Chapter 720 Signature (Part 2)

Although Gu Weijing himself had a pitifully small number of accounts, everything was done very formally at that time.

The elective course teacher once sternly warned everyone by tapping the blackboard that everything on the Internet is traceable.

No great artist wants to suddenly have old gossip dug up ten years after they become famous, like saying “I’m going to shoot a few black bastards” online or sharing their private parts on Twitter, which can instantly destroy their public image.

Even if it’s not so extreme.

If someone discovers that your account used to follow a long list of welfare queens, it’s not very respectable, right?

Even though you have little chance of truly becoming a public figure.

But it’s best not to kill this possibility with your own hands.

Ma Shi Gallery’s agent, Hanks, also specifically mentioned that when they sign new artists, they conduct background checks.

No matter how good the paintings are, if there’s a risk of exposure, it won’t be signed.

Small-time artists are different.

For big deals like Professor Yakai Ichiro.

Not only will the messages sent on social media accounts be reviewed word by word, but if there are bad reviews heard in the industry, Ma Shi Gallery will even spend tens of thousands of dollars hiring professional private investigators for preliminary data collection and review.

Artists are the most important expensive assets in the hands of gallery owners.

If they spend millions signing a ticking time bomb back, only to have it “Me-too” them within two months.

The gallery might as well jump off a building in despair.

(Note: Metoo is a movement against sexual assault sweeping through the European and American arts, affecting top-tier artists like Louis CK, Kevin Spacey, causing multi-million dollar agreements and big productions to be reshot, cut, with significant losses to investors.)

Hanks even searched Twitter for Gu Weijing’s homepage and took a look, expressing surprise.

Even though there are few followers, it’s quite “well-presented”.

Ma Shi Gallery has a professional internet operations department, and when they formally sign, there’s no need to register a new artist homepage.

If Gu Weijing is willing, he can directly hand over this account to the management team for operation, leaving some youthful imprints from his student days, making future fans feel more adorable and genuine.

Hanks isn’t surprised by his account looking decent.

Because this was made by Mona, known as “Miss Serious” on Fitz Campus, by taking notes from several pages of course material and crafting it by hand.

Gu Weijing just wanted to muddle through for credits, but Miss Sande Nu insisted on doing it well.

The elective course teacher suggested.

An artist’s homepage should never use overly edgy anime avatars and names.

When you turn thirty, you’ll realize how non-mainstream it is to have a name like “Battle Tyrannosaurus”.

It’s best to boldly use your real name and photo for an artist’s Twitter homepage—it’s more formal.

Gu Weijing’s Twitter homepage is just called [Gu Weijing (GU Warner)]

The English name is Gu Woking, not Gu Weijing, because Mona stated that the textbook said a name conducive to communication is key for audiences to remember you instantly.

“WEIJING” in pinyin is too convoluted.

Many Europeans, naturally unable to pronounce back nasal sounds, struggle with their tongues after a few attempts.

So Warner, a homophonic English localized name, is used instead of Weijing.

It’s the same logic as foreigners developing in the East often taking local names.

Moreover, the name Woking has a good connotation, you can’t go wrong listening to her.

Gu Weijing’s avatar was also styled with a haircut by Mona and then taken to an artsy photo studio specializing in Instagram aesthetic styles on the streets of Yangon, spent fifty dollars for the picture.

Equivalent to ten thousand Myanmar Kyat a photo, Gu Weijing was reluctant at the time.

Miss Mona stated the original price was eighty dollars, buying as a pair results in a discount, so each paid sixty, which is a bargain and it’s like doing her a favor.

Nuff said, although the photo studio charged steeply, the effect was quite good.

The photographer spent about twenty minutes, lighting, changing fake collar props, even giving him round silver rimmed glasses, and then retouching in Photoshop for half a day.

Gu Weijing was originally ordinary looking, but the final result made him look like Daniel Radcliffe’s early appearance in “Harry Potter”—having the charm of an adorable young lad.

The photo was taken in ninth grade and Gu Weijing has never changed it over the years.

Apart from the photo, the teacher also asked everyone to think of a personal signature to showcase their artistic temperament.

Mona knew Gu Weijing liked Renoir.

So she picked Renoir’s classic saying for Gu Weijing—”Life is like a cork drifting in a little river, we can only blindly float towards the unknown far beyond.”

Gu Weijing actually felt, choosing such an old signature didn’t suit his age, it was too sentimental.

He secretly changed it to “An art student wanting to enroll in the University of Paris 1.”

He once wanted to study abroad in France, previously figuring that places like National School of Fine Arts in Paris, Versailles Academy of Fine Arts, top world-ranked art academies, were out of his league.

Private professional schools are too expensive, the University of Paris 1 that enjoys French government subsidies has an art department, is just right.

At this moment, only after a Spring Festival.

He finds himself separated from Miss Mona, once he longed to apply to the University of Paris 1, now readily available, and yet he’s no longer impressed.

A feeling that circumstances have changed.

Gu Weijing clicked into the personal profile editing page, hesitated for a few seconds, but ultimately didn’t change the Warner English name, only edited the personal signature anew.

“Noble artworks cannot be spoken by critics, they speak for themselves. Noble souls cannot be constrained by the world; they seek freedom—”

At the end of the saying, Gu Weijing didn’t choose to append “Homage to Lady K.” like many oil painting magazines do.

He typed on the keyboard, changing it to “—Homage to Lady Carol.”

After doing all this, Gu Weijing drank the tea beside him, turned on the daylight lamp in the little studio, and pulled the curtains tight.

He walked to the safe at the corner.

Tonight, he had Uncle Ah Lai drive him back to the Good Fortune Orphanage, apart from remembering the pioneer female artist, he had another important matter to attend to.

He turned the dial of the safe’s code lock, input three sets of numbers, opened the metal door of the safe.

After an entire day’s experience growth sound of flowing water, by the evening, Gu Weijing still had small single-digit experience gains, the numbers on the overall system panel had basically stabilized.

[Character: Gu Weijing]

Character panel—

[Sketching Technique: lv.5 Tier Two Professional (2710/10000)]

[Chinese Painting Techniques: lv.5 Tier Two Professional (5039/10000)]

[Oil Painting Technique: lv.5 Tier Two Professional (3223/10000)]

[Watercolor Painting Technique: lv.3 Semi-Professional (274/1000)]

[Printmaking Technique: lv.3 Semi-Professional (21/1000)]

Without a doubt, the biggest harvest was the Chinese Painting Techniques, with accumulated wisdom and understanding, practicing Chinese painting since childhood, once he had an epiphany, the first stroke for Miss Sakai, earned over three thousand experience points, plus subsequent minor gains.

The Tier Two Professional progress bar has instantly filled halfway.

Shengzi says the greater the pain endured, the richer the harvest should be.

This is equivalent to fifty thousand dollars in free experience points, almost the sum total of his lifetime’s proficiency in Chinese painting.

Directly doubling his original experience bar—and it’s all his own insightful work.

Sketching and Oil Painting techniques also experienced similar thousand-point increases.

As for Watercolor and Printmaking, his accumulation was the least, he practiced the least, not very familiar, but could elevate to Semi-Professional level.

A pleasant surprise.

Gu Weijing took out the silk-bound scroll of Chinese painting from the safe.