London Financial Street,

Scholastic Group, 15th floor of the European headquarters building.

The Little Prince Project Department.

"Editor-in-chief, the printing press hopes that we can speed up the process...... Well, the EU is still on strike, the supply chain is not stable, paint and labor prices are rising, and the group's finance department estimates that if the printing is delayed until April, the cost of printing the first batch of books may rise by 7% to 15%......"

The "Little Prince" project assistant who just got out of the elevator is a chubby man.

He had half a doughnut in his mouth, a paper plate full of Starbucks coffee cups downstairs in his arms, and beads of sweat on his forehead.

The fat assistant made a vague phone call with a Bluetooth headset as he approached the office and placed coffee on the table of each senior in the department.

He hung up the phone, wiped the sweat from his neck with the sleeve of his coat, and ran back to his workstation without being urged by his supervisor.

The final text of "The Little Prince" has been reviewed, proofread and typeset three times. The printing cycle is about to begin, and the whole department is busy.

It's not the 70s, you dare to command the clerk girl in the office to serve tea and water, I don't know if tomorrow the personnel department will talk to you in the name of discriminating against lesbians.

As a result, because of his low qualifications, the fat assistant has become the most inhuman in the department.

Not only does he need to connect with various departments of the group, but he also has to buy coffee for the bigwigs in the same office, pick up couriers, bring lunch, and don't even have time to eat a serious doughnut.

The fat assistant who was bullied in the workplace could only imagine that when he became an old qualification, it would be his turn to point fingers at the newcomer and have fun.

He sat down at his desk, turned on his computer, and found a new email in his mailbox.

[Detective Cat "The Little Prince" Sample - Agent Agent Mr. Folivora]

"Detective cats? Mr. Sloth? It's all a strange name. ”

The fat assistant pouted.

"Was that a sample from the web illustrator?" A man with a coffee cup stood behind him staring at his computer screen, "Milk?" ”

"Milk, two scoops, no saccharin."

The fat assistant, who was used to being used to being a cow, fluently reported the request of the person with only the blurred mirror reflection of the computer screen, and he nodded: "Yes, it is the sample sent by the illustrator of "The Little Prince" set above. ”

"The Little Prince" illustrator ...... This is not certain, if she wants to get a contract, she must be able to pass the review of the art department. ”

The man seemed to know the gossip of the upper echelons of the dot group, and he hummed quietly: "I heard that the boss of the art department is very dissatisfied with this detective cat's sideways." ”

"Don't say that the art department is dissatisfied, I'm also dissatisfied."

Another colleague came over: "I worked hard to make a set of books, but I ended up hiring an unprofessional online illustrator, what's going on!" If it were any other book, it would be okay to forget how important illustrations are to "The Little Prince", and everyone is not unaware of it. ”

"The Little Prince" belongs to the most special category among fairy tales.

The first stanza of the first story at the beginning of the story shows the main character all kinds of drawings in his childhood for adults to see.

From the first sentence of the book, to the end. Any plot is closely related to a variety of illustrations.

Otherwise, the original author, Saint-Exupéry, would not have drawn so many illustrations by himself.

Even in the past, a senior book reviewer on GoodReaders, a well-known reading website, believed that for "The Little Prince", even words are just the skeleton that carries ideas, and illustrations are the real soul.

For such an important job, ask a web artist to do it.

Not only did the group's art department have opinions, but most of their colleagues in the "The Little Prince" project team were actually unhappy.

When the illustrations are bad, the sales are not good, and everyone's performance will not be able to share the money.

Because it is suitable for the public, illustration is the subject with the lowest "artistic" content in the chain of painting contempt.

Also because it is in line with the public, illustration is in the chain of painting contempt, and it can best distinguish the subject matter of the artist's high level.

There is no first text, no second martial arts, but illustrations are not among them.

You put a row of paintings by Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh, and ask them who painted well and who painted badly, and not only the audience had different opinions.

Even the great professors of the top art academies did not dare to make this judgment.

To put it mildly, there has never been a unified evaluation standard for such a thing as artistry.

But illustrations are different, and the audience will vote with actions.

Illustrators who can draw works that make customers want to buy the most are the best illustrators.

