Almighty painter

Chapter 590 Cooperation Planning
Gu Weijing picked up the paintbrush and examined the painting in front of him.

During a thunderstorm, the night is hazy.

A bright color flows in the dark clouds, that is the brewing thunder and lightning.

The church's eaves separate the sky and the earth at two-thirds of the work, cleverly turning into a horizontal tonal dividing line, from cold to warm.

The candlelight cut through the rainy night, drawing a brilliant glow in the night sky.

The flowing thunder and candle flames all melt into the night sky, and blocks of color and brushstrokes blend and penetrate each other in the picture.

The burgundy color slightly stained by the candle and the deep blue of the thunderclouds slowly transitioned together.

In the deep night perspective, all the jumping colors did not fade away, but in the warm tones faintly in the gaps between the cold colors, finally achieving a harmonious sense of tranquility.

"Congratulations, the similarity of this copy is 57.6%, you have obtained a system intermediate treasure chest!"

Gu Weijing turned a deaf ear to the system prompts in his ears.

"From cold to warm, and then warm to cold again."

He was still immersed in the aftertaste of "creating" this painting.

He made himself forget about techniques and rules, and felt that he had broken through all the academic rules, theories, and frameworks on composition.

It even abandons the basic principles of oil painting such as perspective, distance and space.

Only the perspective closest to the origin of the senses is retained, leaving only the most concise lines and the most restored color space that are simplified to be close to the origin of the world.

Beneath these condensed and restored lines and colors, the most intense emotions are constantly brewing.

Gu Weijing couldn't accurately say what this emotion was.

However, during the creative process, he had already felt the invisible pull of that emotion.

It's like a candle in your hand.

Following the handwriting and ideas of our predecessors, we cross the bridge formed by the paintings and slowly walk into the rainy night of more than a hundred years ago.

In the gloomy and quiet night, you suddenly smell a warm fragrance at the tip of your nose, but you don’t know where the fragrance comes from.

But I know it exists without a doubt.

Gu Weijing let out a long breath.

I casually chose to unbox it, and as expected, I was prompted to receive another small candle blessed by the Muse.

Not bad.

The chance of getting a knowledge card is very low.

Rather than giving out oil painting experience points, Gu Weijing actually prefers blessing the small candles.

After his oil painting skills broke through the third professional level.

With the addition of one or two hundred treasure chest experience points, the long Lv.6 progress bar will hardly move at all.

A small candle +1 is +1.

It gave him the same sense of abundance as an old farmer watching the grain pile up in his barn.

Although a candle can only burn for two or three minutes.

But a little adds up to a lot!

At present, I have accumulated almost ten small candles.

Gu Weijing felt that if they just kept opening them one by one.

Maybe one day I will have saved enough to barely find the time to paint a picture.

His eyes swept across the similarity level prompt "57.6%" on the system bar, and his brows slowly frowned again.

The similarity values ​​on the panels vary greatly.

Gu Weijing didn't feel strange.

After all, he was immersing himself in the creation of the picture from scratch, rather than copying it stroke by stroke as if he were painting a photograph in front of a drawing board.

It is inevitable that there are some parts of the various lines and lights and shadows that are not drawn well or accurately enough.

Some regression in the degree of restoration was expected.

After finishing the painting, you can get a mid-level treasure chest, and Gu Weijing can be very satisfied.

His frown wasn't due to the similarity.

Rather, the work on the canvas gave him a strange feeling.

He has copied this painting so many times that he can no longer remember exactly how many times he has copied it.

After finishing the painting, Gu Weijing immediately felt that the painting in front of him seemed to be very different among other works, whether they were less similar or more similar...

"No, it's not strange, and it can't be said that the degree of restoration has regressed."

Gu Weijing put this newly completed copy together with another painting he completed at the end of last month, "Old Church on a Thunderstorm Day", which was drying next to it.

At that time, he had just completed the painting for the Lion City Biennale, and when he had nothing to do every day, he would copy this oil painting.

After a week or two, I copied a lot.

The ones that were retained are all around 70% similar.

Gu Weijing carefully examined the differences between the two copies, and compared them carefully in his mind with the original painting of "Old Church in a Thunderstorm".

at last.

Gu Weijing discovered the difference.

The previous paintings had very accurate strokes and lines, but they were barely resembling the shapes of people and skin.

And this painting.

There are some flaws in the brushstrokes and lines, but the finished work is as similar as the bones in the painting...?
There is a limit to copying works.

