The Versatile Master Artist

The dozens of street orchestras throughout Glietz City are all familiar with performing this second national anthem of Austria.

Anna slowly tapped the rhythm with her left hand while gently scratching the nape of August’s neck with her right hand.

Making it hum in pleasure.

”August, I haven’t given up yet.”

Anna muttered to herself.

She took out a rectangular object wrapped in lemon-hued striped gift paper from her small bag by her side, which was a gift sent by Osborne last night.

A small card hung from the silk bow on top of the gift——

[To my dear Lady Anna Ilina:

I heard about the acquisition proposal for the oil painting magazine. I’m really sorry for you. There’s little I can do to help financially. This is a gift I sent you, hoping it will make you a bit happier.

P.S:

1. The printing teacher forgave me after seeing the finished book effect; he said it’s the most faithful and perfect illustrated companion piece he’s produced in years. I agree with his opinion.

2. The promotional video for the Scholastic Group that I once showed you will also begin its full launch starting this Wednesday.

Love, Uncle Osborne.]

After reading the small card on the silk ribbon, Anna tore open the gift paper wrapping, revealing an exquisite fairy tale book.

[Title: ”Little Prince”]

[Original Author: Saint-Exupéry (France)]

[

[Illustrator: Detective Cat (Algeria)]

The book in Anna’s hand was a new edition of the fairy tale book ”Little Prince.”

This wasn’t the mere prototype with photos printed and bound on plain text from previous market surveys, but a bona fide ”Little Prince” ready for sale.

The publishers were working overtime to rush the production.

The printing line for the new edition of the ”Little Prince” had already started operating.

The fairy tale book still bearing the scent of ink before Miss Ilina was the first finished product from the printing line.

At this very moment,

in the group’s large printing factory in Holland, tens of thousands of identical books were being continuously produced.

The first edition print run of ”Little Prince” was 300,000 copies, which could all be printed within the next few days.

Among them, 250,000 copies were in English, and 50,000 copies adopted Lady Detective Cat’s illustrations and the original French text by Saint-Exupéry.

These books would be distributed through logistics networks resembling arteries to various subordinate distributors in the European Union Zone and the United Kingdom. Additionally, some books were to be packed and shipped on ferries, passing through the Panama Canal to North America, launching in the United States and Canadian markets.

As one of the world’s largest book publishers, the Scholastic Group.

They would release the ”Little Prince” as part of the ”Easter Fairy Tale Book Season,” simultaneously available worldwide at the end of March.

”Does it look good?”

Anna put the torn gift paper into her handbag and showed the book beside her to August.

August barked.

”I also find it very likable.”

No matter how well drawn or how hard the color adjustments were for printing, one must look at the final cost-effectiveness to judge if their efforts had been worthwhile.

Upon seeing this edition of the ”Little Prince,”

Anna knew that Lady Detective Cat’s work was not let down, her dedication in reading for the elder sister was not in vain, even if the printing teacher was almost driven crazy by Anna’s obsession, it was worth it.

Just as Osborne said,

this is an extremely perfect work, perfect to the extent that it is a publication that printing teachers can take pride in for producing such a beautiful book.

Anna flipped through the pages in her hand, checking the image quality of each illustration.

Amid the thick pages,

dozens of illustrations flashed by like fast-forwarded slides, with each page possessing a substantial texture akin to oil painting pigments, sharply depicting the tiniest textures left by a painting knife on the canvas.

”Very impressive.”

Even with MYCK four-color printing, the production standards outputted by Scholastic Group’s printing factory, which involved investments of tens of millions of euros, reached 500 PPI (pixels per inch).

That’s nearly double the 300 PPI output clarity commonly seen in the industry for illustrations and higher than early iPhone screen imaging pixels, reaching a quality equivalent to photo lab-developed photos.

One cannot claim it exceeded the original, achieving seven-tenths of the painter’s original spirit isn’t exaggerated.

And Anna closed the book, looking at the cover illustration painted with the two main color schemes of velvet blue and desert gold.

”Aside from being overly smooth and having mirror-like reflections that are a bit strong under the sunlight, this printed texture is already quite similar to actually holding a canvas of oil painting in hand!”

Anna brushed her fingertips over the smooth book cover, nodding in satisfaction.

Almost akin to a real canvas of oil painting—in the eyes of professional art album publishers, receiving such evaluation is the highest homage to their efforts.

Anna closed her eyes, holding the freshly printed ”Little Prince” to her nose, gently inhaling the scent of ink and pages.

”My great-great-grandfather’s artistic enlightenment came from candlelight, Athena, cedarwood. I believe countless children of this generation, accompanied by the inky scent of books like these, will realize the beauty of art amid starlight, through sand seas and alongside the Little Prince, thereby falling in love with art.”

Art is the concrete expression stemming from people’s deep longing and desire for beauty in the real world.

There is no one in the world who dislikes art.

It’s just that some people are naturally reserved, or their hearts, covered in dust, are hidden by life’s trivial matters.