The Versatile Master Artist

In the quiet courtyard,

Gu Weijing solidified a small candle with wax oil above the drawing board, and under the flickering candlelight, his brush moved as if flying.

This new sketch came to completion very smoothly.

He hardly needed to spend any time thinking about his brushwork, nor did he need to expend energy on composition, and even the photo on his phone was only occasionally glanced at.

The joyful expression of the little girl Jasmine quietly blossomed in Gu Weijing’s heart.

Almost naturally, as he completed the last line on the hem of the skirt, the related data of the painting appeared before his eyes.

[Title: ”Rotating Blue-skirted Girl”]

[Sketching Technique: Tier One Professional Painter (607/5000)]

[Emotion: Heartfelt]

This was the first time Gu Weijing was so invested in painting a piece.

The time spent was not long, yet a light sweat had already formed on his nose.

[Your current task has been completed, please claim your reward.]—As he completed this painting, a timely system prompt sounded.

Gu Weijing opened the virtual panel and clicked to claim his reward.

[Ultimate Reward of the Chain Task: A Random Legendary-Level Skill]

The extraction of a legendary-level skill differed from any previous reward.

The system did not directly issue the reward but instead materialized a silver book on the virtual panel.

The pages turned automatically as if by a breeze,

Each page inscribed with enticing rewards, only to be flipped in the next moment and filled with new content.

Casually glancing at a few fleeting images, Gu Weijing’s breath became rapid.

[Tang·Wu Daozi—Insights of the ”Eighty-Seven Immortals” Painting Technique (Legendary Level)], [Georges Seurat (French Pointillist Master)’s Pointillism Technique (Legendary Level)], [Henry Rousseau’s ”Naive Style” Ghost Fragment (Legendary Level)]...

Every name appearing in the reward list was without exception a world-shaking artist, even a cultural symbol of a specific country.

The pages kept flipping quickly, like a silent invitation.

Gu Weijing reached out his hand and placed it on the skill book.

As his hand touched it, the pages automatically stopped, and a silver page fell out.

[Miscellaneous·Hundred Arts Tree (Legendary Level)]

The page turned into a silver skill tree on the system panel.

[Miscellaneous·Hundred Arts Tree: Provides various (Legendary Level) everyday painting techniques that a painter needs to master. Initially, 1000 Free Experience Points can be used to water the small tree once. Each watering of the Hundred Arts Tree may cause it to grow new branches.]

Gu Weijing’s gaze settled on the Hundred Arts Tree.

Currently, the sapling only had one branch and leaf, looking quite bare and pitiful.

Gu Weijing saw there was a text explanation on that branch and leaf, this time without the name of a master but presenting an independent painting technique.

[Painting Knife Painting Method]

[Special Effects: You will master the secrets of painting knife painting.]

[Painting Technique Introduction: The painting knife possesses a distinct expressiveness and stroke compared to the brush. When expressing rich and layered light and shadow, it is always a good assistant to the painter.]

[Note: Light fragrance and intensity blend perfectly.]

”Painting knife painting?”

A vast amount of knowledge about painting knife painting quickly flooded Gu Weijing’s mind.

Although called a knife, the painting knife is more like a small trowel.

The palette knife is used for mixing paint, and the painting knife is used for cleaning and removing excess color from the canvas, similar to an eraser effect.

However,

Under certain conditions of handling special color relationships, the painting knife can also be used to spread paint for painting.

The painting knife can squeeze paint onto the canvas, creating a series of sleek volume blocks, and at the places where the knife touches, crosses, and finishes, forming ridge-like or linear unique curve edges.

The ability to spread and layer oil paint with a painting knife is not something that soft paintbrushes can rival.

This is a very versatile and expressive painting method,

grand and open.

Generally, schools do not focus too much on teaching painting knife techniques.

High school art students can consider themselves competent if they use the painting knife as an oil painting eraser. If they can slightly bring out the features of the painting knife in their work, they are certainly excellent.

Even if someone has never heard of painting knife painting, it is considered normal.

The hard metal painting knife is far more challenging to control than the lightweight oil painting brush. Its advantage is its ability to shape and enrich colors, with a steady touch and clear forms.

Its downside is difficulty in control and precise depiction.

Not just art students, but even in the global art scene, there are few artists who specialize in painting knife paintings.

It wouldn’t be impossible if you want to separate painting knife painting from traditional oil painting, making it a niche category like spray painting or chalk painting.

Analogous to old Hong Kong-style martial arts films, artists who delve into painting knife painting are like experts of obscure weapons like judge’s pens and nine-section whips.

There are basically no top-tier artists, but the resulting works are quite distinctive.

However, even if a bit niche, Gu Weijing did not disdain this skill.

For a painter, there are no obscure or unpopular skills, only frequently used or infrequently used skills.

The painting knife is the most commonly used tool next to the brush when painting in oils.

After carefully understanding, Gu Weijing opened his eyes.

As expected, the experience brought by the legendary-level skill is so rich and real.

The thin and narrow long blade is suitable for pulling out long and thin colors; a small pear-shaped painting knife with a high-ductility forged steel blade produces colors that are elastic and wavy, like a thick layer of cream; the straight edge with paint mixed with thick wood chips can create beautiful flaky textures...