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

"What tools do you need? We have a complete range of painting tools here. If you don't have enough, you can go buy some now." Professor Kerry took Jiang Zhe to see the teaching venue and asked him what painting supplies he needed.

Jiang Zhe said: "I would like to hear your advice on how big the work should be? I need to decide the material based on the size."

Professor Kerry took Jiang Zhe to the office.

This office is spacious and bright, with half of it occupied by a desk and bookcases and the other half filled with various artworks.

Kerry took out several oil painting frames with canvas already stretched.

"You can choose one for yourself. These are what I prepared for myself. I don't know if they are suitable for me."

Jiang Zhe chose a 60×70cm frame and asked, "Is this okay?"

"Of course," Kerry said, and he prepared two cups of coffee himself.

"Try it, my coffee is pretty good."

"Thank you."

Kerry asked Jiang Zhe to sit down, and then asked, "Can you finish a painting of this size in two hours?"

Jiang Zhe estimated and said, "It is very difficult to draw very detailed, so I can only focus on the key parts such as the face of the character.

You ask me to demonstrate and tell you what you want to achieve. I can adjust the sketching process. It would be best if there is some direction for the painting style. "

Kerry took a sip of coffee and his brain started working rapidly. He, Jiang Zhe, came to demonstrate, not on impulse, but with a teaching purpose.

Kerry said: “You can just paint in your own style.

My idea is to let students experience the complete process of oil painting from beginning to end. Don’t ignore the integration of traditional painting and local culture.”

Listening to Chris explaining the purpose of teaching, Jiang Zhe thought about how to allocate the time for depiction.

Professor Kerry said, "Don't worry too much. You just need to demonstrate. You can explain it however you like. In fact, it doesn't matter if you don't explain it. If there is anything missing, I will help you fill it in."

Jiang Zhe said frankly that this was the first time he faced such a situation.

Kerry expressed his understanding and told everyone to just perform normally.

Jiang Zhe had done demonstrations before, but when he came to a foreign university to do demonstrations, he naturally wanted to achieve the best results.

"We have a lot of teaching aids here, you can choose for yourself."

Kerry brought Jiang Zhe to choose painting supplies.

Jiang Zhe saw all kinds of painting supplies displayed here, and from what Kerry said, they were all paid for by the government.

Since it was free, he didn't hesitate and chose some high-quality oil paints produced in China, and then selected some brushes and mediums.

Kerry picked out Jiang Zhe's painting supplies and stored them separately.

After the two of them finalized the details for tomorrow's demonstration, Jiang Zhe returned to Christie's.

When Christie's heard that he would go to demonstrate tomorrow afternoon, they immediately said that there was no problem and that they would send a car and people to help Jiang Zhe.

Jiang Zhe told Wang Zhen about this matter, and then called Professor Qin to ask for advice on how to demonstrate it.

After Professor Qin heard this, he was happy at first, and then said, "Wait a moment, I'll think about it."

He silently summarized his experience in making sample paintings, and then said: "When you make sample paintings for many people, especially when there is video recording, you should not have any psychological burden and maintain the mental state of sketching and creation at ordinary times.

When you are sketching, many people are looking at your paintings. At that time, your mentality is very good, so just maintain that state.

If you need to explain the technique, you can do so during the breaks. When painting, make sure you are fully focused and not be distracted. It is best to forget that someone is watching you.

When you start drawing, don't think too much and don't set too high a goal for yourself. When you demonstrate to others, you will inevitably want to show off, but if you think too much, you will easily make mistakes. So, just use your usual level..."

He shared all his experience, and then gave instructions. "I don't want to cause any disturbance to you. They are willing to invite you, so they must believe that you have the ability."

After ending the call, Professor Qin immediately called the school to report the good news.

After Jiang Zhe returned to the hotel room, he turned on the system.

Kerry had already told him that the model for tomorrow's sketch would be a middle-aged man, so he simulated the sketch in the system in advance. The next morning, Jiang Zhe watched over the exhibition as usual.

After lunch, he and the temporary assistant sent to him by Christie's took a car to Columbia University.

Kerry met them at the school gate and took them to the classroom.

Jiang Zhe saw that the model's seat and easel had already been set up on the podium.

"Look, is there anything else you need?" Kerry asked his assistant to bring a water bottle and a cup.

Jiang Zhe arranged his painting tools and prepared to mix the paint.

Professor Kerry saw this and said, “Can you also explain to the students the process of preparing the paint?
Jiang Zhe put down the paint and said, "Okay."

In order to help Jiang Zhe relax, Professor Kerry deliberately chatted with him and the topics covered were very wide.

Students entered the classroom one after another, and everyone greeted Kerry. Those who had visited the exhibition would also greet Jiang Zhe.

About ten minutes later, nearly half of the seats in the classroom were still empty.

Kerry looked at his watch and said, "Time's up, let's not wait any longer." His assistant set up the camera. Jiang Zhe's temporary assistant also set up a camera.

The model came to the classroom.

The man was wearing a dark blue turtleneck sweater and jeans. He had gray curly hair, a beard, and wrinkles on his face. He seemed like a man with a story.

Jiang Zhe took one look and thought that this was an image worth portraying.

"These are employees of our school. They have been working here for more than ten years." Kerry introduced the two to each other.

Jiang Zhe shook hands with the model and said, "Thank you for your hard work today."

He sat behind the easel, observing the model and adjusting his position.

He chose to depict the model's 3/4 side bust.

The person in the painting is facing the right side of the painting, with the right head and the part behind the right ear in shadow.

While Jiang Zhe was observing the model, Kerry walked to the front of the podium, made an opening speech, introduced Jiang Zhe's experience, and sat in the first row to watch with the students.

When Jiang Zhe saw the assistant signal to start, he picked up the paint and squeezed the colors while explaining in English.

"Professor Klee asked me to paint a portrait. I'll tell you about my personal experience, starting with preparing the paint..." He mixed the colors and showed the process to the students.

Starting from the classification of colors, it talks about how to choose media, how to use media, how to mix translucent and opaque colors, etc.

On the wooden oval palette, more than a dozen colors were quickly numbered.

"As you can see, the classification and arrangement of colors are my personal habits. There is no set standard. The purpose is to facilitate use. The more detailed the preparatory work in the early stage, the more convenient the subsequent creation will be.

In my experience, the time spent preparing materials accounts for half of the entire creative process, or even more.

Due to time constraints, I am unable to demonstrate how to make pigments by hand, so today I will use the direct painting method to sketch.”

After saying that, he held the palette and spare brush in his left hand, picked up a medium-sized cow-ear hair round-headed brush in his right hand, and began to dip it in translucent raw brown to draw the draft.

In order to save time, he gave up the charcoal pencil and used paint directly, and then used translucent color to paint a thin layer of light and dark changes. Because of the direct painting method, the parts of the characters that are exposed to light are temporarily left blank.

His superb modeling skills, expertise in portraiture and sketching came into play at this time.

He observed the model's facial features as quickly as possible and took into account the composition and shape.

Although he did not use charcoal, using only a round-tipped brush and paint, he has created a vivid and accurate image of the figure.

When sketching from life, the most eye-catching element is first of all the ability to capture and shape the image.

Whether it looks like the real thing or not, it’s not a high standard, but it can attract students’ attention.

(End of this chapter)