The Versatile Master Artist-Chapter 63 - 55: Terrible Cheap Illustrator

"Wow, right at the start, Miss Elina gave us an unexpected choice."

Thomas examined the piece that Anna categorized as trash.

He adjusted the frame’s angle in front of the camera and showcased a close-up to the audience on the screen.

"Perhaps, from my direct view, it’s not bad, at least not that bad."

"I think I can give it a 4, or maybe a 5. Especially considering its price range. I can let you in on a secret, Miss Elina was right. This is one of the three illustrations I bought on Nutshell."

Thomas took a marker and wrote a [5] on a hard card.

"Professor Yajima, is this painting really that bad... At least, it seems okay, right?"

The lady sitting in the corner of the coffee table in a suit interjected.

She was the middle-aged female translator assigned to the Sakai family by the Yangon Tourism Bureau.

No one in Professor Yajima’s family could speak Burmese, and English speakers weren’t commonly seen while shopping.

People are naturally curious.

She had been sitting invisibly in the corner of the coffee table, silently sipping her coffee, yet her eyes constantly glued to the YouTube video on her phone screen.

She watched the beautiful lady in the wheelchair who dismissed a seemingly okay artwork as trash, while the Sakai family at the table seemed to take it as a given.

The translator could hardly contain her curiosity.

She finally interrupted.

The painting didn’t seem astonishingly good, but it was definitely not terrible either.

It used vibrant colors, precise lines, and recreated a Batman image on paper.

The background was a colorful depiction of Gotham City.

Smoke, fog, congested streets, various elements were richly illustrated, from her perspective, the painting definitely seemed effortful.

At least it was much better than a drifter’s casual scribbles done in a few seconds.

She couldn’t understand why Anna eliminated it first.

At that time, a bunch of question marks also flooded the video comment section.

"???"

"I completely don’t understand, I’m dumbfounded."

"Is there some inside story, or do professional critics naturally think about art differently from ordinary people?"

"Why is this painting the worst? I completely can’t agree, isn’t it ten thousand times better than the drifter’s piece?"

These were skeptical comments.

"I don’t care, whatever the pretty lady says is right."

These were comments from fans.

"Conspiracy!"

"FUCK! Is Mr. Hibernian staging things for viewership too now? It’s so disappointing."

These were comments attacking the "Mr. Hibernian Channel."

"Bullshit... Anyone normal knows which is better. If this girl dares to give me some roundabout excuse now, then she’s a bitch. Doesn’t she know her critique could ruin a painter?"

Many took this vote seriously and couldn’t accept the choice.

They thought Anna’s decision was frivolous; at least the painting’s subjective impression was decent. On what grounds did she casually label this painting as trash?

Just because she’s a so-called "art critic"?

Or is it because this high-and-mighty noblewoman has a stereotypical bias against online cheap artists?

Many comments were increasingly aggressive, even resulting in some being consistently blocked by the platform’s comment section.

"Kuso yarou (what idiots[beep—])." Yakai Gangchang glanced at the comments, instinctively grumbled.

Then, he was gently kicked by Koizumi Katsuko.

"Gangchang?"

Uncle Sakai also turned his head, squinting at his son.

"I was wrong, Dad."

Yakai Gangchang realized then that he had uttered foul language in front of his parents and sister.

He immediately raised his hand obediently, making a zipper motion over his mouth just before his dad sighed.

"It’s too terrible... really too terrible. If this were an artwork for me to judge, I could only give a 0, looking at it longer is a waste of time."

"Are all online part-time illustrators like this?"

Uncle Sakai then turned to face the translator lady, softly explaining the reason.

At that moment in the video,

the scoring for the painting continued, after Mr. Hibernian gave a 5, the Black guy gave a 4.

Once again, unexpectedly, the insurance safety officer also gave a 0.

"Although I’m a security guard, I’m in contact with artworks every day. I can still see what’s going on with this painting."

The bearded security guard shrugged, responding to the inquisitive looks from Thomas and the young black guy.

"I believe my audience is waiting for your explanation. What’s wrong with this painting?" Thomas finally tossed the question back to Anna in the video.

"Because this picture, no, this image. Sorry, I can’t even call it a painting, it’s filled with an assembly line-like electronic industrial aura."

