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

Chapter 151, Confusion and breakthrough, the competition continues

Library reading room.

Jiang Zhe borrowed a collection of Degas's works and a collection of Sargent's works, found an empty seat, sat down, and began to read.

While appreciating the works, he was also thinking about how to portray Yuan Xiaohan's portrait. Since the system prompted that this was an opportunity to increase his fame, he should take it seriously.

The two painters have different ideas and methods of depicting characters. Degas often uses pastels to depict dancers. This painting tool is a quick color tool. Many painters in the Western Classical period used pastels to create portraits in order to cope with a large number of custom works.

Some Western portraits created with pastels that can still be seen today are just as delicate as oil paintings.

Jiang Zhe flipped through a famous painting by Degas.

The depiction of the dancers in this painting is not as delicate as in classical paintings, but Degas coordinated the agile dancers with the background very well, and the brushstrokes and texture of the pastels add interest to the image.

Jiang Zhe used his fingers to draw, simulating the process of powder painting, and felt that he had not yet achieved his goal. Unfortunately, he did not bring any powder tools, so he could only use quick sketches to simulate it.

After copying several paintings, he closed the album, recalled what he could remember, and simulated how he would use these techniques to depict the image of Yuan Xiaohan.

Studying the works of masters has given him a better understanding of the application of colors. But this is not enough, he wants to use this opportunity to try several more expression techniques to get more rewards.

Jiang Zhe opened Sargent's collection of works.

There are no examples of painters depicting dancers in this Sargent album. However, his portraits, which incorporate the color principles of Impressionism, have already gained mainstream recognition even at the time. For Jiang Zhe, there are many things he can learn from.

He found some very useful content in his research on Sargent.

Sargent's biographer described that Sargent asked his students to draw as many drafts as possible and to learn to take and discard when drawing drafts.

It doesn't matter whether these words were said by Sargent himself. After reading these research contents, Jiang Zhe probably understood why Sargent's brushstrokes were so free and accurate, and his words were concise and to the point. The selection and rejection played a crucial role, reflecting the painter's wisdom and talent.

When Jiang Zhe looked at the paintings, he felt the urge to create, so he used a quick sketch to copy one of Sargent's works.

He drew the lines quickly, only painting the most important images and boldly discarding the minor objects.

He used sketches to record the materials and feelings he found in the album. Although he had not seen the original work, he had already vaguely realized that the authenticity and delicacy of the art in the painter's pen far exceeded the reality of life.

Jiang Zhe continued painting until he felt tired, then he stopped to rest. He picked up the painting album and prepared to exchange it for other books.

When passing by several rows of desks, I saw Lan Xin also copying from a picture album.

Taking the opportunity of returning the book, he deliberately walked past Lan Xin and saw clearly that she was copying Ye Qianyu's sketch, with Jiang Zhaohe's collection of works placed next to her.

Jiang Zhe praised silently.

Lan Xin was very smart and chose to find useful things directly from the master's works.

Ye Qianyu is good at sketching, especially dancing figures, which is very useful for Lan Xin who is preparing to paint a portrait of Yuan Xiaohan. However, Lan Xin may be trying too hard to learn figure painting from Jiang Zhaohe in order to make the characters in the painting more vivid.

Lan Xin noticed someone was looking at her, she looked up and found it was Jiang Zhe.

Jiang Zhe did not avoid the other person's gaze, but smiled and waved, greeting silently.

Lan Xin nodded and said nothing. In her mind, Jiang Zhe and herself were competitors, and always had been, so she acted politely and distantly.

Seeing her lower her head and continue copying, Jiang Zhe returned to his seat.

He had seen Lan Xin's copied works and had a new understanding of her painting level. Lan Xin had a good foundation in modeling and was talented, but the direction she chose to study in order to complete the customized portrait was slightly problematic.

The portraits of both masters Ye and Jiang are realistic and have made significant contributions to Chinese painting. Apart from anything else, the portraits of Du Fu, Li Shizhen and others that we see in textbooks were basically created by Jiang Zhaohe.

Yuan Xiaohan asked someone to customize a portrait for her because she wanted to make herself more beautiful, to be remembered by others, to increase her fame and to help her development.

It is right for Lan Xin to learn from the two masters, but it will make her works more artistic.

Her mistake was that she didn't quite understand Yuan Xiaohan's intention, so the direction she chose was a little off.

Jiang Zhe did not remind Lan Xin that she had to figure out these things on her own.

He admired and copied the works of masters until four in the afternoon.

As I left the library, I was recalling the classic works I had read today.

After continuous study, he was already confident about Yuan Xiaohan's portrait, but he still lacked inspiration for his professional course assignments.

Jiang Zhe returned to the dormitory and thought about what Teacher Tian had said. The feeling the teacher talked about was a very general concept. Different people would have different feelings when seeing the same still life. However, when presenting it on the screen, one needs to find a breakthrough. To put it bluntly, what kind of artistic beauty should be expressed?

When it was time for dinner, Jiang Zhe was waiting for Chen Yan in the cafeteria and happened to meet Yuan Xiaohan and Tao Lin.

Yuan Xiaohan came over when she saw Jiang Zhe. "Jiang Zhe, Lan Xin and I have an appointment to help me draw a portrait during evening self-study today. Do you have time? If you have time, come over. We'll meet in the dance studio."

