Chapter 52
Xu Ying buried herself in her drawing all night.
The next day, when she sent the drawing to YaYa, YaYa stared at the drawing, which was as long as a PowerPoint presentation, and was a little stunned. Just as she was in a daze, her phone suddenly rang.
It was a call from February.
Duck quickly answered the phone: "Dear February..."
"Yes, you received the artwork, right? I was worried you wouldn't understand it, so I'm explaining it to you."
"Okay, go ahead."
YaYa has already glanced through the sketches once, and all she can say is that there are too many elements. She is indeed a bit confused at this point and urgently needs on-site guidance from the expert.
"Look at the first page of the sketch. I've drawn a lot of clothing and patterns on this page. When you draw the figures, you can combine them as needed. Just pay attention to the colors of the clothes. For example, the Empress and Imperial Noble Consort can use bright yellow, while the Noble Consort can only use golden yellow... I've marked these in small print next to them."
Upon hearing this, Ya Ya quickly looked down at her drawing board, and indeed, the small print next to the drawing was clearly marked.
"Yes, I saw it."
She had read novels, so she roughly knew that the imperial harem was strictly hierarchical, and that even the concubines had rules about what to wear.
Xu Ying nodded and continued, "On the third page, I drew a headdress and a flowerpot-shaped base. There are many types of headdresses, so you can use your own inspiration if you have any."
Then there are the ornaments adorning the headdress. I drew phoenix hairpins, phoenix crowns, pearl hairpins, tassels, and so on. If you look closely, you'll see that these all have specific specifications.
The number of hairpins and the length of tassels decreased according to social status.
She had written annotations for all of these.
"I've drawn all the other earrings, jade bracelets, gold bracelets, court beads, and the like that I can think of. Just take them as a reference. Like I said, if you have any good inspiration, you must tell me. After all, my imagination is limited."
She was telling the truth.
But Ya Ya thought she was being too modest. Any one of the things drawn on the big blueprint was exquisite and clearly showed that a lot of thought had been put into them.
It seems that the author really values the novel "Legend of the Qing Dynasty". Not only did the author create a unique dynasty for this book, but now even the costumes and styles are so ingenious.
admire.
There's definitely a reason why some people succeed.
Given her serious attitude towards her work, it's no wonder her works are so popular now.
only......
"Sir, I saw that you wrote a few lines at the end: 'Wearing three earrings and a court bead necklace.' What is this?"
"Oh, I just wrote it down because I was afraid I would forget. Luckily I wrote it down or I would have forgotten to tell you. When you draw the figures, all the concubines must wear three earrings. As for the court beads, they only need to be worn when wearing court clothes. They are more casual at other times."
Xu Ying talked to Ya Ya for a long time. Only after Ya Ya had understood the contents of her drawing did the two hang up the phone.
After hanging up the phone, YaYa began revising her original design draft.
She drew the character's hair bun completely wrong; it needs to be completely corrected here.
The shoes were also unique; the flowerpot soles were high in the middle and suspended on both sides. Without the author's draft, she probably wouldn't have been able to come up with such a unique shoe even if she racked her brains.
Ya Ya has limited time to draw. She has to go to school during the day, and there are too many people in the office for her to work on her own things. She can only draw for a few hours when she gets home at night, so her speed is inevitably a bit slow.
Even so, she still sent the first draft to Xu Ying on the third day after they finished contacting each other.
Duckling Learning to Talk: Big Brother, what do you think of this picture? Is there anything that needs to be changed?
Xu Ying clicked on the picture and took a look.
This is still a picture of Ma Lu's Mid-Autumn Festival banquet. However, with the references she provided a couple of days ago regarding the costumes and styling, the figures in the picture are obviously much more exquisite, and the clothing is more gorgeous and elaborate, revealing the beauty of meticulous craftsmanship everywhere.
good.
February Sky: It looks great, I'm very satisfied, let's finalize this one.
Xu Ying then transferred the agreed-upon payment for the artwork to Ya Ya.
Duckling learning to speak: Then I'll accept it without being polite.
Duckling Learning to Speak: And Big Brother, can I post this picture on my own Big Eyes account?
February Sky: Of course, I'll post it too, and I'll tag you.
Duckling Learning to Talk: That's great, thank you so much!
YaYa learned to draw "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" partly because she liked it, and partly because she had read the novel herself and knew how popular it was.
She believes that accepting this artwork collaboration will definitely boost her fan base significantly.
She desperately needs to gain more followers. Once she gains more followers, more people will ask her to write articles, and then she can earn money and leave this place sooner.
Every extra day she stays in this wretched place means another day she'll be unable to escape the shadows of her parents and brother.
February Sky: You can draw the rest of the manuscript slowly. I'll collect each one you draw, and I'll post one character illustration every week from now on. You should have enough time to draw it, right?
Xu Ying commissioned illustrations for all the important characters in the novel, basically two for each character: one in casual everyday clothes and one in formal court attire.
Of course, the female lead was an exception; she commissioned ten drawings for her in one go.
After all, the female lead climbed up from the bottom as a palace maid, so each stage had to be shown in a scene.
Duckling Learning to Talk: It's not too late, it's perfectly timely.
February Sky: Okay.
After finishing her conversation with Ya Ya, Xu Ying logged into her Big Eyes account and uploaded the first character image of Ma Lu.
