24-door advent calendar art on Qwen Image: cost and ratio on Sume

Qwen Image bills $0.025 per image on Sume, so 24 advent doors cost $0.60 and a full second pass of retakes brings the doors to $1.20. Qwen Image accepts up to 10 reference images, which is how you keep one illustration style across all 24 doors.

Advent runs from December 1 to 24, so December 1, 2026 is the delivery date to plan around. Facts are from the Sume Image API docs and catalog (read 2026-10-03).

Budget by pass

The n limit on Qwen Image is 4, so the four anchor candidates fit in a single call; the doors are 24 separate calls.

Keep the doors consistent

Pick the winning anchor, then pass it as the reference in every door call and repeat a fixed style sentence. Vary only the object behind each door. Qwen Image Max is the same family but lists no reference images, so it cannot do this step; stay on Qwen Image for the doors.

Qwen Image lists specific ratios and no auto, so send an explicit one. 3:4 suits a printed door card; 1:1 suits a social countdown.

• Send aspect_ratio: "3:4" on every call.
• Leave the door number out of the prompt and add it in layout; generated numerals vary between takes.
• Host the anchor on your own storage; reference URLs must be public HTTPS.

One door

Only the prompt object changes from door to door.

{
  "model": "qwen/qwen-image",
  "prompt": "Same paper-cut style and palette as image 1: a hedgehog carrying a lantern",
  "aspect_ratio": "3:4",
  "input_references": [
    {"type": "image_url", "image_url": {"url": "https://example.com/anchor.png"}}
  ]
}