There is nothing wrong with the training method of the Justice Messenger

Shiina looked at her for a while, and suddenly spoke up, "I also want to ask Eriri something."

"what?"

"How can I draw a picture like yours that is interesting to others?"

"Huh?" Sawamura didn't understand what he meant. "If we talk about popularity, Shiina-san's art paintings are more popular, right? Everyone who sees them praises them, and they all marvel at them as if they were shocked... Is it necessary for such a Shiina-san to ask me such a question?"

Shiina shook her head. "Eri's drawings are more interesting. They look more like living... characters."

Sawamura suddenly understood: "Are you asking how to draw more eye-catching...more commercial paintings?"

Shiina nodded vigorously.

Sawamura looked at Shiina from head to toe with a strange expression: "...to draw your comics better?"

"Yes."

"...Shiina-san, do you really want to survive as a manga artist?"

"That's right." Shiina nodded without hesitation and continued, "I heard about it, Kashiwagi Eri."

"Gah?! I'm exposed again!"

An Yi complained: "It would be strange if your performance, which is full of loopholes, was not exposed."

"Shiyu told me. She said I want to paint more attractively and I can learn from you."

"Senior said that... I was shocked." Knowing that it was Kasumigaoka who told Shiina about this, Sawamura was not surprised. She glanced over at Kasumigaoka who was discussing this with Ren. She also knew about the person who was collaborating with Shiina on the manga "Love Metronome"; she heard about it from Aki.

Being recommended by his favorite author to learn techniques from an excellent painter like Shiina - realizing this was the situation, Sawamura felt his vanity greatly satisfied and it swelled up all of a sudden. He put his hands on his hips and smiled proudly.

"You've asked the right person. I've done a lot of research on how to draw commercial illustrations that are more appealing to otakus! I've even compiled a complete set of detailed theories and techniques. My current activeness in the industry as Kashiwagi Eri is proof of my ability! When it comes to art painting, I may not even be worthy of carrying your shoes, Shiina-san, but in the field of commercial painting, I'm definitely several levels ahead of you!"

"Oh~ Eriri is so awesome!" Shiina really thought she was awesome and clapped his hands for her.

The child's expression of trusting his boasting without reservation made Sawamura unable to be proud. Being looked at with admiration by such a great painter made Sawamura feel guilty and his eyes wandered: "Anyway, it's not impossible for me to teach you."

"Teacher Eriri, please be sure to teach me." Shiina lowered his head seriously.

Sawamura panicked: "It's just sharing skills, don't really call me teacher!"

She can't bear it.

"Wait, Eriri...you're going to share your business techniques for otaku with Shiina Mashiro...are you sure you're not leading a promising artist astray?" Amaki thought this was not a good idea and felt uneasy about it.

"There it is, the idiotic arguments of the old-fashioned people in school." This was not the first time that Sawamura had heard such remarks. He rolled his eyes and snorted in disdain.

It's no secret that Shiina Mashiro draws comics. There's nothing this kid can hide. There are teachers in the art department who think this is inappropriate and a waste of talent. They think Shiina Mashiro is wasting her talent as an artist... While Sawamura was pretending to be a good kid and listening to those comments with a smile on his face, he didn't agree with them in his heart. He raised his finger to Aki and shook his head, saying "Say no".

"First of all, drawing comics is the child's own hobby and decision, and he has worked hard to achieve results. Outsiders have no right to comment. Secondly, I don't think that learning more techniques will devalue the talent of the painter Shiina Mashiro." Sawamura became excited: "Maybe my teaching can help the painter Shiina Mashiro to a higher level!"

Chapter 401: The friendship boat can capsize at any time

"Hehehe" Amaki laughed happily "I didn't realize you were such a good joke teller, Eriri."

Then he was kicked again.

"Don't look down on my skills!" Sawamura was very dissatisfied: "Do you think I can't see that your expression says [You? Let Master Shiina reach a higher level? Are you worthy?] Who allowed you to say such big words to me?"

"Isn't it just written on my face?!" An Yi complained. He was used to being kicked. He felt that the muscles in his calves were getting stiff from being kicked all the time. "Eri, since you can translate what I want to say, it means you still have self-awareness. Can you teach Mr. Shiina... uh, what's wrong with Mr. Shiina?"

"Of course, that's how to please your otaku drawing skills. Teach her how to draw the kind of two-dimensional beautiful girls that you want to lick with your tongue."

"Pfft..." An Yi couldn't help laughing: "For example, how to draw bigger breasts, deeper cleavage, whiter thighs, and the absolute area between the traces of stockings on the thighs and the skirt?"

Aki knew Sawamura too well. He had helped this guy many times when he was about to meet the deadline. He probably knew what the so-called "commercial skills" that Sawamura was proud of were.

"That's it. I want to learn it." Shiina said suddenly.