@FebruarySky: Welcome to the first character illustration of Malu. Thank you to @YayaLearningToTalk for your wonderful creation. I love it. What about you?
Attached image.jpg
- Here it comes!
- Long time no see, have you finally remembered your Big Eyes account password?
-Wow, what a beautiful magnolia!
-This is Malu...
-We love it so much! Malu is so beautiful and elegant!
- Malu's hairstyle is so unique, is this the headdress described in the novel? And her clothes are not the usual ancient costumes either, but they are all so beautiful. I can only say that the artist is too amazing and has too much imagination.
-That's right, the artist is amazing!
February Sky tagged the original artist, and someone followed the trail to Duckling Learning to Talk.
As soon as the duckling learned to speak, Xu Ying gave a positive reply. She then posted the character picture of Ma Lu on her homepage for promotion, and almost immediately a bunch of netizens gathered under her post to praise her.
- You drew Malu? You're amazing!
- Your drawing skills are truly excellent, and your imagination and aesthetic sense are also superb. Please draw more pictures to benefit mankind in the future.
-May I ask if you accept commissions? I really love your art style!
The number of comments in the comment section is growing rapidly.
YaYa had never received so many positive comments at once, and she was very happy.
However, seeing that many people were praising her for her rich imagination and the brand-new design, she quickly posted an explanation, saying that many of the parts that everyone praised actually came from February Sky's ideas, and she just made some minor modifications before putting them on paper.
Worried that people wouldn't believe her, YaYa even posted a corner of the sketch that Eryuetian had drawn for her on her social media.
This half-drawn sketch only reveals a simple outfit, but it's enough to prove that it was indeed inspired by February Sky.
Netizens were greatly shocked.
-So you mean that in addition to writing, the author also has to take care of artwork design every day? What an amazing person with incredible energy!
-Never mind, both the boss and his wife are amazing.
- Yes, both of them are great. We commoners can only admire them.
*
Because of a character illustration of Ma Lu, the novel community surrounding "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" became much more active, with many people flocking to Dayan to follow Duck Duck's Talking.
Meanwhile, some passersby were amazed by the character image of Ma Lu, and then learned that she was a fictional character, so they decided to read the novel.
The images were easy and widely disseminated, and both "February Sky" and "Duckling Learning to Talk" benefited greatly, making it a mutually beneficial relationship.
Of course, in terms of scale, February Sky made more of a difference in the success of YaYa XueYu, since she was more famous and had more fans. The fans that she brought to YaYa XueYu accounted for more than half of the total.
The ducklings are learning to talk and are very grateful for the February weather.
She gained a lot of traffic and exposure, and now she receives so many private messages every day that she can't keep up. So many people are asking her to commission artwork, and some wealthy women who don't lack money are even offering high prices to jump the queue and have her paint their artwork first.
She refused them all.
All she wants to do now is draw the characters for February Sky well.
If she can finalize the artwork according to February's requirements within a week, she will accept other people's orders; otherwise, she would rather not accept them.
*
Time passed little by little.
Just as YaYa was learning to speak and Xu Ying was posting character illustrations on Dayan every week, the plot of "Legend of the Qing Palace" had already reached its midpoint.
In the book, Malu is promoted to Consort De.
In less than three years, she was promoted twice. Now, apart from the Empress Dowager and the Imperial Noble Consort, no one in the harem is above her, which shows the Emperor's favor towards her.
It was at this time that the Imperial Noble Consort made up her mind to submit Yinzhen to the imperial genealogy.
She was still afraid that Malu would take the child back.
Little did they know that Ma Lu didn't care about these external titles at all. Blood is thicker than water, and a mere imperial genealogy couldn't erase her birth mother's reputation.
With the influence of the imperial concubine in the harem and the active efforts of the Tong family in the court, Emperor Kangxi eventually agreed after some hesitation.
This was originally a good thing.
However, Yinzhen was too young and often gossiped and talked nonsense in front of him, to the point that he felt that Consort De had abandoned him after having her sixth brother.
Therefore, he became unusually awkward in his attitude towards Ma Lu when she came to visit him.
Being a child, Malu didn't think it was a big deal. She tried to comfort and appease him to clear up the misunderstanding, but it just so happened that the Sixth Prince caught a cold at night and developed a high fever, accompanied by symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea.
With her youngest son so seriously ill, she had no time to care about her eldest son's feelings.
Ma Lu spent half a month taking care of her youngest son before the illness was completely cured. When she finally had time to see the Fourth Prince, his attitude became even colder.
......
Xu Ying estimated that writing about Ma Lu coaxing her son would take several chapters.
Of course, it's not just about coaxing her son. While coaxing her son, the female lead will definitely have some battles of wits with the Imperial Noble Consort, and also have some flirting and back-and-forth with the Emperor. In short, multiple storylines running in parallel make the content feel more substantial.
Just as Xu Ying was brimming with inspiration, a message from Lin Zhongxu suddenly popped up on her phone.
Lin Zhongxu: I stayed at my maternal grandmother's house during the summer vacation.
Grandma's house, isn't that the house of Grandma Wang next door?
Xu Ying: Come on over, I just bought a car, I'll take your family for a drive then.
Lin Zhongxu's family consists of three people, plus her, making four people in one car. It's just right for them to travel anywhere. Otherwise, they might as well just drive around and go sightseeing.
That seems like a good idea.
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