The Versatile Master Artist

In ”Fu Lei’s Family Letters” written to his son, Dongxia’s great literary critic Fu Lei in the last century believed—

This point of jumping outside of the constraints is precisely the true advantage of self-taught painters compared to disciples of renowned art schools. Masters like Van Gogh and Gauguin were the exemplary figures in history who executed this best.

Otherwise.

If artists could be cultivated like craftsmen, solely according to set rules, great painters would have long been monopolized by the training systems of the Church Court or Royal Painters.

It wasn’t easy for Gu Weijing to create his first work of the ”Heartfelt” level.

But looking back,

all he did was watch Jasmine dance all afternoon.

Koizumi Katsuko has yet to make a breakthrough after all this time, largely because her foundation is more solid and substantial. The effort required to break free from the shackles in her chest is also far greater than what Gu Weijing needed.

”Seeing these paintings, you’re not far from a formal breakthrough.”

When Gu Weijing heard Koizumi Katsuko’s giggling as he pushed the door, he realized that the doll-like Miss Shengzi was gradually emerging from her closed-off artistic life.

She was becoming more and more in touch with life.

Outside the field of painting, she was also becoming more vibrant.

Painter, painter,

the person and the painting change together.

During these days of flipping through Shengzi’s 16 pen sketches, drawn in the sketchbook he passed over, it was evident that a vibrant energy was continuously gathering and accumulating at the tip of the pen.

Something was taking root and sprouting on the paper, and in Koizumi Katsuko’s pen, Jasmine was becoming increasingly lively and dynamic.

There might be no need to fill all 100 pen sketches.

Once this constantly accumulating vivacity truly converges under the pen and breaks through the paper—it will be the moment Miss Sakai breaks through herself and infuses empathy into her pen, creating a ”Heartfelt” piece.

”Is the painting scattered? Why don’t you draw one, Mr. Gu? I like watching you paint.”

Koizumi Katsuko turned her head, with a touch of playful charm in her voice, and handed the drawing board to Gu Weijing.

”Don’t mind us, just play with the cat.”

Gu Weijing was originally planning to paint a new exhibit painting now, to test whether the perspective on fusion painting would improve significantly after both techniques advanced to Tier Two Professional.

But he couldn’t refuse Shengzi’s request.

He greeted Jasmine, who was looking over, while twirling the pen in his hand.

”Hmm? This pen?”

Gu Weijing removed the pen cap.

Upon seeing the pattern on the sketch paper, Gu Weijing noticed that the ink lines used by Koizumi Katsuko were very fine, as if the person outline of Jasmine was woven with strands of hair.

It was only now that he realized he was holding a technical pen engraved with the ”UNI Mitsubishi Corporation” logo.

Pen sketching is just a term to distinguish it from pencil sketching, referring to ink-based drawing tools that can’t be erased with an eraser.

It’s not necessary to use a pen.

Indeed, some older generations of painters did all their pen drawings truly using pens.

But more often they used technical pens, ballpoint pens, gel pens—whatever was at hand.

The pen on Miss Shengzi’s desk was a fiber-tipped technical pen with a tip as fine as a hospital injection needle; it might not match the prestige of Parker, BIC, or Montblanc’s rose gold drawing pens for taking photos, tweeting, or posting on Instagram.

Yet it was more professional than those luxury grade toys.

The technical pen is specially designed for drafting.

This kind of pen is much more sensitive to pressure changes than rollerball pens, capable of leaving unique indentations on the paper and drawing rich, dark gloss.

If needed during travel, the pen tube can be cut open, mixed with alcohol-based makeup products like hair gel, to create a simple liquid paint for making monochrome prints.

The drawback is that good tools must be in the hands of good painters to exert enough magic power.

The tip of such a pen is extremely fine, and lines drawn are extremely precise.

Painters without steady hands won’t have lines that comply with their command.

If the lines aren’t neat, they’ll become jumbled like messy thread yarn and become very chaotic. If the lines are too rigid, they lack dynamism.

The subtle balance is hard to grasp.

In short, it’s a tool with high demands on the user’s line technique.

Gu Weijing sat up slightly, fixing a piece of sketch paper onto the drawing board in front of him with masking tape, and casually drew a line.

”I plan to first draw the action relationship between Jasmine and the cat from the right side, enhance the depiction of forms, then draw the basic light and shadow tones of the portrait, finally emphasizing the texture outline of the shadow details...”

Gu Weijing spoke a couple of sentences, then smiled and remarked to Koizumi Katsuko, ”Of course, there’s actually no need for me to explain these things to you; you certainly understand better than I do.”

”Are you planning to draw even the shadows? Do you want me to get you a pencil?”

Koizumi Katsuko listened to Gu Weijing explain his drawing ideas, capturing the key point.

Because she drew quite a few sketches every day, she only captured the character outline and line relationship in the drawings she made of Jasmine, without considering the changes in light.

If willing to put in the effort, pen drawings can also create beautifully contrasting black, white, and gray through skillful cross-hatching lines.

The workload accordingly increases significantly, and there are more places prone to mistakes with the pen.

In terms of complexity, it wouldn’t qualify as a sketch anymore.

The process of drawing these 16 works of Jasmine by Koizumi Katsuko resulted in three or four discarded drafts due to mistakes with the pen.