The Versatile Master Artist

No art student would pass up such an opportunity.

”The system has such good stuff.”

Just hearing that it includes cats and dogs anatomy cards similar to Burman’s sketch human anatomy is enough to make Gu Weijing surprised.

No matter how complex architecture and the human body are, art students will have professional learning opportunities in the future.

It wasn’t uncommon for painters to dissect bodies in the Middle Ages.

Researching cat and dog anatomy...

Well, this is somewhat difficult to be accepted by modern public.

A joking statement.

In today’s Western societal discourse, learning that a painter bought cats and dogs for dissection research might be judged harsher than sneaking into a forensic morgue to secretly dissect corpses for fun.

Of course, there’s no need to personally dissect cats and dogs for study.

However, art students usually have no channel to learn about these things.

Yet they often need it for their drawings.

Historically, the animals most frequently portrayed on canvas by artists, without doubt, are humans.

Next are cats and dogs.

For Eastern scholarly painters, being able to draw horses is also important.

Other animals like rhinos, gorillas, whales, tigers, camels, deer have been painted too, but their collectively known paintings can’t compare to even a dog’s hair.

The emotions artists infuse in animals with their brushstrokes are no less than those bestowed upon nature.

The history of humans keeping pets can be traced back at least 15,000 years.

From as early as seven thousand years ago, when Ancient Egyptian residents along the Nile attempted to engrave simple motifs on walls with sharp bricks, pet figures began to appear.

Drawing cats and dogs has permeated the entire human art history.

Exorbitantly priced artworks featuring cats and dogs as themes appear repeatedly in auctions.

Artists often distinctly divide into dog factions and cat factions.

In Rococo art, represented by the delicate palace painting style, various breeds of hunting dogs are frequently seen.

In modern times, even the likes of Andy Warhol and fashion designer Chanel’s Old Buddha are dedicated cat enthusiasts.

Picasso belongs to the fence-straddling type who loves and likes to draw both cats and dogs.

In general, he painted more cats.

”Dora Maar with Cat”, ”Jacqueline and the Cat Sitting on a Chair”, ”Bird-Eating Cat”... these globally renowned paintings, whose average selling price presently ranges between 50 million and 95 million US Dollars, are inseparable from the image of a cat.

Picasso’s most admired French painter Balthus focused on observing stray cats his entire life, drawing countless famous paintings bought by art galleries at high prices.

Drawing pets is a profound subject.

Animals have their own expressions and gestures.

Often, humans receive more emotional comfort from pets like cats and dogs than from fellow humans.

It’s not just about painting.

On Bilibili, TikTok, and YouTube, videos of cloud petting cats and dogs with millions of fans and tens of millions of views reflect this public psychology.

Gu Weijing lightly tapped the surface of the system panel rewards option card three.

The other two rewards vanished instantly.

And the third reward, just like the previous knowledge cards obtained by Gu Weijing, transformed into a detailed introduction panel.

[Item: ”Pet Mind Reading Technique - Twelve Tips for Discovering if Your Cats and Dogs are Happy” - Louis Piquet]

[Quality: Knowledge Card]

[Special Effects: Upon acquiring a knowledge card, you will fully comprehend the corresponding content.]

[Equipment Requirements: None]

[Content Description: Bacon said, only when you understand a person’s inner thoughts and learn to think in their way, can you truly depict their outline in words on paper.

Similarly, only when painters truly understand the expressions and moods of pets can they accurately capture their essence with brushes.

Contemporary animal behavior experts have gradually grasped the key to interpreting their body language. Befriending a thinking pet surpasses associating with a bewildered human.]

[Note: Art is human’s, art is also cat’s, but ultimately, it belongs to the cat—meow.]

Gu Weijing felt a surge of information like a current flowing into his mind.

His head felt a bit pained and he instinctively supported himself against the wall nearby.

The amount of information contained in this knowledge card was one of the most extensive compared to those he had previously obtained.

Previously, the information Gu Weijing gained was either closely related to painting, from childhood onward.

Or it was one or multiple anatomical drawings.

But this time, the knowledge card seemed to embed a complete unfamiliar academic subject, distilled from a big professor’s scholarly achievements, into Gu Weijing’s heart.

His mind was instantly flooded with various knowledge about pets.

Arching back, baring teeth, wagging tail, licking nose.

The meanings behind countless common postures of companion animals and the meticulous correlation of their muscles and bones’ movement, contraction, and relaxation, akin to a detailed slideshow with annotations played in sequence in Gu Weijing’s mind.

Balthus, known as the ”cat expert” in art history, pursued by collectors, was simply because this painter habitually observed stray cats in front of his apartment at the Seine Riverfront, and recorded different states of cats moving and eating in his sketchbook anytime.