Although she changed from custom-making to modeling, she is still very active.

Jiang Zhe thought the schedule was good and agreed.

Soon, Chen Yan came to find Jiang Zhe.

In order not to affect Chen Yan's mood for eating, Jiang Zhe chose to ask her to accompany him to paint after the meal.

When Chen Yan heard that they were going to paint Yuan Xiaohan, she was indeed unhappy, but because they had an appointment before, she still agreed to accompany Jiang Zhe.

Jiang Zhe had already considered that he could only draw a rough draft tonight, so he went back to the dormitory to prepare tools and drawing paper, and brought a four-fold drawing board. Together with Chen Yan, they came to the dance classroom building. Chen Yan knew the location of the dance classroom and led Jiang Zhe.

Jiang Zhe pushed open the door and heard the voices of several girls talking.

Yuan Xiaohan, Tao Lin and the classmates who accompanied Lan Xin were chatting.

Lan Xin was fixing the drawing paper on the drawing board.

Yuan Xiaohan saw Jiang Zhe push the door open and stood up to greet him, "Jiang Zhe, welcome. Chen Yan, come in and sit down."

Jiang Zhe and several classmates greeted each other in turn.

Chen Yan was in a bad mood, but still responded politely.

Yuan Xiaohan asked Jiang Zhe and Lan Xin: "Do you want to draw standing or sitting?"

Jiang Zhe made a gesture to Lan Xin, inviting her to choose.

Lan Xin put a box of charcoal sticks in a convenient place, and then said, "Sit down."

She looked at Jiang Zhe, asking with her eyes, is it okay?
Jiang Zhe smiled and nodded.

Yuan Xiaohan brought a chair and sat on it in a very ladylike posture.

Jiang Zhe said to Yuan Xiaohan: "You can relax a little. If you sit comfortably, your movements will be natural."

Lan Xin immediately followed up with a sentence: "You can chat like before, or you can move around."

"Is it okay?" Yuan Xiaohan looked at Jiang Zhe.

Jiang Zhe said yes and started walking around Yuan Xiaohan, looking for a suitable angle.

Lan Xin also started looking for a seat.

Yuan Xiaohan continued chatting with the rest of the class. She also pulled Chen Yan into the conversation so that she wouldn't feel left out.

Jiang Zhe and Lan Xin found a good seat and pulled up a bench to sit down.

The positions they chose happened to be on the left and right of Yuan Xiaohan.

Neither of them was in a hurry to write, and they observed in silence. To outsiders, it seemed like luck, and the voices of everyone chatting gradually decreased.

Jiang Zhe adjusted his mood and at the same time formed a preliminary impression of Yuan Xiaohan's appearance, expression and movements, and began to draw sketches in his sketchbook.

Yuan Xiaohan wore a grey blouse on her upper body, paired with a gauze skirt. The right clothes and movements made her look exceptionally tall.

Jiang Zhe held a brown carbon stick and quickly depicted Yuan Xiaohan's movements with simple and smooth strokes.

He drew several dynamic sketches in a row, and after determining the character's proportions and movements, he began to draw the facial features, hands, hair and other details.

He made full use of the strengths of carbon strips, using a combination of lines and surfaces to quickly experiment with many details, gradually imprinting the image he wanted to portray in his mind.

Jiang Zhe felt confident, so he stopped writing, stood up and stretched out his arms to relax.

His eyes swept over Lan Xin and saw the sketch drawn by Lan Xin.

Lan Xin's sketches are mainly based on lines, with less use of light and shade. Each stroke is very careful, and already has the charm of traditional Chinese painting.

She had already finished a few sketches and was thinking in front of the paper.

Jiang Zhe was not in a hurry.

He sat down again, holding the drawing board between his legs, holding the edge of the drawing board with his left hand, and holding the sharpened carbon stick in his right hand. He first drew a few dots on the paper, and then quickly swept out a few faint lines.

The angle he used to depict the figure was slightly to the right of the front view. After outlining the figure's general outline, he paused for a moment and then started painting directly from the position of the left eye. He drew the outlines of the eyebrow arch, eye socket, eyes and nose bridge in sequence, almost in one go.

A few onlookers stood behind Jiang Zhe and the other man and watched.

Although Chen Yan didn't like Jiang Zhe's painting of Yuan Xiaohan, she didn't want to see him lose face. When she saw him use a few strokes to draw the image decisively and accurately, she was immediately relieved.

On the other side, Lan Xin was drawing the movements of a human figure with a slightly bent stick of charcoal.

Tao Lin and others watched Jiang Zhe's painting process, and then went to watch Lan Xin paint. After repeated comparisons, they felt that the two were evenly matched.

In the dance studio, several students came in one after another. They were all Yuan Xiaohan's classmates, who came to watch the fun.

Yuan Xiaohan was able to chat happily with her classmates without disturbing Jiang Zhe and the other two from painting.

Jiang Zhe quickly drew the facial features and movements of the character, picked up the eraser, and gently erased part of the carbon powder to blur some of the outlines. At the same time, he used the eraser to sweep out the changes in light and dark on the character's face and the whole.

At this time, the characters in Lan Xin's painting became clearer and clearer.

Jiang Zhe used brown lines and very light brown tones, and after finalizing the draft, he selected a light ochre chalk from the powder box.

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(End of this chapter)