"Don't learn it!" Amaki felt that compared with Shiina Mashiro's art, Kashiwagi Eri's painting skills that focused on expressing the sexy beauty of girls were not up to par. She was really afraid that after learning that kind of thing, Shiina Mashiro's art would change. Just imagining Shiina Mashiro's paintings with an ethereal feeling being stained with elements of big breasts, thighs and white stockings, Amaki felt a sense of incongruity. When she heard that these were what Shiina wanted to learn, she panicked.

"I need to learn." Shiina remained unmoved and said calmly, staring at Sawamura with an urgent look: "Please teach me."

"Ah this..." An Yi's mind went blank: "World-class art master Shiina Mashiro wants to learn how to draw 2D beautiful girls from Kashiwagi Eri?"

"Ryouya, your summary is very accurate." Sawamura praised him, "You have understood the current situation. Did you see that? My skills are worth learning to this extent! They are worthy of being learned by world-class art masters - because art masters are transitioning to drawing comics and they need these things!"

An Yi ignored her and asked Shiina nervously: "Shiina-san, it is your freedom to draw comics. What you produce is exactly what otakus like me need, but I think you shouldn't ruin your talent and ability in art. Instead, you should draw comics while maintaining your style. I have seen the comic version of "Love Metronome" that you and Kasumi Shiko collaborated on. I think your current style is pretty good..."

"It's good, but not good enough. For example, I haven't seen a beautiful girl with big breasts and round buttocks yet? In fact, I think the first heroine Sayuka should be drawn in this style. Kasumigaoka-senpai is obviously written by herself. The illustrations in the book are obviously drawn with her as the model... If it were me, I would make the character more full and sexy."

Sawamura is a die-hard fan of Kasumi Shiko, and of course he bought the magazine on the day the comic was published. He has different ideas from Aki. As the painter Kashiwagi Eri, she feels that from her perspective, Shiina's character design can be improved.

As he said that, Sawamura turned his head and looked at the senior sister Kasumigaoka who was called "fat" by Li Nian. He thought that Li Nian was really short-sighted. This was a famous beauty in Sobu High School. Her slightly fleshy figure could only be called plump, which was better, wasn't it? She would definitely be soft when hugged, and boys obviously liked this more... This was the truth that the popularity of the book told Sawamura. The books she drew of plump and mature heroines were generally a level higher than those of petite and flat heroines. Sawamura himself wanted to hug a senior sister like that, but unfortunately she couldn't grow into that kind of shape. If she ate too much, her stomach would get fat first, and she wouldn't grow meat on her chest and buttocks.

Amai disagreed and started to argue: "The character design that gives people a clean and neat feeling is good enough. Besides, when Shiina-sensei drew Sayuka, he obviously used Kasumigaoka-senpai as a model! The current proportions are already very realistic, and I feel very comfortable looking at them!"

"You didn't emphasize the front and back parts, you idiot! Just looking comfortable is not enough to attract attention. If you want to be popular in various forums and social groups, you have to have a more sese feeling on top of that!"

"I just think that Eriri, your utilitarian idea of ​​deliberately pleasing otakus has gone too far, which has caused your paintings to lose the more important soul besides the aura!"

Sawamura was silent. Normally, she would have ridiculed Aki's naive idea by saying, "Soul? What is it? How much more traffic can it bring me? How much more money can it make?"

But at this moment, she had just seen the warriors fighting with real swords and guns, and had also seen Shiina's paintings that captured that kind of charm. What Amaki said touched her heart more than ever before.

Reason told her that what An Yi said was true.

Shiina Mashiro's paintings have the kind of "soul" that Sawamura cannot draw. Her paintings are not of sexy beauties with big breasts, long legs, oval faces, big eyes, gorgeous clothes and half-exposed fair skin. They just truthfully record a certain moment of the confrontation between warriors. However, they are more eye-catching and soul-stirring than the two-dimensional beautiful girls.

At this moment, she also remembered the "illusion" that Li Nian had shown her. It was a real scene where the people and the scene together formed a painting. It was a simple composition of an ordinary-looking person wearing plain black clothes, holding a weapon and standing on a pile of flesh and blood in the ruins, but it was more terrifying than any exaggerated art painting, and it gave a visual sense of oppression.

Gorgeous appearances are all alike, but interesting souls are rare. The same applies to paintings.

The gorgeous illustrations are all the same, but the interesting characters are rare.

For Kashiwagi Eri, drawing a sexy fan art that would make otakus stare at it is just a simple thing, but for Sawamura, drawing an original character that is eye-catching and can leave a deep impression on people is an extremely difficult task. She has felt her bottleneck in this area for a long time. Although it does not prevent the accumulated skills and painting sense from supporting her to complete the work of drawing books and illustrations, this feeling that often emerges in her mind and it is difficult to make further progress makes her extremely uncomfortable.

