Reborn as a great painter, with a system, you can be willful

Chapter 147, Sketching, Street Scene in the Rain, Encounter

Chaoyang Road is an old commercial street in Binhai and one of the famous scenic spots. It always attracts many tourists and customers during holidays.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Jiang Zhe set up his easel on an open platform on Chaoyang Road.

Yesterday, after finishing two still life paintings, he wanted to continue preparing for his work, so he went out to sketch. After painting several street scenes in several well-known old streets in Binhai, he came to Chaoyang Road.

The east-west street has buildings of different periods and styles on both sides.

Because the platform Jiang Zhe was standing on was higher, looking east from his position, most of the old two- or three-story buildings were located at his feet.

From a bird's-eye view, the roofs of two rows of old buildings gradually extend into the distance, dotted with green trees, pedestrians, and vehicles, presenting a bustling urban scene.

There were many painters who used similar angles to depict urban street scenes, and Jiang Zhe also planned to give it a try.

He adjusted his position and began to sketch in pencil on a quartet of watercolor paper.

When sketching outside, you need to strike a balance between overall beauty and details.

As he sketched, he considered the tone of the painting and how to add or subtract details to bring out the beauty of the street scene.

After Jiang Zhe used a pencil to draw the three levels of distant, middle and near views, he began to apply the colors layer by layer starting from the blue of the sky.

The brush was dipped in paint and splashed on the paper. Except for a few blank areas, the rest of the paper was covered with water and paint.

He saw that many colors went beyond the pencil lines, but he didn't rush to correct them, intending to adjust them when the time was right.

The colors of large surfaces such as the sky, buildings, roads, and green trees gradually appear as they are portrayed.

Jiang Zhe kept the surface moist while painting to facilitate adjustments at any time.

After he had painted the expected layers of color, he began to depict the dark areas and light and shadows, while also drawing in some details of the buildings and green plants.

In the process of depicting, he carefully controlled the outline of the scenery and the boundary between light and dark, highlighting the different levels of distance through virtuality and reality. The blue sky and white clouds are clear and indifferent, forming a sharp contrast with the hustle and bustle of the old street, further highlighting the fireworks of the city.

Jiang Zhe paused for a moment, thinking about how to clean up the scene. He looked at the time and saw that only 40 minutes had passed since the beginning.

He took a scraper and scraped off some of the paint to reveal the base color, forming light-colored lines and surfaces to make the images of some buildings more vivid. Then, he adjusted the colors to avoid making some colors too prominent.

After acquiring intermediate skills in direct oil painting, his understanding of color has greatly improved, from intuitive and perceptual to rational understanding.

For example, he can find rich colors in real scenery, but when he moves the scenery into the picture, he has to consider the issues of change and addition and subtraction.

Ten minutes later, the work was almost finished. Just as Jiang Zhe was finishing the details, dark clouds gathered in the sky, blocking out the sunlight.

The weather forecast didn't say it would rain today, but looking at the situation, it's obviously going to rain.

Jiang Zhe wanted to finish the painting while he was still feeling it, so he didn't move.

A breeze blew, bringing a moist scent.

Jiang Zhe finally finished the painting. Because the surface was not yet completely dry, he quickly packed up, picked up his tools, and went to the shed on the platform to shelter from the rain.

While he was waiting for the painting to dry, raindrops fell.

There is a passage on the platform leading to the old street. The passage is covered and can be used to shelter from the rain. As the rain gets heavier, many people gather at the exit of the passage to take shelter from the rain.

Jiang Zhe didn't bring an umbrella and planned to wait until the rain stopped before leaving.

The shed on the platform could shelter him from the rain, and no one would disturb him, so he simply took out a folding stool, sat down, and sketched while waiting for the rain to stop.

The rain was drizzling, the air was moist and had a fishy smell of earth.

People running in the rain and crowds hiding on the streets to avoid the rain are all the materials that Jiang Zhe depicts.

"It's nice here, the light is good, and we can shelter from the rain."

"Just here."

Jiang Zhe was absorbed in painting when he heard several people talking.

Looking back, I saw three men of advanced age, holding stools and chessboards, coming to the entrance of the passage and the shed.

The three of them sat down, set out the chessboard, and started playing chess without caring about anything else.

"Eat~"~Bang~Bang~
The shed on the platform that can shelter from the rain is not small. Jiang Zhe is more than ten meters away from the people playing chess, but he still finds the noise a bit harsh.

Look at these three old men, they don’t even raise their heads, forget it.

He listened to the sound of rain hitting the shed, trying to block out the distraction.

However, the chess players smashed the chess pieces with increasing force.

Jiang Zhe had no choice but to turn around and look at the three people playing chess. Since the noise cannot be avoided, I will use you as models.

There were two people playing chess, one was bald and the other was very fat. The person watching the game was a little younger, but his face was also full of wrinkles.

After observing them for a while, Jiang Zhe thought that the three people's focused looks and movements were unique and very interesting, so he drew them in his sketchbook, focusing on depicting the expressions of the three people.

He drew several sketches in succession and got a little tired of it. The rain still didn't stop, so he walked along the edge of the shed to see what was happening on the street.

