Image Block
An Image Block lets you attach a single picture to a character or scene (a portrait, a piece of concept art, a map, a reference photo, anything visual that helps you write). Each character (or scene) keeps their own picture, even though the block design itself is shared across every character (or scene) in your book.
Image Blocks work on the Chapters page too. Drop one into your scene layout for scene-by-scene reference art, location photos, or map fragments. See Chapter Block Types.
Common Uses
- Character portraits: Commissioned art, AI references, or real-life inspirations
- Reference photos: A face you want to capture, a costume, a setting
- Location concept art: Maps of cities, sketches of landmarks, mood boards
- Item visuals: Sketches of weapons, jewelry, or other story-relevant objects
- Scene mood boards: Set the visual tone for a chapter while you write
Adding an Image
Click the dashed rectangle in the empty block (it shows an upload arrow and the words "Click to upload an image") to pick a file from your computer. Penpoint accepts JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, and BMP up to 20 MB.
Once uploaded, hover over the image while you're in edit mode (see View Mode vs Edit Mode) to find the Replace and Remove buttons. Replace swaps in a new picture (the old one is removed from this character or scene), and Remove always asks you to confirm first — your portrait won't disappear from a stray click.
Click any uploaded image to open it in the lightbox (a big pop-up viewer for zooming in on the picture), where you can zoom and pan to inspect detail. Right-click (or Ctrl+click on Mac) the image to Export Image…. Penpoint opens the standard Save window with the character or scene name already filled in, so the file is recognizable even if you're saving several at once.
Tip: Use the Block Title for the role ("Portrait", "Map") and the caption for what's actually in the picture ("Lady Mirabel, age 27"). Each picture has its own caption (added below or above the picture, depending on how you've configured the block), while the Block Title (set in your layout) is shared across every character or scene.
Configuration
To configure an Image Block, go to Settings > Character Sheet Setup (or Settings > Chapter Layout for scenes) and click on the block to reveal its settings panel right below it.
- Block Title: The heading shown on every character or scene that uses this block (e.g. "Portrait", "Reference", "Map").
- Image Fit: Contain (the default) keeps the picture's natural shape: a tall portrait stays tall, a wide landscape stays wide, and the block grows to match. Cover crops the image into a fixed widescreen (16:9) frame so every character's block has the exact same shape, useful when you want a tidy, uniform layout. Heads-up: tall portraits may lose their tops or bottoms in Cover mode, since the picture is cropped to fit the wide frame.
- Caption Position: Where each picture's caption appears. Below or Above shows the caption as a small line of text outside the picture. Overlay places it as a dark bar at the bottom of the image itself. None hides captions entirely (you can still add one from the lightbox).
Tip: For a library of unattached reference images organized into folders, use the Images in the Notebook feature instead. The Image Block is for visuals that belong to a specific character or scene; the Notebook is for everything else.