Hua Jie’s painting, followed by Tang Yang’s, was displayed before the students, making for a stark contrast.
When it comes to assessing good art, many students still lack the ability to critically and professionally evaluate.
Everyone is still learning. Even those who paint well and have decent comprehension skills are somewhat half-baked in their appreciation of excellent artworks.
But Hua Jie’s painting is easy to understand because she had almost finished it.
Before, when Hua Jie criticized Tang Yang for not considering the whole picture while painting, the students didn’t really feel it firsthand.
Now, with Hua Jie’s painting in comparison, the difference is starkly evident.
Although Hua Jie hadn’t yet handled the details and the completion was not yet perfect,
if one stood a bit further away to view the painting, without focusing on the details, it felt as if it was ready to be framed and submitted.
The use of light and shadow in the entire painting was very clear, with strong contrasts making certain elements appear very close to the viewer, while weaker contrasts made them seem distant.
She had mastered the concept of making objects appear larger when closer and smaller when further away.
The composition was excellent, with accurate shapes and clean lines, and the overlapping tones were very logical…
The painting gave the viewer a sense of not just three-dimensionality and realism, but also visual and emotional comfort after viewing it.
It even seemed to have a therapeutic effect on those with OCD, leaving everyone feeling refreshed and pleased.
Lu Xun once mentioned in “The Power of Mara Poetry,” that the essence of all art lies in its ability to evoke a feeling of joy and excitement in the audience.
Hua Jie’s painting achieved just that.
Looking back at Tang Yang’s painting… well…
Everyone had to admit, the entire painting was just outlined, and the apple that was shaded with tones of light and shadow stood out like an iron egg, looking both stupid and ugly.
This also created a sense of heaviness among everyone.
Tang Yang’s expression changed.
Her arrogance was gone, her earlier anger vanished, and her disdain and disbelief towards Hua Jie had disappeared without a trace.
All that was left was her stunned and gloomy face.
She felt utterly defeated by Hua Jie’s painting, completely deflated.
Earlier, she had dismissed Hua Jie’s comments as nonsense.
She didn’t believe that the examiners could guess her unconventional painting process when they received her completed artwork.
After all, what mattered was handing in a complete painting, and focusing solely on individual parts could be faster than considering the whole. This way, she’d definitely have plenty of time to make adjustments after finishing first during the art exam.
But now… she felt the stark difference between Hua Jie’s correct techniques and her own faulty methods, and suddenly, she felt a chill.
Hua Jie’s earlier taunts that she could only ever be a mediocre painter echoed in her mind like a resonant bell.
Tang Yang shivered involuntarily, gripped by fear.
She felt utterly humiliated.
As an exceptional girl who had always been at the top of every circle in life, she had never experienced such a thorough defeat by someone else.
Her face turned pale, her heart raced, and the emotional pain gradually morphed into physical discomfort—her stomach churned, and she felt nauseous.
Tears suddenly streamed down her face. Tang Yang felt utterly humiliated, but she couldn’t control herself.
Suddenly furious, she threw all notions of ladylike grace and demure femininity to the wind. She stomped her foot hard and pointed at Hua Jie, shouting, “What’s so great about you? Talented but without virtue!”
“Idiot,” Hua Jie snorted coldly, giving Tang Yang a disdainful glance before ignoring her.
Turning to leave, Hua Jie caught the gaze of Jing Nian.
The normally unfriendly young man now looked at her with an undeniable admiration.
“You…” Jing Nian started to say something, then awkwardly paused, and after a moment continued, “Sometimes when I’m painting, I can’t help but focus on the details. How do you deal with that?”
Hua Jie thought for a moment, then turned to see Tang Yang, although seated again, still shooting her resentful glances.
Pressing her lips together, Hua Jie walked over to Jing Nian’s seat and looked up to ask, “Can I use your painting as a model to demonstrate?”
“…Ah, sure,” Jing Nian pursed his lips, glanced sideways at Tang Yang, and then led Hua Jie to his spot.
She had just praised his painting, and now she wanted to use it as a model; of course, he was pleased.
Hua Jie sat at his place, placing his sketchpad on her lap and stared at it for a while before suddenly starting to rapidly paint over one of the still-life objects in the scene.
Soon, what had been an evenly progressing painting now featured a detail-focused object nearly completed.
The other students, curious, stood behind Hua Jie and Tang Yang, alternating their gazes between Hua Jie’s upright sketch and her hands as she explained the technique to Jing Nian.
Tang Yang sat at a distance, her face showing defiance, yet she couldn’t help but prick up her ears and eavesdrop.
“See, when you focus on one still-life object and leave the others half-finished, it creates an imbalanced, suffocating feeling. The composition feels dead, the space unreal,” Hua Jie explained to Jing Nian.
Jing Nian nodded, glancing over at Tang Yang, who had recently trashed him and his school. Seizing the opportunity to taunt her aloud, he said, “This scene now, doesn’t it just replicate Tang Yang’s painting?
“It’s really dull and ugly!”
The onlooking students immediately craned their necks towards Tang Yang and her painting, nodding in agreement.
Tang Yang’s face flushed crimson, her lips trembling with anger, yet she was unable to utter a single word.
Hua Jie glanced at Tang Yang from the corner of her eye, dismissively ignoring her, then seriously said to Jing Nian:
“For the first layer of tone, make a simple distinction between light and dark areas. Consider where the light comes from and which parts are illuminated, and mark the boundaries.” Hua Jie’s hands moved faster than her mouth, and as she spoke, she swiftly drew light lines on Jing Nian’s drawing.
The lines drawn by Hua Jie’s quickly moving arms and wrists were decisive. They were closely spaced, yet almost identically distanced, neat and beautiful, nearly perfect.
