Chapter 17: The Passionate Artist

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Everyone looked towards Ruan Guangjian’s screen where Ma Yang’s requirement form was being displayed.

“Guan Yu… is a dragon?”

“Ma Chao… is a centaur?”

“So, Zhuge Liang is a pig¹ then?” Old Huang deduced logically.

Ruan Guangjian threw a sharp glance at him. “Pig your head! Zhuge Liang’s a famous inventor!”

“… That’s worse than being a pig,” Old Huang dissed.

As he looked through the requirement form, Old Huang found himself going blank.

This was a requirement form?

Other than giving some extreme modifications to the description of these historical figures, there was nothing else written!

At this point, asking for reference images would be an ambitious dream. However, there weren’t even any basic sketches to refer from!

Also, the modifications were in all forms!

There were those that were turned into animals, those who had their genders changed and even those who somehow were highly skilled in technology.

This was a complete hodgepodge!

“Is the client dim-witted?”

“What a lousy requirement form, this…”

Old Huang was confounded – he had not thought that Ruan Guangjian would have actually accepted such a job.

Wasn’t he afraid that the other party might be dissatisfied with the end result and end up falling into an argument?

They were all poor students of the art course. While they might be slightly better off than students from some other courses, if they really had a conflict with the client and neither side wanted to take responsibility, that would still be really difficult to deal with.

“What are you worrying about? He’s already made payment to the resource website,” Ruan Guangjian showed Old Huang the status that indicated payment has been made on the client’s side.

ESRO’s official resource website was sort of like a middleman with the platform being a guarantor such that the freelancers could start working right after the clients state their requirements.

During that period of time, the clients would have to settle payment with the platform holding the money in escrow. Once the job is done and the client is satisfied with the product, the freelancer would receive the payout from the platform.

If both sides come to a disagreement, the platform will serve as the arbitrator.

If it came to that, Ruan Guangjian had the conversation history. The platform also had a copy of the requirement form and job demands – no matter what, Ruan Guangjian had the upper hand.

“Guangjian, I still don’t think the job makes much sense. How about trying to confirm the requirements with them again and have them send over more details…” Old Huang still felt that the entire thing seemed unreliable.

Ruan Guangjian was displeased. “Old Huang, have you gone mad?”

“Do you want to continue drawing those cartoon characters? Are you not sick of it yet?”

“Right now, the market’s filled with cartoonish games. While the money is good, ask yourself – do you really fancy those soulless things?!”

“Where is your pride as an artist?”

“Right now, there’s such a good opportunity with liberal demands on the style. Look at the creative space we’re given!”

“If we were to get famous thanks to this series of original arts, our future would definitely be smooth! Who knows, we might even be able to rent a studio ourselves right after graduation!”

“Or do you want to be a nobody after graduating, joining some outsourcing company as hard labor to continue drawing in that style that you do not like at all?”

The others exchanged glances. Clearly, they were moved by Ruan Guangjian’s words.

They were all students, not experienced artists who have been out and about in the corporate world.

In terms of art, all of them had their own ideas – they were at a phase where their inspirations were overflowing.

Who would want to be a laborer drawing those traditional pieces based on a client’s frameworks?

All of them wanted to draw in a style that they loved and was good in!

The fact that they had a client who had no demands was an extremely rare opportunity!

Old Huang was moved as well. “Alright, you’ll make the decision then, Guangjian. We’ll help you out. How do you intend to go about it?”

“That’s the way.”

Pleased, Ruan Guangjian opened up an image on his computer.

“I intend to go with this style.”

“Epic ink oil painting style.”

Old Huang felt his mouth cramping up.

This was a style that was created by Ruan Guangjian previously through a stroke of inspiration.

The photo depicted a tall, bulky minotaur with one of its horns snapped and wore a black armor that was heavily damaged.

Its shoulder pad left a deep impression with a huge monster’s head resting on it while its body had many chains coiled around it, giving off a feeling of a relentless warrior.

The color scheme leaned to a darker shade as the pitch black backdrop and battlefield gave off a feeling of despair and sorrow.

If one were to just look at the image, they would associate it with the minotaurs in Fantasy World.

However, if they were to look carefully, they would notice the many differences between this minotaur and those of western culture.

Ruan Guangjian had used a large amount of details to accentuate the eastern elements of the minotaur. For example, the facial features of the minotaur bore traits that appealed to eastern beauty as was the design of the armor and weapons such as having a red battle robe et cetera.

The reason why Ruan Guangjian named it as epic ink oil painting style was because it contained the three traits of being epic and resembling ink and oil paintings.

The art wasn’t so detailed that every single pore of the character could be seen. It was smudged using oil painting techniques such that the blurry background could easily create a unique atmosphere to it.

At the same time, there was also ink painting techniques added to it, giving off a strong Chinese feel.

Other than that, the character itself gave off a sorrowful feeling. That was the foundation of the epic feeling as though the minotaur had just been through an apocalyptic war between gods and demons.

Old Huang and the other roommates had long known about this painting.

They were extremely impressed with Ruan Guangjian as well. After all, the techniques and shadows along with other details of the painting was something that most other art students wouldn’t be able to match up with.

However, could this be used as a game’s original art?

No one could tell.

Right now, all the trending mobile games had cartoonish original arts. The jobs that they had taken on earlier were all for cartoonish original arts as well.

Even the games that made use of a realistic style basically leaned towards original arts that were extremely detailed with bright colors.

While Ruan Guangjian’s style was definitely impressive, it could also lead people to feel like it was too gloomy and they might feel depressed while playing the game.

That was the reason why Ruan Guangjian had not posted it on the resource website as he was afraid that it might affect his job offers.

Old Huang hesitated. “Two questions. First, can this style really fit the client’s demands? Second, you’re the only one good at this style. The rest of us can’t do it…”

Ruan Guangjian was prepared for this as he replied with aplomb, “That’s exactly why I said the requirement form is in line with my thoughts!’

“My initial concept originated from those myths about immortals and deities!”

“What I want to display is a sense of epicness and the most important element for that is style! Righteous immortals and monstrous demons; clashing these completely different styles is the best way to create sparks!”

“So to say, the more the style deviates from human form, the better!”

“Strictly speaking, most three kingdom games are not suitable for this style because the three kingdoms revolves around a group of people. How can we give off such a feeling based on that?”

“But, the requirement form has completely overhauled the images of the characters! That’s a perfect fit for this feeling!”

“Guan Yu’s a dragon, Ma Chao’s a centaur with mixed blood while Xu Chu’s a tiger…”

“Isn’t that just a heavenly match with my style?”

“Also, you guys don’t have to worry about matching the styles. I’ll do the design and sketches while you guys refine the details. I’ll clean up the loose ends thereafter. Don’t worry, with me heading the direction, the style will definitely be aligned!”