The Versatile Master Artist

Someone kindly reminded.

By now, many colleagues were already standing behind the chubby assistant, wanting to see what the new illustrator’s draft looked like.

”Hmph, must have some strong connections... Doesn’t look like a proper illustrator, without a signed gallery or studio, and the agent is called Mr. Tree Sloth, which is likely just a screen name. Still using that online commission stuff, not formal at all.”

The colleague’s tone softened considerably, yet still muttered under their breath: ”It’s only because we’re a large group. With such a makeshift troupe and some small companies, you wouldn’t even know how the draft was sold.”

An excellent agent’s other role is to manage contracts, striving for more benefits for the painter.

Some rookie illustrators encounter unscrupulous clients, and after completing a project with great effort, they receive nothing due to unnoticed clauses in the contract, getting scammed into working for free or even losing money. It’s not unheard of.

”Well, what are you standing there for? Open it and have a look.”

Someone urged the chubby assistant.

The chubby assistant opened the email, and then, he froze for a moment.

This was not what he imagined—a situation where the online illustrator simply sent the completed draft to his email and was done with it.

On the contrary, it was a very long and detailed email.

”A prepayment of twenty-four percent, cover signature rights, payment distributed monthly on the basis of sales...”

As the chubby assistant scrolled down the email.

Mr. Tree Sloth, the agent on the other side, made many demands for the illustrator in a polite yet very firm tone.

Some colleagues who were already annoyed with Detective Cat sarcastically remarked, ”Making quite a name for themselves with all these demands without even a formal contract. If they actually secured a formal contract, imagine how troublesome it would be.”

”Wow! This Mr. Tree Sloth really knows his stuff.” The supervisor, also watching, shook his head.

The supervisor was a direct subordinate of Osborne and had no major issues with Detective Cat.

More importantly, he found the agent named Mr. Tree Sloth to be quite formidable indeed.

The demands seemed numerous and detailed, yet could only be described as very professional, not excessive.

When illustrators trade with publishers,

the biggest problem is the payment cycle being too slow.

Many payments drag on for more than a year after the book is launched, with six months being considered fast. A large group like Scholastic, with a relatively ample cash flow, can actually afford to prepay 10% to 25% of the remuneration as a prepayment.

Of course,

no one would complain about having more in their account. If you don’t actively seek these rights, the publisher won’t offer them to you.

Next is the signature rights. Signature rights are legal rights inherently given to illustrators, essentially letting people know that you created the artwork.

Unless it’s ghostwriting in some gray area, most contracts would provide illustrators with signing rights.

However, how it’s given is also important.

An illustrator’s signature is not required to be on the book; leaving a line of small print on the copyright page that no one notices would be considered generous by the publisher.

Most readers who buy the book do not know who illustrated it.

The request for cover signature rights means having a label on the cover stating [Illustration - Detective Cat], in addition to the original author and translator.

This demand is challenging.

For an illustrator, having their name printed on the cover of a work expected to sell millions of copies over its entire sales cycle is naturally a dream come true.

However, generally speaking, illustration or layout design is not considered as important as the text author.

Publishers are reluctant to give such prime cover space to an illustrator.

Unless you’re so famous that fans are willing to pay for your name, like a legendary painter such as Andy Warhol.

But considering the uniqueness and number of illustrations for ”Little Prince,” it’s not entirely off the table. By comparison, the post-launch monthly sales-based payments seem really minor.

Mr. Tree Sloth handled the key contract issues with great skill.

”Very professional indeed!”

The supervisor rubbed his chin, praising.

By raising these demands at the draft stage, it can be said that the agent is very straightforward.

He not only knows the business very well but also has ample confidence in Detective Cat securing this formal contract.

Either Mr. Tree Sloth is very confident in the quality of Detective Cat’s work, or he is very confident in Detective Cat’s connections in the group’s upper management.

Or both.

The supervisor became even more curious about this online illustrator who could attract the personal attention of Vice President Osborne.

”Now, how about looking at the artwork? Have you downloaded the attachments?”

The supervisor indicated to the chubby assistant to open the attachment at the bottom of the email.

The assistant opened the drafts sent by Detective Cat, turned the computer screen toward everyone, and adjusted the brightness.

A brightly colored illustration appeared before the crowd.

The office fell into a brief silence.

Some people had heard of Detective Cat before; some had not.

But regardless of their familiarity with Detective Cat, these publishing house employees instinctively mistrusted the quality of online illustrators.

Many initially evaluated this assigned illustrator’s work with a mindset of finding flaws.

But now,

they subconsciously felt that this painting looked.

Not bad at all.

”Oh! This painting...”

”It’s indeed quite beautiful.”

”Look at these colors; it really looks like space. Is it oil painting? It looks quite impressive.”

After a few seconds of silence, many people began exchanging their opinions.

Among them were copy editors and layout designers, but few were professional art people.

However, the audience for illustrations is not the professionals but the general public.

These people did not have the stereotypical bias against painting knife art; hardly any of them had even heard of painting knife art.

They simply found the painting beautiful at a glance.

It gave a stunning impression.

”I don’t know much about painting, but it seems... there’s indeed something special about it. The intuitive feel is even better than the illustrations our art department designed before.”

Even the well-informed colleague, who was initially very dissatisfied with Detective Cat taking on illustrator, nodding in surprise at the surprising draft.

After all, everyone and the illustrator share a common interest; seeing Detective Cat unexpectedly deliver such a stunning draft,

the project team’s dissatisfaction with this online artist significantly dissipated.

”What do you think?”

The supervisor asked an uncle beside him, who was an art worker seconded from the art department, the only one from an art background.

”Looks like painting knife art.”

The uncle stared at the chubby assistant’s computer screen, uncertain.

He thought it likely was painting knife art, but the details were just too perfect, weren’t they?

These vivid color pigments, these smoothly flowing elastic curves...

The ordinary office workers only found it beautiful.

As a professional, he knew the difficulty of this painting technique.

He was unsure if this was really made with a hard oil painting knife.

Could painting knife art really reach this level of perfection?

”What’s wrong with painting knife art?”

”This technique is not very popular and is difficult. But... this painting is too perfect.” The uncle cautiously chose his words: ”If I were to describe it, it would be two words: rare and beautiful.”

”Rarely beautiful, beautifully rare.” The uncle murmured his assessment.

”Could you paint a piece like this?” The supervisor asked.

”Me? Don’t be ridiculous, boss.”

”Firstly, I didn’t professionally study oil painting.” The uncle smiled bitterly, ”Secondly, this painting’s details are so perfect it doesn’t look like it’s made by a human.”

”So, should this painting pass the art department’s review?” The supervisor smiled and asked.

”Normally, yes, but...”

The uncle looked around at his colleagues, somewhat hesitant.

He heard that Director Charlie had already put out the word to block Detective Cat’s draft.

In art, if you really want to nitpick, even if Da Vinci were resurrected or Rembrandt possessed someone, you could still find faults.

At least this niche technique posed a problem.

”Understood.”

The supervisor nodded.

He dismissed the colleagues, then leaned down and patted the chubby assistant on the arm.

”Don’t send the draft to the art department yet, use my work card, take the VIP elevator to the 41st floor, find President Osborne, and show him the work on your computer.”

The supervisor quietly instructed.