Occasionally, pedestrians holding umbrellas passed by on the old street. Because the light was dim, the lights in the buildings and some street lights were turned on. Many lights were reflected on the puddles on the road, creating a flowing effect.

Jiang Zhe suddenly got an inspiration when he saw this scene. The sky became dark due to the gathering of dark clouds. The lights of the shops on both sides of the old street and the reflections on the road surface became the bright colors in the scenery, and these tones carried a special subtle change.

He set up the easel again and observed the old street from another angle.

Once you have a rough idea of ​​the effect, start drafting in pencil.

It is still a bird's-eye view, but the angle of view is slightly lower than the previous painting. He lets the buildings on both sides of the road and the road surface in the near distance occupy the main middle ground, extending to the distant buildings and disappearing at the upper edge of the picture. The near ground shows the road.

After Jiang Zhe checked the pencil draft and confirmed that it was correct, he used dark colors to apply color layer by layer starting from the top of the building and the dark clouds.

The colors covered the details of the building, and he did not stop to paint.

Not far away, three old men took turns playing chess.

The man with wrinkles on his face was replaced. He looked up at the screen of Jiang Zhe, sneered, and lowered his head to continue watching the game.

Jiang Zhe concentrated on laying down the colors, and when the colors reached the desired effect, he used one end of the brush and a scraper to scrape out some brighter lines and blocks on the darker colors.

Because of the superposition of color layers, the scraper will not directly scrape out the color of the paper, but a slightly lighter color, which just meets the needs of the modeling. This color change effect is sometimes more natural than leaving blank space or deliberately painting.

Another key point of this painting is the reflection of the wet road surface. Because there is water in some places, some parts of the road surface need to have the effect of water surface.

Jiang Zhe used the scraping technique to scrape out the reflections of buildings and the sky on the road surface, and then began to embellish the colors of the lights.

Because of the contrast of some dark colors, the color of the light appears and becomes a very bright color in the whole painting.

The lights are bright and dim, slowly extending into the distance, becoming blurred, and then disappearing. The lights reflected on the road surface add to the gorgeous and dreamy effect.

Seeing that the overall effect had been achieved, Jiang Zhe began to clean up carefully.

At this time, a woman holding an umbrella ran up from the passage. She saw the old man with wrinkles on his face, walked over and said, "Uncle Li, my mother asked me to bring you an umbrella."

The old man looked up and asked: "How did you find this place?"

"My mom thought you might be around here."

"Give me the umbrella and go back quickly."

Seeing that he was unwilling to go back, the girl handed him the umbrella.

The two people who were playing chess knew that their chess friend had remarried and that the girl had a child. Although the girl was pretty, as an experienced person, they knew what to say and what not to ask. So, they just took a look and continued playing chess.

When the girl came up, she had already noticed someone painting on the platform. She was busy looking for someone to deliver an umbrella and didn't look closely. Now that she had nothing to do, she went over to take a closer look.

When I saw it, I was immediately attracted by the picture.

The buildings in the old street gradually extend into the rain, becoming hazy, and the road surface reflects the color of the sky. The lights and the reflection on the water surface form a special light and shadow, with a hazy and illusory beauty.

The girl admired silently and suddenly didn't want to leave.

She watched Jiang Zhe perfect the painting and noticed the high-end painting tools he used, including a fully functional easel, imported solid pigments and watercolor paper, an enamel palette, and watercolor brushes of different sizes. These were all things she liked but couldn't afford.

She observed from the side and back and felt that the back of the person painting looked familiar. She moved closer and observed from the side and immediately realized that she knew the person painting.

Jiang Zhe noticed that someone was leaning over to the side. He looked sideways and saw that it was a pretty girl.

He stopped painting, looked at the girl, thought for a moment, and asked, "Are you Lan Xin, a Chinese painting major from Binhai Academy of Arts?"

The girl's original curiosity and envy disappeared immediately after she recognized Jiang Zhe. She said calmly, "It's me. You are Jiang Zhe, who majored in oil painting, right?"

Jiang Zhe didn't expect to meet Lan Xin here.

The two have a competitive relationship.

He could sense the other party's vigilance from his words.

Jiang Zhe has already let go of this matter since he was able to stay in school and get the reward for his work. Even if there is competition in the future, there is no need to be on edge.

He smiled and said to Lan Xin, "What a coincidence. Nice to meet you. My name is Jiang Zhe." He deliberately emphasized the pronunciation of his name and began to adjust the picture again.

Lan Xin responded in a relaxed tone: "The paper of your painting is very good, but a few spots of color are a little dirty."

Hearing the other party deliberately finding fault, Jiang Zhe was not angry: "Thank you for the reminder."

He used a brush to lightly dot a dark area. A few strokes of color gave the originally dull color layers and changes. It not only had the wet feeling of rain, but also the outline of the object could be felt through the hazy rain curtain.

Lan Xin saw Jiang Zhe's superb skills and suddenly didn't want to watch anymore. "Goodbye"

Jiang Zhe also responded politely.

Lan Xin walked towards the passage, passing by people playing chess. "Uncle Li, I'm going home."

"Hey, do you know that guy?" the man asked.

"I know him, a student from our school." Lan Xin walked away along the corridor.

The three old men playing chess looked at Jiang Zhe together.

(End of this chapter)