Chapter 17 - The Passionate Concept Artist

Everyone looked at Ruan Guangjian's computer screen.

On the screen was the requirement sheet provided by Ma Yang.

"Guan Yu... is a dragon?"

"Ma Chao... is a horse?"

"Is Zhuge Liang a pig, then?" Lao Huang made a reasonable guess.

Ruan Guangjian glanced at him: "Zhuge Liang is not a pig, he's a great inventor."

"...A pig would be better." Lao Huang retorted.

After a quick look at this requirement sheet, Lao Huang was dumbfounded.

Could this even be considered a requirement sheet?

Apart from forcibly changing these historical figures, nothing else was written!

Not to mention reference images, that would be too extravagant, but there wasn't even a single description of their appearance!

The alterations were diverse.

Some turned into animals, some changed gender, and some became high-tech.

A complete mishmash!

"Is the client out of their mind?"

"With such a lousy requirement sheet, how..."

Lao Huang was dumbfounded, never expecting Ruan Guangjian to accept such a project.

Aren't they afraid that the client will be dissatisfied with the result, leading to disputes between both parties?

They were all poor art students, although a little better off than students in other majors, but if they had a conflict with the client and both parties tried to shirk responsibility, it would be a headache.

"Don't worry, they've already paid the resource station." Ruan Guangjian showed Lao Huang that the order status indicated the buyer had paid.

ESRO's official resource station acted as an intermediary, providing guarantees as a platform, with the client confirming their requirements and the contractor starting the work.

During this period, the client had to pay the platform, which would hold the funds on behalf of the contractor. Only after both parties reached an agreement and the client was satisfied with the work would the funds be transferred from the platform to the contractor's account.

If there was a dispute between both parties, the platform would naturally step in to arbitrate.

At that time, Ruan Guangjian would have chat records as evidence, and the platform would also retain the original draft of the requirement sheet. It seemed that Ruan Guangjian and his team would have the upper hand.

"Guangjian, I still think this is not very reliable. Why don't you confirm the requirements with them again and ask for a more detailed one..." Lao Huang still felt that the matter was not very reliable.

Ruan Guangjian was unhappy: "Lao Huang, are you confused?"

"Don't you want to continue drawing those Q-version characters? Aren't you tired of it?"

"Q-version games are indeed popular and profitable, but ask yourself, do you really enjoy drawing such low-skill content?"

"What about your artistic pursuit?"

"Now there's such a great opportunity, with no restrictions on style and such loose requirements, it provides us with so much creative space!"

"If we make a name for ourselves with this set of concept art, our future path will be much smoother. We might even be able to set up our own studio after graduation!"

"Or do you want to graduate in obscurity, join an outsourcing company to do grunt work, and continue drawing a style you don't like at all?"

The others looked at each other, obviously persuaded by Ruan Guangjian.

They were all students, not experienced workers who had been in the industry for many years.

In the field of art, they all had their own ideas and were in a stage of bursting with inspiration.

Who would want to be a laborer, painting traditional things according to the client's framework?

Everyone wanted to paint in their favorite and best style!

They all want to draw in their own preferred and skilled style!

Encountering a client who doesn't care about anything is rare.

Even Old Huang was swayed a bit: "Alright, it's up to you, Guangjian. We'll help you out. How do you plan to draw?"

That's Right!

Ruan Guangjian was very satisfied and opened a picture on his computer.

"I plan to use this style."

"Epic Ink and Oil Painting Style."

Old Huang's mouth twitched slightly.

Because this style was an original creation of Ruan Guangjian after a moment of inspiration.

The character in this picture is a tall and burly Minotaur, with one horn broken, and the black heavy armor it is wearing also has many damages.

The shoulder armor is impressive, a huge monster's head, and the chains wrapped around it add a sense of unyielding and struggle.

The overall tone of the image is dark, with a pitch-black sky and a pitch-black battlefield, creating an atmosphere of despair and desolation.

Just looking at this figure, it would remind people of the Minotaurs in the "Fantasy World."

But upon closer inspection, one would find that this Minotaur is different from the Western ones in many ways.

Ruan Guangjian used a large number of details to highlight the Eastern elements of the character, such as the more Eastern-style armor and weapon designs, the facial features that lean towards Eastern aesthetics, and the red battle robe, among other things.

This style was named "Epic Ink and Oil Painting Style" by Ruan Guangjian because it combines the three features of "epic," "ink," and "oil painting."

The image is not detailed down to every pore of the character but instead uses a lot of oil painting techniques for smudging, and the blurred background makes it easier to create this unique atmosphere.

At the same time, the original painting incorporates a lot of ink painting techniques, giving it a strong Chinese style.

In addition, the image itself gives an extremely desolate feeling, creating a sense of epicness, as if the Minotaur had just experienced a battle between gods and demons.

Old Huang and the other people in the dormitory had known about this painting for a long time.

They all admired Ruan Guangjian since, after all, the painting techniques, lighting, and other details of this painting were far beyond what an average art student could achieve.

But can this be used as game concept art?

No one can say for sure.

Nowadays, mobile games are popular with Q-version-style concept art, and the projects that Ruan Guangjian and his group had worked on previously were also Q-version-style.

Even if some PC games adopted a realistic art style, they generally preferred detailed and bright concept art.

With Ruan Guangjian's style, it looks impressive, but it might also make people feel that the screen is too dark and the game is oppressive.

So Ruan Guangjian was afraid that it would affect his ability to get business and didn't dare to put it on the resource site.

Old Huang hesitated, "Two questions. First, can this style really meet the client's requirements? Second, only you are good at this style, we might not be able to draw it..."

Ruan Guangjian was well-prepared and confidently answered, "That's why I said, this requirement list is exactly in line with my ideas!"

"My original concept was inspired by the stories of immortals and mythology."

"What I wanted to emphasize was a sense of epicness, and the most important aspect of epicness is the appearance! The righteous and stern immortals, the monstrous demons, these two completely different appearances can easily create a spark!"

"In other words, the further the appearance deviates from humans, the better!"

"Strictly speaking, a typical Three Kingdoms game wouldn't suit this style because the Three Kingdoms is about a group of people, so how can we emphasize this feeling?"

"But this requirement list completely subverts the character images of the Three Kingdoms, which perfectly fits this feeling!"

"Guan Yu is a dragon, Ma Chao is a mixed-race prince of dragon and centaur, and Xu Chu is a tiger..."

"Isn't this naturally in line with my style?"

"As for the issue of style, you don't need to worry. I'll handle the character design and sketch, and you can help me perfect it. In the end, I'll wrap it up. Don't worry, with me in charge, the overall direction and style will definitely stay on track!"