“For this part, tilt the brush; do not use the tip vertically,” Hua Jie explained while she painted.
Others gradually snapped out of the earlier squabble and began to follow Hua Jie’s explanations, focusing on the lines she was drawing.
“By depicting this layer of light and shadow, the grading teacher will understand the source of light in this drawing. As long as you get it right, even if the completion is just so-so, you can still pass,” Hua Jie concluded, showing the painting to Jing Nian.
Since Hua Jie had taken up for Jing Nian, he now stood fully on her side, immediately responding loudly:
“Awesome! Truly a thousand times better than Tang Yang’s.”
Tang Yang, with her back to everyone, clenched her teeth.
Hua Jie then began working on the second layer of tones.
How to manage the overall view, how to analyze the light and dark as seen by the eye, why the shadow on still life A should be darker than on still life B…
These were logical aspects that Hua Jie could see clearly, while others understood only partially.
With a few casual remarks, Hua Jie made many concepts clear. She seldom mentioned lines and brush strokes; instead, she talked more about the structure of still lifes and their relationships within the painting, as well as how distance from the viewer affects the depiction of light and shadow.
When it came to detailing, she emphasized repeatedly that even when outlining details at the edge, one should not just trace the lines heavily to complete them. Instead, consider a line as an elongated surface, applying the principles of solidity, spacing, and depth, which are the same principles used in painting ‘surfaces.’
Initially, Jing Nian thought Hua Jie was just making peace with him, joining forces to annoy Tang Yang and the others.
As he listened, Jing Nian couldn’t help but grab some paper and start taking notes. These were the essentials, and he was not about to miss them.
Hua Jie was discussing points that required intellectual engagement, not merely painting what one sees. She stressed the importance of processing what is seen through the brain before making a mark, providing a theoretical basis for this approach. This involved a great deal of physics knowledge.
During her explanation, Hua Jie used many advanced painting concepts that experts would summarize over the next twenty years. Not only did the students feel enlightened, but Teacher Zhang Xiangyang, who had returned to the classroom at some point, was also greatly inspired.
By the time Hua Jie finished her demonstration and returned the sketchpad to Tang Yang, half an hour had passed.
She turned to Jing Nian and asked, “Do you understand the concepts clearly now? Do you see that considering the whole and gradually refining the painting isn’t slower than focusing on details?”
Hua Jie herself had once favored meticulous detail over the overall picture, which had cost her during her art exams. She had to work hard in university to break this bad habit, enduring much hardship.
Jing Nian nodded vigorously, and the other students who had been around listening also nodded in agreement, their synchronicity almost endearing.
Meanwhile, Tang Yang, sitting at a distance, had tears dried on her cheeks, her face red and ears hot. Even with her back to everyone, she felt humiliated.
The others’ adulation of Hua Jie meant that from now on, she could only be seen as less competent in her presence, likely never to be looked at straight again by anyone in the art class.
The harmonious atmosphere in the area behind her in the studio seemed to mock her: compared to Hua Jie, Tang Yang was nothing!
The part of Hua Jie’s soul that had once been a teacher had not been completely forgotten. She expressed all she wanted to express, breaking down advanced knowledge from the future along with current insights for Jing Nian and the others, without holding anything back.
After Hua Jie stopped speaking, the entire studio suddenly fell silent. Everyone was immersed in her words, re-evaluating their own paintings. The more perceptive students, like sponges, absorbed and digested the information she had provided, and began to compare it with their own painting habits and thinking.
Snapping out of it, they eagerly returned to their seats to implement what Hua Jie had taught them, some thanking her as they tried to adjust their strokes…
Jing Nian stood dazed at the front of the onlookers, looking at Hua Jie as one might regard a towering mountain.
In the matter of painting, she had completely surrendered, with not even a sliver of thought left to challenge her.
Could Hua Jie be a genius?
Or rather, a master with both theoretical knowledge and artistic skills.
That’s awesome!
The sunlight streaming through the window fell on Hua Jie, as radiant as the day she was reborn.
When the girl had demonstrated her painting earlier, her hair had been in the way, so she used two small clips to pin it behind her ears.
The sunlight brushed across her cheeks, jaw, and neck, outlining her delicate and soft features, her fair skin looking translucent and lovely under the light.
If it weren’t for her eyes, bright as starlight, it would be hard for anyone to associate such a high school girl with the commanding presence she had just shown.
And the tall boy who had been watching by the door was no longer there.
Only the door remained wide open, with the corridor breeze gently flowing into the studio, carrying away much of the indoor warmth as it left.
…
Hua Jie had been so engrossed in teaching the mischievous spirits, joyfully delving between painting knowledge and brushes, that she lost track of time and space.
When a student handed her a brand new pencil, leaving it with a ‘for you’ before running back to his seat, she finally snapped back to reality. Turning her head to see the dispersed students and Teacher Zhang, she couldn’t help but take a deep breath—
Oh my, this isn’t her online classroom; this is the youth center art studio from the year 2000.
She had only intended to exchange a few words with Jing Nian, but how did she get so carried away?
Seeing the odd look in Zhang Xiangyang’s eyes when he looked at her, Hua Jie’s heart skipped a beat.
Busted!
Wasn’t she essentially crashing the session…
“Teacher…” she started hesitantly.
“Come here, come here!” Zhang Xiangyang seemed not ready to let her off the hook, gesturing for her to come over.
Just as she thought!
She had gone overboard, and now she was in for a scolding.
Hua Jie approached with trepidation, but before she even reached Zhang Xiangyang, she heard him eagerly say:
“The part you mentioned earlier about increasing the whitespace, emphasizing shadows, exaggerating proportions and perspective… can you repeat that for me again…”
“…”
Eh?
Wasn’t he supposed to be furious at her for taking over the class?
Why is he asking about the points she made instead?
?