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

Chapter 187, Skill Improvement, Provincial Art Annual Exhibition Awards
Saturday morning, in the oil painting studio.

Several particularly diligent students use their weekends to create in the studio.

One of the students was observing Jiang Zhe's work. Because there was no model present, they had to create subjectively. If they were unsure about some depiction methods, they needed to find credible examples for reference.

The news of Jiang Zhe's winning the award once again proved his strength. The students have seen several of his works and can feel the gap between them, so his works are a good reference.

The student who was looking at the painting noticed another student coming over and left without saying a word.

Almost everyone in the class has lofty goals in mind, and they also compare themselves with each other. After all, it is embarrassing to refer to the works of classmates.

At the same time, Jiang Zhe was in his studio, looking at an unfinished work.

On the easel in front of him was a three-foot piece of raw rice paper, on which was drawn a portrait of a woman with charcoal sticks.

This portrait is slightly different from the one drawn during the test. The background is removed and the focus is on the character. The facial features are more similar to the prototype, and the line modeling is more concise.

After acquiring the new skill of Chinese painting, he was eager to try it out. On Saturday, he returned to the studio and started practicing immediately.

During the drafting stage, he continued his previous habit and used a drawing board and easel to support the rice paper. After making the draft and knocking off most of the carbon powder on the paper, he needed to outline and fill in colors.

There is no drawing table in the studio, so a workbench is used instead.

Jiang Zhe spread the felt and drawing paper on the workbench, carefully ground a piece of pine soot ink, waited until the ink reached the required concentration, dipped the liner pen in the ink, and began to draw the lines.

This time, the outline process is more detailed and smoother than the last time. The outline method he used presents the effect of a spring silkworm spinning silk, and the connection between the strokes is smooth and natural. The description of the facial features is also reflected in the brush and ink, and the brush and ink integrated into the modeling make the facial features more vivid.

After finishing the first outline, he began to use a loose-tip brush, dipped in light ink of varying wetness and dryness, to create a sketch effect for the character.

After creating the sketch effect, start rendering.

Jiang Zhe did not follow the tricky rendering method, but adopted the traditional approach, using skin color to smudge and then adding some color to make the character's face and hands accurate and vivid, while also taking into account the charm of the brush and ink.

Next, depict the clothing.

After the first and second coats of color are dry, do the second outlining.

The second round of outlining is more cautious than the previous creation, giving the whole painting a more traditional flavor.

When the painting is dry and the colors and ink are stable, Jiang Zhe will sign and stamp it according to the composition.

He hung the new painting next to his previous one and compared them.

Overall, the new work's modeling and brushwork are superior to the previous one. The new work's brushwork can properly express the character's demeanor, while the previous work, for various reasons, only focused on expressing the character's modeling.

From this creative process, he learned how to enhance the beauty reflected by the character modeling.

Inspired by this, Jiang Zhe had new ideas about his future portrait creation.

For the next week, he devoted most of his energy to creating character sketches.

Because of the new skills and new ideas, he began to make partial adjustments to his work. Although the adjustments were minor, they attracted the attention of Mr. Chu.

Teacher Chu asked Jiang Zhe why he changed the picture. In his opinion, these positions were originally drawn well.

Jiang Zhe expressed his thoughts on the styling: "I want to reduce the contrast between light and dark in the clothes. Also, I want to adjust the arm movements to make it more natural..."

Teacher Chu listened to his reasons, thought for a long time, and nodded: "Okay, you can try to change it according to your idea. There is no problem doing more experiments at this time."

Jiang Zhe's move to rewrite the picture began to influence some of his classmates.

Teacher Chu stopped these students in time and asked them not to redraw unless they could not continue. In the third week of the figure sketching class, Jiang Zhe received a call from Wang Zhen with good news. At the provincial art annual exhibition, Jiang Zhe's work won the second prize for watercolor painting.

With the previous award news as a prelude, Jiang Zhe remained calm when he learned the good news.

Wang Zhen knew what Jiang Zhe was thinking: "Don't think that the second prize is nothing. In the provincial art annual exhibitions over the years, not many painters in Binhai have won second prizes. Your results are already outstanding."

Jiang Zhe heard Wang Zhen's straightforward words and asked directly, "Who won the first prize?"

Wang Zhen said: "In the watercolor category, you won the second prize, which is the best among Binhai painters. There is a painter who won the first prize in the traditional Chinese painting category. He is a special painter of the National Academy of Painting. Don't compare yourself with him."

"I see. I have to thank you for your arrangement to get this result."

"Let's not be polite. I'll go back as soon as possible and bring you the certificate."

Jiang Zhe agreed and prepared to end the call.

"Don't be impatient. I still want to talk about your work. Someone wants to buy your watercolor painting. But I think we can wait a while?"

Jiang Zhe said, "You mean the auction?"

"Yes." Wang Zhen said, "After your oil painting is auctioned, if the price is high, it will also affect other works, so I think you can wait. Of course, the final decision is still yours."

Jiang Zhe did not hesitate: "I'll listen to you."

"Okay, let's wait a little longer."

……

The news of Jiang Zhe's winning the award spread quickly.

Both the Coastal Art Academy and the Coastal Fine Arts Society plan to promote it.

Teacher Hu asked Jiang Zhe to write some relevant materials and prepare for promotion in school.

At the Art Society, Jiang Zhe sent the same materials to Wang Zhen and asked him for help.

Every day when he opened the system, he would see that his honor value was constantly increasing.

On the weekend, Jiang Zhe came to Wang Zhen's gallery and saw that Wang Zhen didn't look very good, so he said, "Manager Wang, take care of your rest."

Wang Zhen said weakly: "I've been drinking too much recently. I'll take a break later."

Although she was very tired, she did not feel any pain.

Her business also grew because the works she promoted won awards.

She took out a file bag from her bag and handed it to Jiang Zhe. "Your award certificate, certificate and bonus. The award certificate for the college students' joint calligraphy and painting exhibition has been sent to your school by the organizing committee. You need to go to school to collect it."

Jiang Zhe opened the file bag, looked at the certificates and awards first, then took out an envelope containing the bonus and said, "I forgot to say that I should use these to treat everyone to a meal."

Wang Zhen said: "Although the prize money is not much, take it back and make your family happy. Put it away quickly."

After she finished talking about the award, she changed the subject: "I have an idea. If your work is successfully auctioned, can you take on specific portrait work in the future? It can be a single portrait or a wedding commemorative oil painting. Recently, this kind of business has emerged in a few places.

Your painting ability is OK, would you consider it?"

Jiang Zhe felt that this kind of custom work often had various restrictions, but he didn't want to refuse directly, so he agreed to go back and consider it.

(End of this chapter)