When Kelly left angrily, she accidentally spotted a thin man with gray hair who looked familiar in the corridor.
He is holding a copy of The Little Prince and staring at the illustrations in a daze.
"You are, Mr. Weaverlein"
Kelly was a little surprised.
She had seen Wehrlein’s photo on the official Twitter, but she didn’t expect to see the illustrator himself here.
Kelly dug around in her pocket and found only two paper vouchers that the staff had just given to her.
She took one of them and approached the white-haired man.
"Mr. Wehrlein, I am a big fan of your illustrations and have always admired your works. Can you sign it?" Kelly asked for an autograph.
Weillein seemed to be in some kind of deep thought. He had been staring at the cover of Detective Cat's drawing knife in his hand in a daze, muttering something to himself.
The Montblanc rose gold writer series pen, which sells for more than a thousand pounds, spins like a fidget spinner in the palm of his left hand.
The people coming and going around him did not distract him for a moment.
"Fans"
Hearing this title, Wehrlein raised his head.
Europeans like to ask for autographs when chasing celebrities.
If you like a singer, you will be asked for an autograph, if you like a basketball star, you will be asked for an autograph, and if you like an academic professor or artist, you will be asked for various autographs.
And not to mention, the signatures of famous artists are actually quite valuable.
Receipts signed by Picasso and Andy Warhol from restaurants can easily be sold for thousands of dollars in pawn shops or eBay.
Great artists don’t often give autographs to others.
The main concern is that after these leaks are leaked, counterfeiting gangs will use various technical means to imitate oil paintings. In order to avoid trouble, some oil painting artists deliberately use different fonts for their signatures in daily life and signatures on calligraphy and painting works.
Wehrlein is just an illustrator, so he has less worries.
He subconsciously took the voucher handed over by Kelly, but paused slightly.
"Are you a volunteer this time?" he asked.
"Hmm, I really didn't expect to see an artist like you here." Kelly nodded immediately. As she spoke, she looked around in the corridor to see if she could see the detective. Cat figure.
Unfortunately, Wehrlein is alone here.
She also doesn’t know what Ms. Detective Cat looks like.
"I am an art student at the Royal College of Art. I have a collection of your illustration work Green Wilderness. I also wrote a letter of recommendation to your studio, but unfortunately I did not receive a reply." Kelly introduced herself.
"Then who should you choose, me or Detective Cat?" Wehrlein didn't care who Kelly was, and just asked coldly.
“Uh, is this originally a selection review?”
Kelly looked a little embarrassed.
She is not stupid. The probability that the publishing house will release two versions of the Little Prince illustrated by two different artists at the same time is extremely slim.
Seeing the registration form just now, and the painter Wehrlein asking this.
She could guess the purpose of this market survey.
"Oh, it seems I won't get the autograph."
Kelly was a little embarrassed.
You just claimed to be a loyal fan of the other party, but you behaved like a fool. She hesitated to tell a lie.
Weillein has noticed the hesitation of the blonde girl.
The skinny man's already pale complexion has become even paler, which makes the artist look a bit like a skeleton.
He didn't get angry or rip the voucher out of his hand, as Kelly expected.
"Forget it."
Wehrlein just unscrewed the pen cap with a calm expression, signed his name on the voucher and handed it to Kelly.
"You also study art. The good and the bad are there. I won't make it difficult for you."
"Thank you. In fact, your painting is not bad." Kelly looked sarcastic.
"No need to comfort me."
Weillein turned his head and looked at the hill-like pile of Detective Cat's works at the place where the manuscripts were handed in. He sighed softly as if he was resigned to his fate. It’s right in front of you, so what’s the point of lying to yourself?”
When the volunteers just entered the venue.
The illustrator Wehrlein felt that something was not right.
Even if the sound was not broadcast, he could clearly see the crowds of people stopping, gathering, talking and marveling in front of some easels from the display screen in the observation room.
"What's going on"
Have been in the industry for so many years.
Weillein can judge the quality of an illustration just by looking at the reactions of readers in the bookstore.
