---
title: "Premium Journal Creator with likeness-preserving hero images"
url: "https://kaperkins.com/lab/premium-journal-creator"
author: "Karl Perkins (K.A. Perkins)"
site: "Avodah Dynamics"
category: "Tools"
published: "2026-06-26"
updated: "2026-06-28"
description: "A manual journaling flow that publishes a polished post and regenerates the hero image with the builder's likeness preserved — with one-click downloads of any version."
---

# Premium Journal Creator with likeness-preserving hero images

## Summary

A manual journaling flow that publishes a polished post and regenerates the hero image with the builder's likeness preserved — with one-click downloads of any version.

## Problem

Daily journal posts kept getting blocked on "the image isn't right." The cost of regenerating and downloading was too high.

## Solution

Built /admin/manual-blog with title, body, formatting mode, generate/publish toggle, and a Regenerate button that calls the hero-image generator with an optional prompt override. A per-post Download button pulls the image as a blob.

## Lessons Learned

Removing the image bottleneck unblocked daily publishing immediately. The regenerate button is used 2-3 times per post and that's fine.

## Next Steps

Train a small reference set of likeness images so regen converges faster.

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Source: https://kaperkins.com/lab/premium-journal-creator · Karl Perkins, Avodah Dynamics