Perhaps it is the limit of Gu Weijing's technique at the moment, or perhaps it is the limit of the original painting "Old Church in a Thunderstorm".

The pursuit of similarity can only get you closer to this limit, just like the boulder pushed by Sisyphus, which can only get closer to the top of the mountain but can never really reach it and achieve a perfect unity.

Creations that contain deep thoughts about the world are different.

The famous artist Yi Si wielded his brush to bring mountains and seas before our eyes.

If I continue to paint in this way, maybe one day I will be able to draw an "Old Church in a Thunderstorm" that is hard to tell whether it is real or fake.

……

Gu Weijing put down his brush.

Put the newly copied work together with the old one in a dark corner of the studio to dry.

He took a sip of water and pulled the curtains as wide as possible.

From this angle, you can just see the scene in the yard under the sun.

Katsuko Sakai has arrived. Koko and Miss Katsuko are in the yard, pointing at the easel and talking about something.

Awang curled up into a ball obediently in Koko's arms with his tail hanging in the air. The branches of the big tree swayed slightly above their heads.

Gu Weijing originally wanted to send a text message to Shengzi.

When I turned on my phone, I first saw several unread messages on the screen.

The top one reads: "Congratulations, we got what we wanted."

Gu Weijing was stunned for a moment, then he realized that this was a message from his agent, Mr. Sloth, and it should be about the Scholastic Publishing Group Writing and Art Award.

He took a deep breath. No matter how calm he tried to be, his heart was still beating wildly.

"I... won a prize, right?"

Gu Weijing typed a reply.

In addition to the message from Mr. Sloth, there were five or six messages with similar content on his phone.

Some were from Dyson, some were the project assistant for Scholastic Publishing Group’s The Little Prince…even Anya, the female painter from Zaohe Space, sent him a congratulatory message.

He switched the software and prepared to check the official list of winners online for final confirmation.

Ding dong.

Mr. Sloth had already taken the lead and sent the answer he wanted.

The other party sent a new message - it was a screenshot of the publishing group's official Twitter account.

"The Scholastic Publishing Group's 100th Anniversary Retrospective Awards Ceremony ended successfully. Roald Henry, the author of Vegas Boxer, won the Outstanding Contribution Master Award of the Year as expected. Sillerton Mingott, May J. Fran, Archer Jackson and the anonymous illustrator Detective Cat, four people won the Outstanding Contribution Master Award of the Year..."

The dust has settled.

Gu Weijing knew that he had won the first major art award in his life.

starting today.

Whether people like Sir Brown and Van Dorn like it or not, he can be considered a top figure in the field of art.

"Aren't you watching the live broadcast of the award ceremony?" Mr. Sloth asked curiously.

"I am drawing."

In the distance, Miss Elena was holding a cell phone.

She pursed her lips and gave a fleeting chuckle.

What a great answer.

"I felt that watching it would have no bearing on the final outcome. I was afraid that if I watched it too closely, I would be too disappointed if I didn't get it, so I didn't watch it." Gu Weijing explained.

"There are more than one good things happening today. So, I guess you also don't know that at the end of the award ceremony, Mr. Jane Arnold publicly invited you to join his painting studio."

Anna continued to edit the text message.

Gu Weijing was stunned again.

And this thing?

"Is this good news?"

Gu Weijing asked.

He is a complete novice in the illustration industry.

Going back half a year, at the beginning of the year, Gu Weijing was still working as a laborer on the Internet, drawing online illustrations for ten dollars a piece. He didn't know much about the high-end insider information of the illustration industry.

"The good news is probably good news. The career development path of the illustration industry is different from that of a serious painter, and it focuses more on the commercial attributes of the media field."

"The best career path is to build a personal brand IP. Even if you reach the level of Banksy, who has become a part of pop culture symbols, what he is doing is not just for the sake of being weird, nor is it crazy. He is also tirelessly shaping his personal social image."

Anna explained.

(Note: The picture shows Banksy sneaking into the Louvre and pasting his own "Smiling Mona Lisa" next to the original "Mona Lisa". The back view was captured by CCTV, and the front face was disguised.)
“Americans may never listen to the Beatles, but they still live in a country that is shaped by the hippie culture they represent. This is the influence of personal IP on society.”

"If we strictly limit the scope to the field of illustration, then Jane Arnold is probably the most successful person in the past thirty years. He is the Beatles or Queen of the illustration world. It's just that Jane Arnold is limited to the field of illustration and has never tried to cross the border. He has never thought about projecting his influence on more areas of society."