The idiot Ren Ye always yelled something in her ear: "Can you draw more things with soul?", which made her angry. Tamashi Tamashi, do you know what Tamashi is? You yelled beside her? Do you think I don't know that Tamashi is important and I don't want to draw paintings with Tamashi?

In fact, Sawamura probably has an idea of ​​what the so-called soul of a painting is. It is a kind of spiritual core, which is achieved through special composition, specific details, and even special techniques, ultimately giving the painting a personality different from that of a person, and hosting a story that makes people associate, which can arouse emotional and ideological resonance in the viewer.

The principle is simple, but it is so difficult to do. Even Sawamura would feel at a loss and unable to find direction when trying to give the painting these cores. His thoughts would feel chaotic and he would not be able to think of the composition. He would feel that he did not have enough experience and did not know how to fill in the details. He would feel that he did not have enough ability and could not display the corresponding techniques...More often than not, he would even feel tired of trying to think more and do more, and felt that there was no need to think too much.

Why do we have to study new things? Isn't it enough to follow the old experience and draw sexy girls that are already enough for otakus to praise? That's really simple. Big breasts, long legs, black and white stockings, maid outfits, shrine maiden outfits, western clothes, erotic underwear, and other design elements are pieced together to form a half-naked outfit. The girl herself chooses different templates of fat and thin, changes hundreds of different hairstyles, and poses in a few ways to highlight her curvy figure and delicate and cute temperament. Sawamura is very good at this process. He always gets it right every time he tries, and he can always draw results that are widely praised.

Do you need to go further? It seems that you don't need to. Just be content with the status quo. It doesn't prevent Kashiwagi Eri's paintings from being sought after by otakus, her books are selling well, her illustrations are well received, and work commissions are pouring in... But Sawamura still can't really be content with the status quo. In fact, he still longs to go further.

She just thought about it, but couldn't do it, so the more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt. I have to say that 50% of the reason why she had no motivation was because she wanted to play, and the remaining 50% was because she had no passion. Of the 50% reason for her lack of passion, half might be due to a lack of inspiration, and the other half might be due to the disappointment and hesitancy that she could not draw a better painting.

So she still wanted to break through the bottleneck, but couldn't find a breakthrough... But now she seemed to have found an opportunity.

The composition, details, character personality, story and so on... Li Nian seems to have the ability to prepare this kind of extremely special real scene... Oh no, it's an illusion.

Mashiro Shiina is a spiritual painter who can grasp the key details and charm of the characters in the scenes he sees.

These two people are in Sakurasou...

Should I seize this opportunity? Should I use these two to research my own breakthrough?

But that’s really troublesome, really difficult…

Amaki didn't realize that his childhood sweetheart's silence was because he listened to what he said and thought about a lot of things. He had repeated similar quarrels with Eriri many times. He had been persuading the comic artist to return to the right path, but basically his ears were turned. At this time, he just thought that the silence of the blonde with twin ponytails was an attitude of being too lazy to argue with him. He thought that this guy was hopeless, so he turned around and wanted to persuade Shiina more.

"It's unnecessary. It's really unnecessary. Why do you have to let your comics be stained with such unclean things?"

"Shiyu pointed this out. She said it would be better to make it more H-ish. Sometimes it would be better to give some benefits to readers." Shiina answered honestly.

"Is this actually the original author's instruction? That Kasumi Shiko would also say such utilitarian words?! How can this be... uh, it seems that Kasumigaoka-senpai is such a person."

"Ayano also said that I should let Sayuka have more sese feelings."

"Who is Ayano?"

"edit."

"... That's what the editor would say." Amaki knew the reason why Shiina pursued the art of painting: "But this will have an impact on your style, your art..."

“I want to draw comics.”

"..."

"As long as the comics can be drawn better, nothing else matters."

“…Is it worth it?”

Shiina nodded without hesitation.

"A person is free to do what he wants. Other people's opinions are irrelevant." Sawamura came back to his senses and mocked Amaki unhappily: "Ryouya, you are not a law-abiding person, are you? Aren't you acting recklessly to satisfy your otaku hobbies, and you have involved a bunch of people for your crappy galgame. Don't you think that this is reasonable in the eyes of others?"

"Isn't this different?" Amaki retorted, "Shiina Mashiro's art is world-class."

"How is it different? Such people are interested in drawing comics and work hard. How is that different from you? Besides, your good friend Anian now shows the same combat power as a humanoid Gundam and works as an exorcist. In terms of rarity and contribution to society, he may be even higher than Shiina-san. Doesn't he also like to write novels? Why don't you worry that he is not doing his job properly and his work as an exorcist is affected? He also takes up other people's energy to ask others to write your game script."

"...Hexagonal warriors like Ah Nian have the ability to do both."