In the book market, it is two identical works in front of you, only the illustration on the cover is different.

Three out of 10 customers who come into the store will choose the first book and seven will choose the second book.

So don't talk about any art concepts, painting techniques, in the eyes of the market, the illustrators of the latter are better than the former.

Traffic and sales are the last word.

That's why good illustrators are so important to the Scholastic Group's project team.

The works of excellent illustrators can really be converted into real sales, can earn money for the group, and have the ability to turn waste into treasure.

There are a large number of good level illustrators under him, which is also the confidence of Director Charlie of the art department to dare not bird President Osborne.

"Shh......h The detective cat can grab this fat difference from the art department, and the relationship between people is also hard! I don't know which way the cow ghost and snake god are standing behind me, don't gossip. ”

Someone kindly reminded him.

At this time, there were already a lot of colleagues standing behind the fat assistant, and everyone wanted to see how the new illustrator was prolific.

"Hmph, what's the hard deal...... It doesn't seem to be a serious illustrator.,There's not even a contracted gallery or studio.,What's the name of the agent?,Mr. Sloth.,It's likely to be a screen name.。 It's still the same thing that I play with online drafting, which is not formal at all. ”

The colleague's tone was much more restrained, but he still hummed quietly: "That is, we are a big group." This kind of grass platform team and some small companies have signed manuscripts, and I don't know how they are sold. ”

Another role of a good agent is to handle the contract and get more benefits for the artist.

Some rookie illustrators meet the boss of the black-hearted Party A and work hard to complete the project, because some of the terms in the contract are not carefully read, they can't get a penny, and they are unlucky enough to be deceived by white prostitutes and even lose money.

"Oh, what are you doing in a daze, open it and take a look."

Someone urged the fat assistant.

The fat assistant opened the email, and then, he was stunned for a moment.

This is not what I imagined, the web illustrator just threw the finished sample into his mailbox.

Instead, it's a long, detailed email.

"24% of the advance payment, the right of authorship on the cover, and the payment is divided into monthly sales for each period......"

As the fat assistant pulled down the email.

In the email, the other party's agent, Mr. Sloth, made a lot of requests from illustrators in a polite but very firm tone.

Behind him, some colleagues who were already unhappy with the detective cat said in a weird manner: "I think of myself as a character, and I dare to make so many requests without a word." If you really get this guy to get a formal contract, I don't know how troublesome it will be. ”

"Wow! This Mr. Sloth is really knowledgeable. The supervisor on one side was also watching, and he shook his head.

The Director is Osborne's direct subordinate and doesn't have much ill will towards the Detective Cat.

What's more, he found that this agent, called Mr. Sloth, is indeed quite powerful.

The other party seems to be very demanding and detailed, but it can only be said that it is very professional, which is not excessive.

Illustrators make deals with publishers,

The biggest problem is that the payout cycle is too slow.

Many of them have to wait for more than a year after the book is released before they can be paid, and six months is considered fast. A large group like Scholastic has a relatively abundant capital chain, and in fact, it can pay 10%~25% of the remuneration in advance as an advance payment.

Of course

No one will dislike having more in their account. If you don't take the initiative to fight for this kind of right, the publisher will not mention it to you.

The second is the right of authorship, which is a natural right given to illustrators by law, that is, to tell everyone that the picture was painted by you.

Unless it is a ghostwriter in some gray area, the general contract will stipulate that the artist will be given the right to sign.

However, how to give it is also particular.

The illustrator's signature does not need to be on the book, and even a line of small print on the title page of the book copyright that no one will notice, even if the publisher is very good.

The vast majority of readers who buy a book don't know who drew the illustrations for the book.

The right of authorship on the cover requested by the other party is that in addition to the original author and translator, there must be an annotation of [Illustration-Detective Cat] on the cover.

This requirement is difficult.

Printing your name on the cover of a book that is expected to sell millions of copies throughout the sales cycle is naturally a beautiful thing for an illustrator.

But in general, illustration or layout work is not as important as the writer of the text.

Publishers are reluctant to leave such a prime cover position to illustrators.

Unless you're a legendary painter who is so well-known that a lot of fans pay for your name, like Andy Warhol or something.

