The Versatile Master Artist

The reason is quite simple,

When Gu Weijing paints, all his thoughts are focused on controlling the brush, with no extra energy to spare.

How could he even think about using his works as a vehicle to express the emotional appeals of a painter?

”To effortlessly integrate one’s emotions into the techniques of New Style Painting and complete this system task, it’s estimated that your level in Chinese Painting and sketch should reach at least the Tier Two Professional level, just like in oil painting.”

Gu Weijing reflected on the feeling he had while using his brush earlier and made a rough judgment in his mind.

”Maybe if oil painting skills become exceptionally strong, breaking through Tier Three Professional or even Tier One Grandmaster... it might be possible to meld the other two together with ease, just like glue, based on outstanding painting skills, allowing the painter to be free from feeling much pressure while painting.”

In short,

either all three techniques are quite good, or one is exceptionally strong, both should be able to meet the system task requirements.

Gu Weijing looked enviously at the chained task rewards on the system panel, tempted to take a gamble using the recently acquired [Muse Goddess’s Blessed Small Candle].

Gu Weijing indulged in a moment of fantasy but rationally shook his head, rejecting the idea.

He knew using a precious one-time skill here was completely inappropriate.

With over a hundred days until the art exhibition, Gu Weijing had plenty of time to steadily improve his painting skills using conventional means.

It’s estimated that by May or June at the latest, the remaining payment for ”Little Prince” from the publisher would be settled.

By then, Gu Weijing should be able to receive a large sum of free experience points.

During this period, he could practice more, and casually paint a few pieces of ”Sunshine Orphanage.”

Unless there’s a specific creation time limit, or it’s a specific commission from a client that requires a family portrait to be completed within a short timeframe for a business deal.

Great painters often find it very difficult to create a masterpiece to their satisfaction at one go.

Especially for some significant plein-air paintings.

To produce the best results, artists often paint the same subject, the same piece, repeatedly from dawn until dusk. Sometimes they might paint five or six times, or as many as over a hundred times.

Sometimes, they paint whenever inspiration strikes,

This is how, among the vast practice, they capture that moment of sublime beauty that captivates viewers.

Some viewpoints and literature suggest that Leonardo da Vinci painted at least three versions of the ”Mona Lisa.”

As for Monet’s ”Haystacks,” there are 25 surviving versions, and the ”Water Lilies” are estimated to number between 181 and 252 pieces.

According to letters and recollections from friends, to capture the colors and lines of a Renaissance-era church on the streets of Paris, this artist spent several years, producing hundreds of practice works conservatively.

Some painters destroy unsatisfactory works, while others do not.

Gu Weijing thought he could practice painting dozens of ”Sunshine Orphanage” pieces first.

After all, practice makes perfect!

Even if the technique is lacking, the insights accumulated through repetitive painting can greatly benefit the final effect of the image.

Besides, the creative time activated by [Muse Goddess’s Blessed Small Candle] is actually too short for a painting with dimensions over 10 inches wide.

This painting took much less time than his first attempt, yet it still took half a day, from noon to sunset.

All things considered,

The ten-odd minutes that the candle burns would only allow him to hurriedly paint a small-sized painting knife painting.

”Hmm, speaking of painting knife paintings... I thought of something last night before bed.”

Gu Weijing scratched his head and muttered to himself for a moment.

He bent down, retrieved a dark aluminum painting tube from under the bed, unscrewed the lid, and pulled out a rolled-up canvas.

Gu Weijing spread the canvas out on the table, revealing the image of a little boy sitting on a sand dune.

This was the ”Little Prince on the Night Sand Dune” piece he had created earlier. It was the cover artwork submitted to the Scholastic Group for the new edition of ”Little Prince.”

This painting was carefully stored by Gu Weijing in a painting tube.

For top illustrators,

many of them still insist on traditional paper and pen drawing even in the 2020s.

Beyond the stated reasons like ”paper and pen offer a better painting texture,” ”pursuing an old-school drawing habit,” or ”only by feeling the friction of the pen on the paper can the artist’s soul be inspired; otherwise, it’s just being a slave to electronic products,” there exists a very practical consideration—paper illustrations can be sold separately.

The characters created by illustrators, along with most related commercial rights, typically belong to the publisher.

For example, if a Disney illustrator secretly draws Mickey Mouse under a private name after work and sells it online, it’s absolutely prohibited.

Anyone attempting that can expect to be sued by lawyers.

The world’s most powerful legal department isn’t kidding around and will fiercely attack like a mad dog.

Similarly,

Gu Weijing is also absolutely not allowed to create any works related to the ”Little Prince” character or even make a secondary adaptation of the character he drew, under the guise of Detective Cat on Nutshell.