It was early afternoon London time.

Kingston Borough, Gore Street, home to the Royal British College of Art.

"Professor Louise, you're on Mr. Hyperion's video!"

"Wow! Professor! Can you tell me to ask Mr. Hyperion for an autograph? I like him so much. ”

"How do you think your own work will be ranked? Can you beat one of the two great artists? ”

Someone kept walking towards a small, middle-aged woman with a beige scarf.

……

With an inscrutable smile on her face, Ray Louise turned down no less than five students who came to inquire about Mr. Hyperion, a super-influencer.

She walked into her office and locked the door under the envious gaze of her colleagues.

Unlike Gu Weijing, who neither party knows each other's true identities, Thomas prepared to make the video in order to avoid unnecessary troubles and risks.

Mr. Hyperion's legal team advised Thomas to explain the content of the video and compare their work with other artists when asking for more than $10,000.

So Lei knew a few weeks ago that the work would be featured in Mr. Hyperion's new video.

However, due to the signing of a non-disclosure agreement, Ray was not able to reveal anything about it until Thomas officially announced the launch of the video on Twitter.

Mr. Hyperion, although the subject matter of the video is more ...... Luxury, but he is not a simple show off his wealth, and the video as a whole is relatively positive.

Therefore, in Europe and the United States, among the highly educated people, the fan base is also quite large, and they belong to the kind of big Internet celebrities who are popular in all aspects and all ages.

Right now

When the news came out, it was learned that Professor Louise would have the opportunity to appear on Mr. Hyberion's new video.

Not only did it cause a stir among the student body, but even the oil painting professors in the Department of Visual Arts, who used to hold shelves and thought that illustration was just a second-rate art, looked at Louis with a change in their eyes.

That's the illustration.

Illustration has always been associated with pop culture.

If you open the Fox Art Celebrity List, you see that a painting that sells for two or three hundred million dollars at every turn, and you may not have heard of their names and their works.

They may have five or six masterpieces in their lifetime, and they have passed through each other in the hands of specific private collectors.

Not being known by the public does not affect their artistic value.

But illustration, the era is the theme, traffic is money, it is always a kind of popular art.

The moment Ray Louise received Thomas's invitation, she knew her chance to make a name for herself had finally arrived.

She is a single mom, and she is 36 years old, which is the best age to be an illustrator.

The inspiration has not dried up, the pen is at its peak, and the heart is full of ambition.

She certainly belongs to the high-income group.

Whether it is a teaching position at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, or a daily illustration for some film studios, theaters, and publishing houses, it is a high-paying job.

Last year, her net income after tax deductions was about 170,000 pounds, more than five times the average income in the city of London, and she was already able to touch the fringes of the real upper class.

But Lei has already encountered her own career bottleneck, and it is difficult for her income level to go up further.

There are very few first-rate illustrators like her, but there are thirty or forty in the whole of the UK.

The difference between them and the top masters is not only in their painting skills, but also in their fame.

If an illustrator wants to truly cross the horizon of his career, he needs not only strength, but also opportunity.

Shepard captured children's books, Norman Rockwell captured World War II, Jane Arnaud captured the Cold War, and de Van Doorne captured environmental protection and fashion.

She wants to seize this new video medium and give herself the opportunity to compete with the masters.

Rei knows.

Not every illustrator as good as her can come across this opportunity.

Even this kind of opportunity to trample veteran artists under her feet may only be once in her life.

This opportunity is so great.

Lose?

What room does she have to lose?

Whether it is fame or status, Lei is the last of the three artists, even if she paints the worst, it will not have any effect.

As for the three part-time illustrators on Fiverr.

Heavenly Father is above, no kidding.

Compared with a young professor like her, the part-time illustrator of the Internet is basically a heaven and an underground.

The emperor among beggars is also a beggar, and the genius among amateurs is also an amateur.

You let the god of war on the field play in the professional team? The U14 junior team can easily pour you 50 balls in the first half, and people think they are playing basketball just by looking at the score.

To be on the safe side, she also clicked on the link to Bruno's studio to take a look.

On the homepage of the other store, there is a display version of your past commissioned works.

To be honest, at the level of an amateur painter, it's still good, decent.

But in Lei's eyes, there are still many mistakes, inconsistencies and deformations, and there are still a lot of them at a glance.

and she do not constitute any competition.

As for the other two fiverr part-timers with lower fees, Lei is not even interested in taking a look.

Lei put down her phone, opened the Macbook on her desk, and waited for the video to be officially launched.

Taro Komatsu, the heir to the Komatsu Gallery in Osaka, has just contacted him, and the other party is not the first and not the last.

Almost as soon as Mr. Hyperion's tweet went live, five or six gallery managers began to add their friends and message her.

Mr. Hyperion's videos have an average of tens of millions of views, and even if only one percent remembers Lei, she has more than 100,000 followers.

This is a big help for the market price of her illustrations.

But Rei, not only can't she lose, she also wants to win.

She knew that if she could win either of the two senior illustrators, even if it was a similar drawing, it would be an exposure opportunity that could not be found in the world with lanterns.

That would be a leap forward in her own worth.

Every era has illustrators that belong to each era.

Illustrations and the voices of the times are firmly combined, and illustrators need to seize their own opportunities.

Why can't she be the next Jane Arnold?

For this reason, Rei did not choose the usual colored markers or watercolors for painting, but opted for the more flattering realism colored pencil drawings.

Colored pencils are the bridge that connects sketches and color drawings.

It's controllable, not at all as difficult as the strokes of a soft brush, and it shows off your skill and understanding of muscles.

Especially when drawing simple figures, colored pencils are precisely where the details can be highlighted.

She knew she couldn't compete with the big artists on the aesthetic concept, which was what they were good at.

Realistic

This is the killer trick that Rei is ready to win against the master.

When she was in school, she was the first in her elective class on human anatomy, George Burriman's "Human Anatomy" picture book.

She's the only one who's done it from beginning to end.

All the hard work will pay off today.

Especially in the eyes of such a non-professional viewer watching the video.

They may not be able to comprehend the artistic conception of painting and the emotions and ideas expressed.

But the most similar painting is more likely to be regarded as a good painting.

“10、9、8、7……”

Watch the second hand point to 9:30 a.m. New York time.

"Louise, you're number one, and always will be."

Rei clasped her hands together and prayed silently.

The moment when the minute hand coincides exactly with the Arabic numeral six in which the clock is falling.

She pressed the refresh button on the web page.

The page reloads and a new video appears at the top of Mr. Hyperion's homepage.