But considering the particularity and number of illustrations in "The Little Prince", it is not completely impossible to talk about. In contrast, after the book is launched, the sales of each issue are divided into payments on a monthly basis, but it is a minutiae.

Mr. Sloth is very experienced in dealing with the key issues of contracts.

"It's very professional!"

The director rubbed his chin and exclaimed.

These requirements were made at the trial stage, and it can be said that the other party's agent was very open.

Not only is he very knowledgeable, but he also has full confidence that Detective Cat can win this official contract.

Either this Mr. Sloth is very confident in the level of Detective Cat's work, or he is very confident in Detective Cat's connections at the top of the group.

Or both.

The director was even more curious about this web illustrator who could be personally cared for by Vice President Osborne.

"Now let's take a look at the painting, have you downloaded the attachment?"

The supervisor motioned for the fat assistant to open the attachment below the email.

The assistant opened the sample sent by the detective cat, turned the computer screen to everyone, and adjusted the brightness of the computer.

A brightly colored illustration appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

There was a brief silence in the office.

Some people have heard of detective cats before, and some people haven't.

But whether they know anything about detective cats or not, they, the employees of publishing houses, instinctively don't trust the quality of online illustrators.

Originally, many people were looking at the work of the illustrator who had been planted on it.

But now,

They subconsciously felt that this painting looked.

It shouldn't be bad.

"Oh! This painting ......"

"It's pretty indeed."

"If you look at this color, it looks like it's really space, it's an oil painting, it looks amazing."

After a few seconds of silence, quite a few people began to exchange their opinions.

Some of these people are proofreaders, some are in charge of layout design, and few of them are professional artists.

But the audience for illustration is not professionals, but the general public.

These people, on the other hand, don't have any stereotypes about knife drawing, and even few of them have ever heard of such a thing.

They just intuitively thought the painting was beautiful.

It gives a sense of stunning.

"I don't know much about drawing, but it seems to be ...... There is indeed something about it, alas, and the intuitive feeling is even better than the illustrations designed by our art department before. ”

Even the well-informed colleague who was very dissatisfied with Detective Cat as an illustrator at the beginning, and had been humming and chirping, nodded in surprise.

After all, everyone and the illustrator are a community of interests, and seeing the detective cat hand over such a surprising proof.

The project team's displeasure with this online painter immediately decreased a lot.

"What do you think?"

The supervisor asked an uncle next to him, who was an artist seconded from the art department by the project team, and was the only one among them who studied art.

"It's like a knife drawing."

The uncle stared at the fat assistant's computer screen, a little unsure.

He thinks it's supposed to be a knife drawing, but the details are really well done, right?

These colorful and dreamy pigments, these elastic curves that work like a wish......

Ordinary colleagues in the office just think it's pretty.

He is a professional and knows the difficulties of this method of drawing.

Uncle was a little unsure whether this was really a work painted with a hard oil painting knife.

Can knife painting really be that perfect?

"What's wrong with the knife?"

"It's a bit unpopular and difficult. But...... The painting is a bit too perfect. Uncle's careful wording: "If I were to describe it, it would be two words, rare and beautiful." ”

"Rare pretty, beautiful rare." The uncle muttered an evaluation.

"Can you draw something like this?" The Director asked.

"Me? No kidding, boss. ”

"First of all, I didn't study oil painting professionally." The uncle smiled bitterly, "Secondly, the perfect details of this painting don't look like it was drawn by a human." ”

"So, this painting passed the review of the art department, it should be no problem?" The Director asked with a smile.

"Normally, no problem, but ......"

The uncle looked at his colleagues around him and hesitated.

He heard that Director Charlie had already released a message to get a sample of the Detective Cat.

Art is such a thing, if you really want to find trouble, even if Leonardo da Vinci is alive and Rembrandt is possessed, he can find fault.

At least this unpopular approach is a problem.

"Got it."

The Director nodded.

He dispersed his colleague, then leaned down and patted the fat assistant's arm.

"Don't send the sample to the art department, swipe my work card, take the VIP elevator to the 41st floor, find President Osborne, and show him the work on the computer."

The Director commanded softly.

(End of chapter)