"If you were a singer who came from the streets and someone invited you to join the Beatles or to be the lead singer of Queen, would you say that this was good news?"

"understood."

Anna sat down on the chair.

She thought about and recalled Jane Arnold's expression and tone when he invited Detective Cat on the podium.

"Compared to being happy..."

"...I am more curious and what is more worthy of attention is how Mr. Jian Arnold wants to cooperate and how he invites you to join his studio. What is the compensation?"

Gu Weijing replied in confusion: "What do you mean? Mr. Sloth, the compensation you mentioned refers to the share of the profits."

"Yes and no."

Anna carefully considered her words and said, "The pure monetary share is actually not that important. From many perspectives, I have always hoped that you could develop in the direction of more serious artistic creation. It is rare to find a book like The Little Prince that has the potential to be a hit and a publisher willing to give you a profit-sharing contract."

"A normal painting contract in the publishing industry is actually like The Blazing World, which costs a few thousand to 10 or 20 thousand dollars at the top."

"There aren't many people in the world who quote more than $473.26 for a book throughout the year. For a painter, the fame a painting can bring him is more important than the amount of money stipulated in the contract. As far as I know, when British illustrator Thomas Taylor accepted the assignment to draw illustrations for Harry Potter from Scholastic Publishing Group, his total contract remuneration after tax was pounds."

"And just four years later, as Harry Potter became a huge hit, his original watercolor drawing of the Harry Potter cover was sold at Sotheby's in London for about two million pounds. That was two million pounds in 2000, and it was just a cover painting."

"The price the publisher offered him was only 0.02% of what the illustrator actually earned."

Miss Elena typed.

"Ms. Detective Cat, do you understand what I mean?"

"The contract amount is not important." Gu Weijing replied.

“That’s right. In the illustration industry, the higher you move up the career ladder, the more opportunities you have to get the kind of drawings you can get, which is more important than whether the offer for the drawings itself is $1,000 more or less. What this drawing can bring to your personal IP is also more important than the contract amount.”

Anna nodded.

"In the pure illustration field, Jane Arnold's illustration studio is currently the largest studio IP."

"He has artistic temperament and commercial appeal. He has almost all the awards in the illustration industry. In the years before Jian Arnold semi-retired, the most well-known parties in the industry with big contracts would give priority to Jian Arnold. This kind of resource pool is almost hard to find even with a lantern."

"He can pick almost any illustration contract in the world. He is the only one who can be picky about the contract, not the contract."

Oh.

Gu Weijing roughly understood what this concept was.

Jane Arnold is at the peak of his life.

Some are like Spielberg, who made "ET the Extraterrestrial" and "Schindler's List". He had box office success and Oscars.

Producers, production companies, and film and television companies all had to surround him and coax him.

People can shoot whatever they like and spend whatever amount they like.

“So the profit margin is not important?”

"To be more precise, therefore, when collaborating, our focus should not be on how much money we can get from the contract, but how much we can get from the resources of the illustration studio."

The moment the master illustrator extended the invitation to the camera at the award ceremony, Miss Irina entered the working state.

She had already quickly considered all possible problems in her mind.

With a draft in mind, it is easier to explain.

“Usually there are three ways for illustration studios to collaborate.”

"The first one is a pure assistant form."

“The head painter is the star of the studio, and everyone else is his assistant, the labor force he hired.”

"Assistants can only get odd jobs that the painters themselves don't have time to handle, or do coloring, ghostwriting, and art design for the painters. Whether the works can be signed depends on the mood of the boss."

Miss Elena said: "The owner of the studio is equivalent to the boss of this factory. He takes the contract, and the others are just assembly workers on the assembly line."

"This is a model that is widely used in the industry, and I think it is the most unacceptable cooperation model. We can give up financial benefits for a bigger stage, but not the other way around."

“No matter how good the resources are or how big the contract is, under this cooperation model, you are just an object whose talent is exploited. In any case, independent creative freedom and complete ownership of the paintings you draw are our bottom line.”

"If this is not guaranteed, then I'd better continue to slowly look for a contract, even if it's not that good."

"Of course, I don't think you need to worry too much, although we still need to further connect with Jane Arnold. But the probability that the other party will propose this kind of cooperation model is not very high."

If Jane Arnold had the idea of ​​exploiting factory cooperation in this way.

