The Versatile Master Artist

”Lady Detective Cat? Why did you choose to paint such an obscure painting knife oil painting?”

Vellein waited as the elevator rose rapidly, feeling quietly puzzled in his heart.

Upon learning that his contract was snatched by Detective Cat, Vellein didn’t react as angrily as Director Charlie did on the other end of the phone.

Instead, he immediately asked his assistant to find Detective Cat’s previous works.

Vellein does not use YouTube and is unaware of the world’s number one internet celebrity, Mr. Hibernian.

He is a ”traditionalist” who believes modern electronic devices can damage artistic inspiration—a notion not uncommon in the high-end art circles of Europe and America.

He rarely uses internet products and even still uses an old Nokia N91 keypad phone.

His official Twitter and emails are managed by his assistant and agent.

When Vellein saw the photograph of the Batman sketch printed by his assistant, he was stunned by the exquisite strokes at the top.

”This painting is truly beautiful, the precision in the strokes is impeccable, and the hand is incredibly steady.”

This was his first thought.

”I... I probably can’t reach this level.”

This was the second thought that crossed his mind.

Vellein still insists on using traditional paper and pen for drawing, rather than the industry mainstream Wacom or iPad electronic drawing tablets.

The illustrators who still dare to use unchangeable paper and pen for high-end illustrations have sketch lines that are almost never weak.

Vellein is certainly not weak in sketching skills.

Quite the opposite,

Although he prefers using watercolors, his sketching fundamentals are among the strongest in the circle.

Even when he was attending art school, nearly all the awards in sketching competitions were monopolized by Vellein.

He is a master.

He understands how terrifying it is to reach a level where one could hold a sketch exhibition.

Not only does Vellein himself feel unable to reach this level, he is doubtful if enough high-caliber artists remain alive in the circle to form a complete hand.

”Do I really want to offend such a person?” Vellein even hesitated in his heart.

Being robbed of a large contract naturally made him terribly unhappy, yet looking at this sketch illustration, the thought of retreat even crossed his mind.

Mastery in strokes doesn’t convey everything; serious illustrations rarely rely solely on colored pencil drawings.

But so what?

Sketching is essentially the foundation of all Western painting techniques, not to mention that watercolor pencils and watercolors are closely related.

A person who can excel in sketching typically won’t do poorly in oil painting and gouache painting.

Sketch lines are equivalent to the ”inner strength” and ”muscle” of a martial artist.

Even given a chalk, a sketch master can draw something stunning on a blackboard.

Of course,

Illustration expressiveness is not solely determined by painting skill.

Vellein considers himself to have accumulated remarkable original artwork reading ability and artistic creation ability from working in the illustration industry for half his life, far exceeding that of the small-time internet illustrators.

If he really conducts market research, he would probably win.

But what if?

If he truly loses to Detective Cat, the embarrassment would be shattering.

The money from the contract is a minor issue; in the circle where there are few secrets, it’s primarily the face he can’t afford to lose.

No one would care how well Detective Cat painted.

People would only say that Vellein, recipient of the [Writing and Art Outstanding Contribution Master Award], couldn’t even surpass a fledgling internet illustrator.

It’s too humiliating!

Having already achieved considerable success as an artist,

tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of US Dollars are not worth the risk of Vellein throwing his reputation on the ground, allowing others to step over it to reach the top, just to contend for this contract.

If he truly loses, irrespective of everything else, Vellein believes having the stain of being defeated by the internet illustrator Detective Cat on his resume.

[Writing and Art Outstanding Contribution Master Award] and [Andersen Award] dreams would be gone.

In writing there is no best, in martial arts there is no second; that’s for serious oil paintings and such occasions.

For illustration, there’s no covering up; if readers don’t like it, a loss is a loss.

In Van Doorn’s position, wanting to crush Detective Cat, led to such a farce, losing face completely; Vellein doesn’t think his connections are stronger than Van Doorn’s.

”You know, Detective Cat adopted the painting knife technique.” Director Charlie with just one sentence, successfully dispelled Vellein’s concerns.

Sketching is essentially the foundation of all Western painting techniques, it’s the muscles and inner strength of the painter.

In this almost universal category, oddly enough, knife pen oil painting is not included.

”You can learn it without sketching fundamentals,” this slogan is the main reason why there are so many frauds in the painting knife industry.

Vellein speculates that Lady Detective Cat most likely belongs to the typical case of being deceived by frauds in Africa, far removed from modern art scenes.

She chose the most erroneous painting technique.

It’s similar to bulking up in a gym, with shoulder muscles thicker than another’s thighs, which doesn’t mean that if you stubbornly choose to fool around with Bruce Lee’s cool but obscure nunchucks, you won’t make the mistake of smacking your face with the stick and bursting your nose.

Vellein doesn’t believe Detective Cat is genius enough to excel in sketching to a profound degree, while also handling the painting knife well.

”What a damnable agent!” he silently complained.