The Versatile Master Artist

If it’s the former?

Emotion told him that the Detective Cat might have painted a remarkable piece, but reason was unwilling to believe it.

Vellein pondered,

to have an illustration with such magic, it must be a classic able to be recorded in publishing history.

He himself was already a top-notch painter.

If one were to say that any of his works over the years could be considered a timeless classic, he didn’t dare boast such claims.

The cover he created for ”The Little Prince” certainly didn’t reach that standard at all.

Through the camera screen, it wasn’t clear. Vellein couldn’t wait for this group of volunteers to finish their investigation and then review the report submitted by the marketing department.

He directly said a few words and ran to the bookstore next door, grabbed a sample book just placed by volunteers from the sample return area, and pulled out a Montblanc pen from his collar pocket.

This was Vellein’s habit during manuscript review.

He was not only a renowned painter but also the owner of Vellein Illustration Studio.

When reviewing the manuscripts submitted by young painters and interns from his studio, Vellein would circle various mistakes and detail issues with a pen for them to correct.

In most cases, inexperienced young illustrators might have to revise a manuscript five or six times to barely meet the employer’s standards.

The manuscript was covered with dark pen lines, making it look like a spider web.

Vellein looked at it for twenty minutes.

He hadn’t even opened the pen cap, which he was spinning between his fingers.

Vellein was somewhat dumbfounded.

The lines, the textures, the hues... the slightly solidified texture of fresh oil paint looked as if it could overflow from the paper at any moment.

Scholastic Group placed great importance on illustrations.

On one hand, this was reflected in the publisher’s willingness to pay high salaries to hire famous illustrators, and on the other hand, the cover art was printed entirely to the standards of art gallery art books.

Professional-grade art books require high printing costs to reproduce even the slightest changes in color tones, which involves using specialized printing production lines for art books.

A set of 500 art book collections from the Louvre sold in the market for several hundred Euros was quite a fair price.

If a private individual looked for a printing factory to print art books, simply quoting per page might cost one or even several Pounds, and small printing factories might not even have the capacity or equipment.

”The Little Prince” had an expected sales volume in the millions.

Large-scale printing could substantially flatten and lower the cost per book, and since this was a flagship product for competing with the Thomson Man Group for market share, its strategic significance outweighed its revenue value, resulting in Scholastic Group being willing to make such a generous investment.

Art-grade printing is indeed art-grade printing.

This cover art restored the performance of Detective Cat’s original painting to a very high degree of similarity. Vellein could clearly see every tiny color change on the cover.

Perfect,

apart from perfect, it was still perfect.

The colors were full and rich, exquisite without being stiff, brimming with variation.

If not for seeing the representative line tracks and the texture left by the painting knife on the canvas, Vellein wouldn’t have believed that anyone in the world could handle such intricate details with broad, sweeping oil paint knives in such a tiny space.

”Damn, I’m actually going to compete for a manuscript with such a person?”

The more Vellein looked, the more he questioned his life.

If there was any flaw in this painting, it might be that it entirely adopted a composition style similar to that of Saint-Exupéry.

It couldn’t be considered professional.

”Not quite right either...”

Initially, Vellein thought this was a deficiency, but as he observed more closely, he gradually appreciated the flavor of the composition.

Before painting, he had repeatedly studied the manuscript and original illustrations of ”The Little Prince.”

His own painting was far more professional than Saint-Exupéry’s, yet it subtly lacked that sense of Zen akin to a clear stream.

Vellein thought he was overthinking it.

Now, looking at this painting by Lady Detective Cat, he once again found the same fairytale quality as ”The Little Prince” in this illustration.

”The secret lies in this exaggerated proportionate composition.” Vellein licked his lips, discovering the trick.

He lost thoroughly and decisively.

The opponent’s composition was superior to his, and their painting skill and emotions were even overwhelming.

Vellein lost to the point that he couldn’t even muster feelings of dissatisfaction.

The painting was so pleasing to the eye that even he couldn’t help but admire it.

As a fellow illustration artist, Vellein could feel the effortless fluidity in the opponent’s work, this sense of freely following one’s heart and reaching perfection, just thinking about it felt satisfying.

However,

why did I have to encounter such a monster?

”Fuck.”

Vellein cursed in frustration, placing the pen back in his chest pocket.

...

In the observation room,

”When can the market department produce the fastest first-round statistical charts and detailed data?” Director Morgan shook his head, his wrinkled face showing no trace of fatigue.

The group’s two Gulfstream jets had important business reception activities during this period, leaving no free time.

Director Morgan flew on Virgin Atlantic’s transcontinental route for ten hours before arriving at London Heathrow International Airport from Scholastic North America Los Angeles Headquarters this morning.

Both the conditions in first class and the kneeling service of the flight attendants were excellent,

but this high-level director, who played an important role in the post-World War II commercial expansion of the publishing house, was now quite elderly.

After arriving at the observation room, he began yawning repeatedly before the volunteers entered the venue, looking drowsy.

However, the short scene of the first-round volunteer test appeared like a powerful stimulant, sweeping away the weariness from the director’s face.

It was like a Director Morgan twenty years younger had awakened within the old gentleman, his back straight, his face beaming with youthful spiritedness.

The old gentleman was a professional businessman,

he didn’t understand art, but he knew the market well.

Vellein noticed the reaction of the crowd, which Director Morgan naturally observed as well.

In all his years navigating the business worlds, he had published countless works from renowned artists and had seen even more sensational scenes.

Later Harry Potter book signings by Lady Rowling, meet-and-greets of Nobel Prize in Literature winners or sports stars...

Even publishing nine memoirs for retired presidents and secretaries of state.

But those were all topics of high interest and fan enthusiasm that could achieve such scenes.

”The Little Prince” was not the kind of ”explosive” book; its sales were, of course, very high, but it had been out for over half a century now, and even its copyright protection had expired.

The volunteers’ enthusiasm shouldn’t be due to Saint-Exupéry’s work, so it could only be the illustration.

An illustration achieving such an effect.

Director Morgan had previously only seen this in some exhibitions of Pop Art Godfather Andy Warhol and works of illustration master Jean Arnou.

The business opportunities in these two individuals’ works went without saying.

They could sell prints at prices reaching seventy million Euros as art giants. At auction, Andy Warhol’s work’s average price was only slightly lower than Da Vinci’s, but he produced much more.

Da Vinci had only 7 works circulating in the market, how many did Andy Warhol have?

The combined market value of Andy Warhol’s paintings was higher than the market capitalization of a commercial giant like the Scholastic Group.

The most profitable artist in human history.

Genuine, over-a-billion-dollar prices.

Of course, you can’t just simply add up the amounts of an artist’s works.

Rarity increases value,

if all Andy Warhol’s works were suddenly sold by collectors, they definitely wouldn’t fetch such a price, even halved wouldn’t.

But even if only a tenth of them, it’s still several billion dollars.

The Detective Cat was the third he had seen in his lifetime.