Based on his experience,
there are only two possibilities to achieve this situation.
Either the illustration is particularly shocking,
Otherwise, there is a high probability that it is a restricted illustration.
European and American physical bookstores and shopping websites all have r18 classified erotica sales areas.
The illustrator will add a variety of illustrations of naked girls posing and posing with blood flowing and hormones surging.
The content taste is similar to the well-known Fifty Shades of Gray, and it can be regarded as a fresh style in the r18 category.
It’s like a drawing book,
It’s exciting to play.
But this is obviously impossible. It is one thing that Western illustrators have looser standards.
But this is a children's fairy tale solicitation. If the Schostic Group dares to put any marginal content, even the Ten Billion Group will be directly punished and go bankrupt.
Not to mention that the Little Prince is a very small and fresh fairy tale.
If Detective Cat gets crazy and dares to submit any heavy-flavored illustrations, the group will definitely want to follow the network cable and hack her to death, and then kick her into the blacklist and never use it.
If it was the former
Sensation told him that the detective cat might have drawn a great work, but his reason did not want to believe it.
Willein thought to himself,
Any illustration that can possess such magic is a classic illustration that can be recorded in the history of publishing.
He himself is already a top painter.
If he really wanted to say that after so many years, any of his works could be regarded as handed down classics, he really didn’t dare to be arrogant enough to say so.
This cover created for The Little Prince is far from meeting this standard.
It was not clear through the camera screen. Wehrlein couldn't wait for this group of volunteers to finish the investigation and then read the report submitted by the marketing department.
He said hello directly, ran to the bookstore next to the wall, picked up a sample book from the sample return desk that the volunteer who had just come out put down, and took out the Montblanc pen from his collar pocket.
This is Wehrlein’s habit when reviewing manuscripts.
He is not only a well-known painter, but also the owner of Wehrlein Illustration Studio.
When faced with the drawings submitted by the young artists and interns under his studio, Wehrlein would review the drawings while using a pen circle to draw out various errors and details to make them more comfortable. They correct.
In most cases, inexperienced young painters may have to revise the draft five or six times before they can barely meet the standards submitted to the employer.
The dark pen lines on the drawing can look like a spider web.
Weierlein looked at it like this for twenty minutes.
He didn't even open the pen cap spinning in his hand.
Everyone on Wehrlein's side was a little dumbfounded.
The lines, the texture, the slightly solidified texture of the fresh oil paint, seem to be able to overflow from the paper at any time.
Schostic Group attaches great importance to illustrations.
On the one hand, this is reflected in the fact that the publishing house is willing to spend high salaries to hire well-known illustrators, and on the other hand, it is reflected in the fact that the cover art completely adopts the printing standards of the art gallery album level.
For professional-grade art albums, in order to restore the slightest changes in color tone as much as possible, the printing cost is very high, and a special production line for printing art albums is required.
A set of 500 paintings by famous artists produced by the Louvre is sold on the market for a few hundred euros, which is a very conscientious price.
If you hire a private printer to print a picture album, you may be quoted one pound or even several pounds per page. Small printers may not have this capability and equipment.
That is to say, The Little Prince has an expected sales volume of one million copies.
Large scaleThe cost of each volume can be greatly reduced during printing, and this is a key product that competes with the competitor Townsend Mann Group for market share. The strategic significance is greater than the profit value, so the Schostic Group is willing to spend such a large amount of money.
Art-level printing is art-level printing.
This cover painting restores the performance of the original painting of Detective Cat to a high degree of similarity. Wehrlein could clearly see every tint of color change on the cover.
Perfect,
In addition to being perfect, it is still perfect.
The colors are full and rich, delicate but not dull, and full of changes.
If he hadn’t seen the representative line trajectories on the painting and the texture of the ridges pressed out by the painting knife, Wehrlein would not have believed that there were really people in the world who could use a wide-open oil painting knife. The details are handled so exquisitely in centimeter-sized inches.
"Damn it, I actually want to compete with such a person"
The more Wehrlein looked at it, the more doubtful he became about life.
