Whimsical Winter Lantern Festival

Create a richly detailed whimsical storybook illustration of a winter night lantern festival in a cozy village, in the style of a hand-painted children’s picture book with gouache and colored-pencil texture. Set the scene under a deep navy star-filled sky with glowing circular stars and tiny snow-like speckles. The ground is pale icy blue snow, framed by dense decorative shrubs and tall coral, teal, blue, orange, and yellow trees. Use a wide cinematic canvas, approximately 16:9.

Scene: A small village prepares for {argument name="festival theme" default="a glowing paper lantern festival"}. Show exactly 5 warm wooden cottages with dark blue tiled roofs: 1 large cropped cottage on the far left, 1 small lit cottage left of center, 1 small cottage in the middle background, 1 cottage right of center with round attic window, and 1 large cropped cottage on the far right decorated with garlands. All cottage windows glow warm yellow-orange.

Main layout: Place a tall central wooden pole or A-frame structure slightly left of center, wrapped with golden garlands and topped with a red starburst ornament. Hang strings of triangular bunting in orange, blue, red, and yellow across the sky. Add glowing paper lanterns in red, orange, yellow, and cream throughout the scene, both hanging and being carried. Include exactly 3 ladders: 1 ladder on the far left with a villager hanging a lantern, 1 tall central ladder/A-frame supporting decorations, and 1 ladder leaning against the right cottage with a villager decorating.

Characters and counts: Include exactly 18 small stylized villagers with childlike proportions, round faces, simple dot eyes, rosy cheeks, and winter clothing in deep blue, red, green, orange, brown, and cream. Count and place them as follows: 1 person on the far-left ladder holding a red lantern; 1 child near the central ladder holding an orange lantern; 2 villagers left foreground exchanging a red lantern; 1 teal-coated villager and 1 small orange-haired child near the left path; 1 red-coated child in the lower-left foreground holding a lantern; 2 villagers at the central wooden worktable arranging lanterns; 1 blue-coated woman near center carrying a lantern; 1 orange-coated man near a flower stand; 1 dark-blue vendor behind a small display table; 2 small villagers in the right background walking away; 1 woman in an apron holding branches; 1 small green-coated child holding a basket; 1 orange-coated woman carrying branches; and 1 witch-hat-like dark-blue figure on the far right hanging garlands. Add exactly 1 black cat sitting near the central-left work area.

Props: Include exactly 1 central wooden worktable covered with paper lanterns and floral sprigs, exactly 3 wooden crates filled with lanterns and flowers around it, exactly 1 small flower display stand in the mid-right background, exactly 2 large barrels or tubs with branches near the right cottage, and scattered baskets of flowers and branches. Make the lanterns glow softly and cast warm highlights on nearby faces, snow, and wood.

Visual style: Use a magical, cozy, highly detailed folk-art aesthetic with flattened perspective, delicate linework, dense ornamental foliage, soft warm window light, and a peaceful festive mood. The palette should contrast cool midnight blues and icy snow with warm lantern oranges, reds, and yellows. No text, no captions, no watermark, no modern objects, no photorealism.