"Isn't it a good example that he can do both? Why can't Shiina do both art and comics? Unlike writing and fighting, which are two extremely different fields that the hexagonal warrior has mastered, for Shiina, at least comics and art are both drawing, and the basic skills are common. In fact, Shiina has also completed her debut, right? The future is promising, which shows that she is also capable. Why, like those stubborn old antiques in school, do you think that asking Shiina to learn how to draw two-dimensional beautiful girls that can excite otakus will ruin her art skills?"

"I know exactly what you mean by your excitement! Who do you think got to know your manuscript before the comic magazine editor and the printing house? Don't say it didn't have a bad influence on Shiina Mashiro." Amaki frowned: "I think you are an example. I have always said that your paintings have been led astray by the commercial style."

"...That's right, Tomoya, you haven't shown that kind of special feeling towards my paintings for a long time." Sawamura felt sour in his heart, pouted his lips, and laughed at himself: "Because my paintings have no soul, you are afraid that Shiina Mashiro will become another me and lose his soul, right?"

An Yi could tell something was wrong in her tone, and felt bad for a moment, but she did feel that she had hit the nail on the head, so she avoided his gaze. "Uh, no, I didn't say that..."

"That's what you think, Renye. You're only excited about things you like. Novels by Li Nian and Kasumigaoka-senpai, animations by Kamiigusa-senpai, and paintings by Shiina-san. You think those are the works with soul. But I don't. You don't actually like the things I draw."

“Not really.”

"Then tell me, when you see my paintings, do you like them?"

"Your drawings are mostly for 18+ content..."

"Will your heart be moved when you see my paintings? Will you feel the creepy aura? Will you feel... that you want to push me to more people no matter what?"

"...You don't need my approval or help. Aren't you already a very successful artist who is popular among otakus?"

"You didn't answer any of my questions, Renye."

Not to mention answering the question, An Yi didn't even dare to look at her, and his words were hesitant, avoiding direct answers like yes or no - which was actually a kind of answer.

"...Are you arguing?" Shiina's worried voice came.

"No." An Yi tried to cover up.

"Yeah, we were just arguing." Sawamura admitted.

"Eri, are you crying?" Shiina reached out his hand worriedly and wanted to wipe the corners of Sawamura's eyes.

“…No!” Sawamura wiped his eyes vigorously and looked at the ground: “Besides, there’s no point in arguing with a guy who doesn’t even dare to tell the truth. I already know the answer.”

"Answer her, Aki."

Li Nian's voice suddenly came from the side.

An Yi turned around and saw him standing there, with Qingshan following behind him in a daze. She didn't know when Li Nian came back or how long he and Qingshan had been standing there, but it seemed that the two of them knew why it had become like this.

Li Nian discovered that the ingredients were not enough to prepare portions for so many people, so for efficiency's sake she planned to use the existing ingredients first. She came up and called Qingshan to help run some errands and buy some more things. She noticed that the atmosphere here was not right, so she came over and listened for a while.

At this time, he repeated his previous words to An Yi who was in a daze.

"Answer her, Aki."

"But……"

"What you think of as gentleness may not necessarily be a good thing. It would be better to explain it clearly. Or do you plan to wait until the game starts production and the artist finishes drawing, and then point out the areas that you are not satisfied with?"

Li Nian spoke in her usual gentle tone, but looked at him coldly. An Yi could see the dissatisfaction in her eyes and understood that in the eyes of her friend, her hesitation was very stupid, and the reason was also very clear.

An Yi suddenly realized and turned to Sawamura and said.

"Yes, I really don't like your paintings, Eriri... I've said the reason before. Your paintings lack soul, they are too commercial, and they have a strong sense of déjà vu. Of course, it's true that they are very good."

"As expected." Sawamura raised his head, not surprised by the answer, but continued to ask, "Renya, do you think this is not enough?"

"Not enough." An Yi said without hesitation, "I feel that it lacks some characteristics that distinguish it from others, and lacks some more shocking impact. The sexy pictures are just... just sexy pictures. I don't like this."

"I see..." Sawamura murmured.

Li Nian turned to look at Sawamura. He had heard the second half of the conversation and knew that Sawamura had pointed out the problem to Amiya himself and got the answer she expected. But the question was, what did she want to do with this answer? Was she just going to slack off as a matter of course?

Chapter 402: All conditions are met, the lazy guy begins to evolve

Li Nian actually thinks Sawamura's paintings are okay. He doesn't crave for "soulless paintings". He has also seen Sawamura's paintings. They are sexy enough... To be honest, he thinks that's enough! Illustrations with breasts, stockings and white legs are not enough to satisfy men's desires. There is no such thing. What more soul is needed...

Well, okay, Sawamura's paintings lack a little bit of "soul" or something. Li Nian can see that to some extent because she has seen better paintings that are astonishing.