If the only shortcoming of this painting is that it may be that it completely adopts a composition style similar to Saint-Exupéry.
Not professional.
"That's not right either"
Wehrlein felt this was a shortcoming at first, but as he looked at it, he slowly began to appreciate the composition.
Before painting, he repeatedly studied the manuscripts and original illustrations of The Little Prince.
My paintings are more professional than those of Saint-Exupéry, but they are also slightly less Zen like clear spring water.
Weierlein thought he was overthinking.
Now, looking at this painting of the detective cat lady, he once again found the same feeling as the fairy tale temperament of the Little Prince in this illustration.
“The secret is this exaggerated proportion composition?” Wehrlein licked the corner of his mouth and discovered the secret.
I lost completely.
The other party's picture composition is better than his, and his painting skills and emotions can even be said to be inferior.
Weierlein lost and couldn't even express his dissatisfaction.
This painting is so pleasing to the eye, even he looks great.
As an illustrator, Wehrlein can better feel the fluidity of his opponent's paintings. He felt happy just thinking about this kind of freedom and wonderful feeling.
It’s just,
Why should I encounter such a monster?
“Fuck.”
Willein scolded aggrievedly He made a sound and put the pen back into his coat pocket.
In the observation room,
"When will the marketing department be able to produce the statistical tables and detailed data for the first round at the earliest." Director Morgan shook his head, wrinkled There was no trace of exhaustion on his face at all.
The group's two Gulfstream business jets have important business reception activities during this period, and there is no free time.
Director Morgan flew ten hours on Virgin Atlantic’s intercontinental route before arriving at London Heathrow International Airport from Schostic North America’s Los Angeles headquarters this morning.
The conditions of the first-class cabin and the kneeling service of the flight attendants are also very good.
But this senior executive of the board of directors who played an important role in the publishing house’s post-World War II business expansion, He is very old now.
After he came to the observation room, before the volunteers entered the room, he started to breathe incessantly and looked drowsy.
The short scene of the first round of volunteer testing was like a powerful stimulant, sweeping away the tiredness on the directors' faces.
It was as if a Morgan director who was twenty years younger had awakened from the old gentleman. His back was straight and his face was as bright as a young man.
The old gentleman is a professional businessman.
He does not understand art, but he understands the market very well.
Wehrlein saw the reaction of the crowd, and Director Morgan naturally saw it too.
In so many years of ups and downs in the business world, he has released countless works by famous artists, and he has also seen more popular scenes.
Ms. Rowling’s book signing in the later period of Harry Potter, reader meetings held by Nobel Prize winners or sports superstars
Just publishing memoirs for retired presidents and secretaries of state , nine books were published.
But those are all works that are extremely topical and popular among fans, so that such a scene can be achieved.
The Little Prince is not one of those "very popular" books. Of course, its sales volume is very high, but after all, it has been published for more than half a century, and now even the copyright protection period has expired.
The enthusiasm of the volunteers should not be due to the works of Saint-Exupéry, it can only be due to the illustrations.
An illustration can achieve this effect.
Director Morgan had previously only seen some of the exhibitions of Andy Warhol, the godfather of Pop, and the works of master illustrator Jane Arnold.
It goes without saying how many business opportunities the works of these two people have.
That is an art giant who can sell prints for 70 million euros. At auction, the average unit price of Andy Warhol's works is only slightly lower than that of Leonardo da Vinci, but he painted more.
There are only 7 works of Leonardo da Vinci circulating in the market. How many works of Andy Warhol?
The total number of Andy Warhol paintings on the market is more than that of commercial giants like the Schostic Group The market value is even higher.
The most profitable artist in human history.
A genuine price of tens of billions of dollars.
Of course, the amount of the artist’s works cannot be simply added up.
Things are rare and valuable.
If all Andy Warhol’s works were sold off by collectors in a short period of time, they would definitely not be able to sell for this price, even if they were cut in half. arrive.
But even if it’s only one-tenth, it’s still over a billion dollars.
DetectiveThe cat was the third one he had seen in his life. Please remember to collect it, the latest and fastest website is free to read without anti-theft