Anna disdainfully looked at the frame, her words were somewhat cutting.

These damn cheap painters are tarnishing the art industry she holds dear.

"Electronic industrial aura? You mean digital painting? AI, PS..."

"Don’t misunderstand, illustration is not oil painting. I have no prejudice against digital painting."

The girl in the wheelchair raised a finger, gently waved it, and interrupted Thomas.

"Even though this painting is obviously an electronic version printout, the assembly line-like electronic industrial aura I’m talking about is not a problem with the painting method."

With the rise of the modern computer industry, computers can handle overlaying graphics better than painters and can subtly change the grayscale of colors at the pixel level.

From the art coloring software Photoshop, initially used in Cameron’s films in the 1990s, to Early 2000s Illustrator and now the prevalent tablet drawing tools like Procreate, Sketchbook.

Nowadays, those still persisting in hand-drawing are less than half the proportion.

Especially in the illustration industry and comic field,

only a few high-end illustrators who pursue the perfect texture of paper and pen still create using traditional methods.

But the problem with this illustration is not that.

"I believe electronic software should be like a Swiss army knife in the painter’s hand, not the other way around, where painters become puppets in the hands of machines. Otherwise, they might as well become programmers."

Anna said coldly.

"Even ordinary people, if they have some art literacy like Mr. Security Guard or are willing to spend a little time, calm down and observe, can see Batman’s hand holding the dollar is twisted and bizarre, not just unnatural, the whole painting’s atmosphere is quite eerie."

The video’s camera followed Anna’s cue to give a close-up.

In the magnified lens, it’s easy to see Batman’s hand holding the money twisted unnaturally, definitely not a hand that any average person could have.

Moreover, its texture is entirely different from the rest of the painting.

The rest of the painting feels more like colored pencils, whereas the wrist area is closer to a gouache texture, similar to two different images.

Or rather,

it seems more like the original picture’s hand was forcibly cut off and replaced with a plastic prosthetic.

...

"This is a photoshopped altered piece."

Although everyone present, except the translator, was a professional art practitioner, the situation with this painting was crystal clear.

But Uncle Sakai still politely pointed out the obvious stitching marks in the painting to the curious translator Miss.

"If I’m not mistaken, the painter probably grabbed a random Batman illustration from the database and just Photoshopped a few parts, then called it a day."

Uncle Sakai’s tone was somewhat unhappy: "To create this painting, you don’t need any art literacy, just watch a few Photoshop tutorials on YouTube."

"Although sometimes the art circle describes illustrators as taxi drivers hired by employers, even for cheap illustrators, this is pushing it too far."

"If painters are like this, this industry will sooner or later be replaced by AI."

Yakai Gangchang concluded: "It’s not a good thing for the entire art circle."

Painters compared to machines must have their own ideas and a unique desire for expression.

The significance of painting does not lie in its external form, but in its ability to reflect the creator’s soul.

Especially from the perspective of the art market, such photoshopped altered works are entirely worthless, without any aesthetic value.

Being disliked by that young female art critic is only to be expected.

In the continued video playback, a small line of text popped up in the top right corner of the screen.

[Under Miss Elina’s reminder, after reviewing the studio’s data and confronting communication with the painter. It was confirmed that the original drawing of this painting was taken from the late illustrator Bill Finger’s 1948 work, page 243 of a comic in "Batman: The Killing Joke."

After photoshopping the original bat hook into a hand holding a dollar, the painter sold the painting to the channel as the illustrator’s work.]

[Considering copyright risk, the printed mug with this illustration will not be listed in Mr. Hibernian’s store, and the channel reserves the right to take action for any financial losses incurred.]

"This guy is doomed."

Cheap illustrators are indeed unreliable, daring to casually modify a copyrighted original illustration and sell it as their own.

This is a commercial commission taboo.

Yakai Gangchang sighed.

He really can’t understand what these internet cheap illustrators are thinking, not only is their skill poor, but their character is also questionable.

The discussion area on the right also immediately shifted.

"Idiot, I told you, what this pretty lady said must be right."

"I initially didn’t even notice the arm in the painting... didn’t expect it to be an altered piece."

"Let me tell you, cheap painters are really untrustworthy; a classmate at my school is still working as a freelance illustrator online. Seeing his work, I think even monkeys could draw better than him..."