"Gangchang, do you think what he said makes sense?"
After Yakai Ichiro's quadruple chin wobbled a few times, he turned his gaze to his son.
Yakai Gangchang was completely unprepared for this and didn't expect the situation to involve him.
He immediately became nervous.
"Uh, uh..."
The salted fish didn't jump anymore, hesitantly letting out a bubble, trying to muddle through.
"I see all the petals of your lotus are already colored, so clearly Gangchang, you think this isn't an issue. Then why don't you address your companion's concerns?"
Uncle Sakai didn't let Yakai Gangchang off the hook just because he seemed so hesitant and troubled.
He pressed, "Is Gu Weijing wrong, or is there a problem with this draft design? Should the stamens use number 3 color, or perhaps the deeper number 2, or even number 1?"
Yakai Gangchang looked even more hesitant.
A morning's work had already put his brain into a mechanical, numb, assembly-line state.
He followed the draft exactly as it was written, never pondering over trivial matters like the depth of color for lotus stamens.
What depth of color should the stamens be?
There are various opinions on this matter.
Perhaps Gu Weijing has a point, but these experienced elder painters rarely make mistakes.
Wait a minute.
He had a hunch about the author of this draft.
The corner of Yakai Gangchang's eye swept over the artwork, noticing Yakai Ichiro's name noted in the corner of the No.9 mural.
This draft was created by his father's own hand, and the color annotations were all determined by his father.
Yakai Gangchang immediately felt bolstered.
His father had been exposed to numerous murals, like the unique Japanese ukiyo-e, influenced by Sui and Tang woodcuts and Ming and Qing novel illustrations, prominent during the Edo period. Hand coloring techniques like Dan Painting and Meat Brush Painting absorbed and imitated certain ancient mural techniques.
Overall, Yakai Ichiro was more influenced by Western painting techniques, but he was still renowned among his peers for his sensitivity to paint.
Yakai Gangchang didn't believe his father would have an issue with such matters.
"It should use number 3."
"Normally, for coloring lotus stamens, number 3 off-white should be used?"
Uncle Sakai confirmed.
"Yes, normally, number 3 off-white should be used."
He answered resolutely.
Uncle Sakai observed his son for a moment and then looked away.
The faking dead salted fish fell into the frying pan, letting out an "aaiii—" sound with a long sizzling tail.
Upon hearing the familiar sigh, Yakai Gangchang swayed, his expression turning bitter immediately.
"Your insight is sharp, right but also wrong."
Yakai Ichiro completely ignored his son and turned his gaze to Gu Weijing.
"Normally, when painting lotus stamens, to achieve better contrast, darker hues or even gold powder are used. However..."
"Is this an abnormal situation?"
Gu Weijing picked up on the emphasis Uncle Sakai placed on the word "normal."
Professor Jiu Kai Yicheng nodded.
"This is a mural."
He explained, "To better restore historical works, the new murals here also use chalk as the base. Compared to commonly used ancient Asian materials, for instance, silk or raw rice paper, chalk's water absorption is relatively weak, and more importantly, the soil quality of chalk is yellowish."
"Oh... is that so? The yellow of the wall's adobe can balance out the translucency of lighter colors."
Gu Weijing nodded thoughtfully.
Just by paying attention, working alongside these experienced artists, one can always learn new things.
"Come, try coloring this lotus."
Yakai Ichiro gestured.
Gu Weijing turned to look at Uncle Sakai, noticing there was no intention of leaving.
"Is he going to instruct me on the spot?"
He felt a bit excited at heart, as having an artist like this instruct you personally is a privilege usually reserved for direct apprentices in the studio.
Despite Uncle Sakai's affiliation with Tama Art University, it's much like having a renowned scholar or academic icon at a tech university.
The school treats these professors exceedingly well, fearing they might get poached by other art schools.
Whether they take students or not depends entirely on their personal mood.
The willingness to instruct him here outweighs even popular paid knowledge projects online, like those masterclasses selling for $69998, leaving them all in the dust.
He immediately prepared the paint and picked up a brush.
Gu Weijing's brush moved gently, softly rotating around the edges of the color areas, sweeping the pale pink pigment outward.
He employed the vignetting technique because the deeper blush when coloring was usually applied in this way around a beauty's cheeks or the base of petals.
"As you approach the front edge of the lotus petal, make the brushstrokes lighter and more delicate, like this..."
Yakai Ichiro instructed from the side.
"Does it involve a bit of the silk-thread technique for vignetting?"
Gu Weijing's brush paused for a moment, moved a thought.
The silk-thread technique is typically used in rendering bird feathers, rarely seen on flowers.
"Yes, that's the idea."
Yakai Ichiro observed Gu Weijing's brushwork and said, "You'll understand once you practice it."
Gu Weijing gently lifted the brush, changing the angle where the tip touched the wall.
Indeed, it felt different.
He found that compared to the previous open and closed style of vignetting, drawing out the colors bit by bit like a dragonfly skimming the water added much more nuance, especially in handling the narrowing edges of the petals.