There was really no need for him to make the invitation for cooperation at an award ceremony in public.

This will only make both sides lose face in the end.

Also, a very important point.

All are not fools.

The paintings of detective cats are not good in the general sense, and the painting method of oil painting, such as painting with a knife, is not distinctive in the general sense.

Owning the illustration IP of "The Little Prince", he caused a public outcry at the European Art Conference, and now he has won the "Writing and Art Master Award".

Today, Detective Cat is no longer the unknown person who sold illustrations for ten dollars online.

Her personal IP has been established.

She is definitely not as good as Jane Arnold, but she also has her own audience, her own supporters, and her own loyal fan base.

The two people took completely different painting directions in their careers.

It can't be taken away by just changing the name.

If Jane Arnold dared to hold up a crystal-clear sketch made with a palette knife and run out in public, claiming that it was his personal work, there would be no need for Anna to run over and slap him.

This guy himself will become the biggest laughing stock in the world.

But this kind of thing cannot be done so blatantly and shamelessly, but it can be varied in certain forms.

For example, if Jane Arnold takes a big contract, he will plan the artistic direction for you as a big boss, and perhaps provide you with several initial design drafts, and maybe a few drafts and sample drawings.

Then let you draw.

The creative process is vague and unclear.

At the end, he is listed first and you are listed second.

The copyright of the paintings also belongs to him.

What Miss Elena cannot accept is this kind of cooperation model.

"The second is in the form of an employee, which is equivalent to Jane Arnold hiring you to become a member of his studio, similar to when Queen liked to invite some well-known idol singers to be the band's headliners after Freddie's death. You maintain your current independent working model, but instead of working for Scholastic Publishing Group, you work for Jane Arnold and still get enough exposure."

"The third is the senior partner model, which is also the most in-depth cooperation model. For example, many automobile or financial brands, Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin (they are all combinations of the names of the two founders), the famous Kruger Brothers Bank was also called Kruger & Voss Private Bank before it kicked out the American banker Mr. Voss. Before that, it was called Kruger & Voss Hammer United Bank."

“The fewer names there are, the more money the financiers make.”

Anna was there again, making her usual casual and sarcastic remark about her German cousin.

"Just by listening to the name, you can probably understand what kind of cooperation model this is."

"I think we can all accept the second and third cooperation models if the conditions are right. It's just the difference between very good news and extremely good news."

“Even if it’s limited to the cooperation model of employer and employee. There is no essential difference between accepting illustration assignments from Scholastic Group and accepting illustration contracts from Jane Arnold. The latter can also provide a development space that a pure book publishing company cannot provide.”

Wow.

Mr. Sloth is awesome.

Gu Weijing looked at the well-organized analysis on the screen and felt a sudden enlightenment in his heart.

It is extremely important to have a leader who understands the industry insider information like a person who can read the lines on your palm.

If artists want to reach the top of the art world, it is inevitable that they will have a bit of foolishness in their character.

When creating, you can immerse yourself in the drawing board and ignore the things outside.

Life is not okay.

Life requires industry experience.

If a rookie in the industry like Gu Weijing had not been lucky enough to meet Mr. Sloth, he might have been sold out by someone and would still be counting money for the other person.

"So, when Mr. Jane Arnold comes to me, I need to pay attention to these issues, right?" Gu Weijing asked.

"I'm just giving you a general reminder, but it's highly likely that Mr. Jian Arnold won't come to you directly in the short term."

"why?"

"Because of me."

Anna reminded, "You've let me handle Detective Cat's agency contract. It's probably the same with Jane Arnold. The contract will take a long time to adjust. The industry's practice is that the agency teams consult with each other and come up with a complete plan, and then the artist nods and makes the final decision. During this period, the two artists will not meet."

“Cooperation requires harmony, while negotiation requires temper. Therefore, artists are good friends, and the agent who is responsible for you has to be the villain.”

This is industry custom.

No matter how the table is turned over or how much swearing is done during the negotiations, it is the brokerage team's business.

The painter himself is responsible for the final decision.

Otherwise, the two painters would get angry while talking and think, "Old man, you are buying a slave, but you are asking for this price. Who are you looking down on?"

The other side was angry in his heart, "Idiot, you don't want to drink a toast, you are shameless, do you really think you are worthless?"

Plus, many artists have strange personalities.

Talking and talking.

These two people are wrestling on the ground, so there's no need to talk about future cooperation.

(End of this chapter)