I Became an All-round Artist

Over the next few days, Lin Yuan spent his free time between classes searching for ways to earn reputation points for his artwork.

First, he ruled out holding an exhibition.
Hosting an art exhibition required sponsorship, and there was no way any sponsor would back a complete unknown like Lin Yuan, who had neither work nor reputation to his name.
As for self-funding? Lin Yuan would never fund his own exhibition in this lifetime.

Next, he considered finding a mentor. Having a well-established artist guide him could save a lot of trial and error, but unfortunately, Lin Yuan didn’t know any such artists.

With those two options off the table, the next best plan was to earn reputation points from Qin Yi's students.
Since Qin Yi Academy was large, there might be enough of a foundation here to gain a thousand reputation points. So, Lin Yuan decided to look into opportunities within the school.

After some investigation, he discovered that the school had an art club.

By joining the art club, Lin Yuan figured he might come across some chances to gain reputation points. After all, Qin Yi was an arts-focused university, overflowing with all kinds of clubs.
Sports clubs included basketball, soccer, and even street dance.
Arts clubs included piano, painting, calligraphy, and poetry, among others.

These clubs were large, and because Qin Yi specialized in the arts, it had corresponding departments for each.
However, being a music major, Lin Yuan hadn’t crossed paths with students from other departments. The only person he knew outside of the music department was Jian Yi, a student from the drama department, who also had no connection to the visual arts.

With no other options, Lin Yuan took a direct approach: he went to the art club’s office and submitted his application to join.

"Do you have any drawing experience?"
The art club was one of the larger, school-supported clubs, with its own office space, much like the student council. After Lin Yuan explained his intention to join, it wasn’t surprising that the club members asked a few questions.

"Yes," Lin Yuan answered confidently.

The person checking his information raised an eyebrow. "You're a student in the music department. Most of our members are from the fine arts department…"

"Is there a rule against it?"

"No, no rule. But without a background in art, it might be tough to make a name for yourself here. We’ve got a lot of talented artists in the club, and when we have student art exhibitions, there are only limited spots. Are you sure you want to join?"

An exhibition?
Lin Yuan’s eyes lit up. "I’d like to join."

The student smiled with a hint of pride. "Great. Fill out this form. Be sure to include your class schedule so we can figure out when you’ll be available for activities."

His goal wasn’t to scare Lin Yuan off!
Clubs were always eager to recruit more members. The larger the membership, the more prestigious the club, and every club at Qin Yi wanted to be the biggest. So when someone showed interest in joining, the art club would never discourage them.

Most newcomers wouldn’t be intimidated. In fact, they’d likely be tempted by the mention of exhibitions, even if their work might never make it to the exhibition floor.

After filling out the form, the student didn’t even glance at it before quickly stamping it, as if afraid Lin Yuan would change his mind. "Oh, by the way, once you join, you’ll need to commit to attending club activities regularly. If you miss too many, we’ll remove you from the club. Just letting you know up front so people don’t join on a whim and then complain about the club being too much trouble."

This wasn’t something they "forgot" to mention—it was clearly intentional. They wanted to get the form signed before bringing up the extra details, to avoid anyone backing out.

"No problem," Lin Yuan replied easily.

The course load for composition wasn’t too heavy, so Lin Yuan had plenty of free time.
It seemed that joining the club was easier than he’d expected.

...

After the paperwork was done, the student who stamped his form stood up. "Do you have time for a tour of our workspace?"

"Sure," Lin Yuan nodded.

Following the student, it didn’t take long before they arrived at a building. "There are a lot of clubs in this building. Our art club is on the first floor."

Inside, Lin Yuan found a large room, easily a few hundred square meters. Several members were already working, each focused on their respective projects. Some were sketching, some were painting with watercolors, others were working on oil paintings, and a few were even creating traditional Chinese paintings. The air was thick with the smell of various paints and materials.

"New member?"
One of the club leaders took Lin Yuan’s application, glancing over it. "A sophomore from the composition department? Why didn’t you join last year?"

Most students joined clubs in their freshman year.

Lin Yuan replied, "I didn’t know how to draw last year."

The leader raised an eyebrow, confirming that Lin Yuan was a complete beginner. "You didn’t bring any supplies, so why don’t you start by cleaning the east side of the room? Cleaning supplies are in the restroom next door."

"Alright."
Lin Yuan complied without complaint.

The student who brought Lin Yuan couldn’t help but smile. Newcomers were always assigned chores like cleaning. It was a standard initiation, not just in the art club, but in many of the other clubs as well.

Lin Yuan got to work diligently. The "east side" of the room was quite large, with eraser shavings scattered everywhere, and plenty of easels and drawing boards to navigate around. It was more tedious than it seemed.

...

Zhong Yu was struggling with a portrait sketch, scratching his head in frustration. Then he heard a voice beside him: "Could you lift your foot for a moment?"

"Clean somewhere else," Zhong Yu responded without looking up.

"It’ll just take a second," Lin Yuan replied, eyeing the eraser shavings at Zhong Yu’s feet. His inner neat freak couldn’t stand the thought of leaving that spot uncleaned.

"Ugh," Zhong Yu muttered in annoyance, glancing at Lin Yuan. "New face. You must be a club newbie?"

"Yes."

"What year?"

"Sophomore."

"As a junior, let me teach you the rules: when cleaning the art room, don’t disturb us while we’re creating."

"Aren’t you just copying?"
Lin Yuan asked, confused. After all, Zhong Yu was only doing a study of an existing piece, not creating something new.

Zhong Yu was offended, glaring at him. "Hey, why don’t you take the pencil and draw it yourself?"

"Sure," Lin Yuan said nonchalantly, "But if I draw, you’ll have to lift your foot afterward."

Zhong Yu was taken aback. Was this guy serious? Did he not realize that was just a sarcastic remark?

Without overthinking, Lin Yuan picked up a nearby pencil and started sketching.

Zhong Yu had already blocked out the general shape, though his proportions were slightly off. Lin Yuan began refining the details.

"The eyes are misaligned… the hair looks too stiff… the shading on the nose is too heavy…"

With just a glance, Lin Yuan noticed all the flaws in Zhong Yu’s work. While the average person might not see them, to Lin Yuan, these imperfections stood out glaringly.
He grabbed an eraser and erased about two-thirds of the drawing. Still not satisfied, he erased even more.

Zhong Yu was too stunned to react, watching in disbelief as Lin Yuan erased an hour’s worth of work.

"Y-You—" Zhong Yu started.

But Lin Yuan didn’t stop to respond. He bent over, swiftly correcting the mistakes with clean, confident lines.

Compared to drawing from imagination, Lin Yuan’s speed when copying was astonishing.

Ten minutes later, he straightened up and looked at the nearly identical replica of the original. "Can you move your foot now?"

"Uh…?"
Zhong Yu stared, his emotions shifting from anger to shock, then finally to awe, all within the span of ten minutes.

In that brief time, Lin Yuan had effortlessly transformed his drawing into something almost unrecognizable—yet far superior.

Zhong Yu's mind was officially blown.

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