at once with a single unified action |
The Agent can also help you with the follow-up organizing:
- "Import all the reference images I just downloaded into Eagle and tag them by style"
- "Move the images tagged 'mechanical' in my 'references' folder into the 'mecha references' folder"
Using References
The ultimate point of finding references is to use them. Nephele offers two ways to do that:
- Reference board — pin images onto a borderless always-on-top window; once locked, it becomes click-through, sitting directly over PS or CSP
- 3D preview — double-click a PMX model in Eagle to view it directly, no need to open Blender or MMD
For detailed usage, see Reference Board and 3D Preview.
A Complete Reference-Finding Workflow
Here's a reference workflow you can actually put to use:
- Tell the Agent what you need — "Find some interior references of Gothic cathedrals"
- Browse the search results — by default Nephele only searches your local Eagle library; if you want online image sources, just say so, e.g. "also look on Pixiv / Pinterest"
- Batch select — pick out the 5–8 that best fit your needs
- Save to Eagle — automatically tagged "Gothic," "architecture," "interior"
- Expand with similar-image search — use one of the images in Eagle to run a similarity search and discover more references in the same style
- Pin to the reference board — pin the final 3–4 images to your screen
- Lock the reference board — Ctrl + Shift + L, and start drawing
The whole workflow never requires leaving Nephele, no manually saving images, no renaming, no switching windows.
Finding References Tool, in Detail
If you want to know the details behind the tool, or you'd rather run it manually from the toolbox, here's the full rundown.
Search Sources
The cloud image libraries (Pixiv / Konachan / Wikimedia Commons) and your Eagle local library work out of the box and query concurrently; Pinterest / ArtStation / Huaban go through the Wisp browser bridge and require the extension to be online:
| Source | Search method | Requirement | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pixiv | Cloud proxy | Out of the box | Highest Japanese search quality, automatic Chinese→Japanese translation |
| Konachan | Cloud proxy | Out of the box | Anime tag search, SFW |
| Wikimedia Commons | Cloud proxy | Out of the box | Real-world image source (architecture / history / artifacts / nature / ethnic cultures), CC / public domain; automatically resolves Chinese entity names into authoritative English names |
| Eagle local library | Local file system | Library path configured | Searches assets you've already collected, fast and controllable |
| Wisp real browser | Requires Wisp online | Inspiration board recommendations, automatic Chinese→English tags | |
| ArtStation | Wisp real browser | Requires Wisp online | Concept design, environments, realistic styles |
| Huaban | Wisp real browser | Requires Wisp online | Plenty of Chinese design resources |
Running It Manually from the Toolbox
Find "Find References" in the toolbox, enter your keywords, and run it. This suits cases where you already know exactly what to search for and don't need the Agent's help reasoning it out.
Handling the Results
When the search finishes, an image picker pops up, and the top-left corner of each result card labels its source (Pixiv / Konachan / Wikimedia / Pinterest / ArtStation / Huaban / Eagle). You can batch-select across sources and then run a single action on all of them:
| Action | Notes |
|---|---|
| Save locally | Downloads to a folder you choose, sorted automatically by date |
| Save to Eagle | Imports into Eagle, where you can add tags, ratings, and notes |
| Pin to reference board | Pops out an always-on-top window so you can draw and look at the same time |
| Batch action | Select multiple images at once and run the same action on all of them |
FAQ
What if I get no results?
The tool returns the status of each source (success / no match / network unreachable / login required). If every source comes back empty, the Agent tells you honestly and suggests you try different keywords, check your network, or confirm whether your Eagle library actually has relevant assets.
Pixiv turns up nothing, but I want to see what's on Pinterest?
Just tell the Agent "also look on Pinterest" or "search ArtStation," and the tool will enable those sources through Wisp — provided the Wisp extension is connected (check the sidebar status). That's also why these sources don't run by default: they depend on your real browser being online.
Can I tell it to search only one specific platform?
The Agent picks the sources automatically based on what you need. You can steer it through conversation, for example "only search the Eagle local library" or "only look on Pinterest."