The Versatile Master Artist

Gu Weijing shrugged.

He sat on the sofa, picking up all the sheets of draft paper that had fallen to the floor when they were playing games.

Inside were some wax crayon drawings with Jasmine’s immature brushwork, and two highly finished pen sketches.

[Artwork Name: Jasmine (No.16)]

[Sketching Technique: Level 4 Tier One Professional (4730/5000)]

[Emotions: Simple Works]

”Already drawn 16 pieces.”

Gu Weijing looked at the signature number in the corner of the sketch paper.

”In total, I’ve drawn about 20 or so. There are a few I wasn’t too satisfied with, so I removed them.”

Koizumi Katsuko eagerly awaited Gu Weijing’s comments.

”How do you think my drawings look?”

Gu Weijing shared Elder Cao’s guidance on practicing sketching with Miss Sakai.

Shengzi set a practice plan to make a hundred sketch sketches of Jasmine in thirty days. Whenever she felt inspired while playing with Jasmine, she would immediately start drawing.

She needed to draw, on average, three pen sketches a day.

”You’re drawing really well.”

Gu Weijing looked at the orderly, rhythmic pen lines in his hand, and softly praised.

”That’s because you’re a good teacher. And stop flattering me; it still doesn’t have the feeling your works have.”

Koizumi Katsuko passed Ah Wang to Jasmine, who was eagerly looking on, wiped her hands clean with a damp towel, and leaned against Gu Weijing.

”Open your mouth, I’ll feed you.”

She took sushi from the food box, feeding her boyfriend while saying, ”If you can tell me where the problem lies, that would make me happier than praise.”

”There’s no real problem; it’s not flattery. My feelings are genuine. Actually, I think all you need is time.”

Gu Weijing’s comments came from the heart.

Shengzi’s sketching technique has improved since we drew the Great Golden Pagoda together. In terms of numerical value, she’s very close to breaking through to Level 5.

Of course.

In the system list, the numerical value difference between the two is just a few hundred experience points.

Once onto the paper, when they both draw the same work, Gu Weijing still seems clearly superior for now.

Perhaps Lv.4 (4700/5000) and Lv.4 (4999/5000) produce similar sketch impressions.

But the gap between Lv.4 Tier One Professional (4999/5000) and Lv.5 Tier Two Professional (1/10000) is not just a few points in numerical value.

It’s more like an all-encompassing elevation.

In the system’s division, each stage of technique proficiency improvement is a process of breaking through the bottleneck and entering a whole new level.

Otherwise, there would be no need for grading.

Normal artists often encounter bottlenecks.

It might be due to insufficient talent, inadequate effort, or the harsh reality that it’s just bad luck. They get stuck for a long time at a certain technique level, struggling to break through to the next level.

After a long time.

Like rowing upstream, not moving forward means falling behind.

Even the illustrious Renoir faced a career dividing line in 1900.

Before the twentieth century, Renoir liked to express the vibration of sunlight and air with bright and translucent colors and cheerful atmosphere.

During that period, he was uniquely styled and nearly created all the important works of his career.

But after 1900, Renoir encountered a creative bottleneck in his personal career, unable to make breakthroughs.

Later, the old man straightforwardly switched to exclusively painting naked female models.

To this day, there’s a viewpoint that Renoir’s late nude paintings lack emotional and technical depth compared to his younger days.

These works, though hanging in the Louvre, are at most the second Rubens of sensuality, not the fresh Impressionist Ray Noa.

It’s important to note that Renoir in 1900 was still in the golden phase of his career, unlike Monet or Degas who had physical issues.

Yet he was still defeated by the painting bottleneck.

The system’s ability to silently, as if non-existent, ignore the bottleneck between levels and elevate Gu Weijing directly to the next level of painting is truly astonishing.

”Your problem is simply that your painting is too good, your art theory too solid, and your brushwork too meticulous. I have nothing to teach you; if I have to say something, it’s that it’s not ’loose’ enough. The painting is taut like a bowstring stretched to its limit, without room to relax, leaving no space for emotion.”

Gu Weijing offered his experienced insight.

His fingers flicked the sketch paper in front of him, as if to make the meticulously drawn lines, akin to ruler-guided drawings, appear looser.

Genius is the crystallization of sweat combined with effort.

Every day, there are a large number of the same sketches to draw, and Miss Sakai is exceptionally patient with each drawing.

This pen sketch of ’Jasmine’ is not complex, but it certainly involved great thought.

Apart from brushwork.

Whether it’s focus changing, action capturing, composition structure... everything is meticulous.

Gu Weijing benefited from a bit of brushwork proficiency, but in many other aspects, he wasn’t as adept as Shengzi.

How long has it been since Gu Weijing obtained the system’s virtual panel?

Koizumi Katsuko, on the other hand, has received the world’s best art education since childhood.

In terms of art theory, he had no qualifications to flaunt his tail in front of Miss Sakai.

But, on another hand.

This kind of art education surrounded by renowned teachers, emphasizing ”rules” in brushwork, has instead become an obstacle for Koizumi Katsuko in integrating her emotions into the canvas.

Drawing is like Zhang Sanfeng practicing Tai Chi.

Sometimes, you have to forget rules to form your own field.

Be able to adhere to rules when it’s time, dare to break rules when it’s appropriate.

Forget the hints and patterns of renowned masters, follow the guidance of your heart on the brush tip, and that’s the only way to truly fill the paper with your emotions and passion.