Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Old Huang was worried. “Would it work? Even though Teacher Chen Qi is a big shot within our industry, he might have forgotten something from a year ago. Are you sure he even remembers you?”

“Besides, all of these industry veterans would usually charge a fixed and high price for advertising and they wouldn’t lower their personal values. If we ask them for help in advertising Ghost General without offering anything in return…”

Ruan Guangjian shook his head. “That’s not for sure. Based on my observations, these veterans are usually easygoing. Even though they take on a lot of paid advertising deals, it’s also common for them to help one another advertise on Weibo.”

“The important thing is whether or not they would like our work.”

“If they do, someone would definitely be willing to share it. But if they don’t, there’s nothing we can do about that.”

Old Huang nodded his head. “Seems like we can only try.”

Ruan Guangjian opened the group chat and Old Huang took a look – indeed, there were all sorts of talents in it.

The owner of the group was called Chen Qi. He was someone who had already made a name for himself within the domestic games original arts artist circle a couple of years back. He was always invited for various concept art competitions for games, typically as a judge.

As for the other admins within the group, they were all famous characters.

Some of them were famous within the domestic animation circle.

Some of them specialized in concept designing.

There were even game designers, producers and novelists et cetera.

These were all people from Chen Qi’s network with the majority being artists while the rest were in the games, animations or other sectors.

Ruan Guangjian felt a mountainous pressure crushing on him just by even leaving a single message in such a group chat with this many big shots.

He thought it through. If he were to just state that he was asking for their help in advertising the game outright, no one would do it and it would seem rude of him as well.

“Hi, everyone. I am an arts student in my fourth year. I’ve recently produced a set of original arts and would like to seek all the opinions of you veterans on the flaws of it and how I could improve further. Could I do that?”

Ruan Guangjian had an extremely polite tone.

Even though he was confident in his own skills, he was a junior at the end of the day and he had to be humble when there was a need for it.

The group wasn’t particularly active and most of the big shots were mindful of conversing or advertising overly.

As such, Ruan Guangjian’s message was not pushed up right away and it lingered in the group chat for some time.

After two minutes, someone called Painter Old Liu replied, “Sure, send it over.”

Ruan Guangjian posted some of his works that he was particularly fond of in it. “Thank you for your esteemed guidance, veteran!”

Painter Old Liu: “Don’t worry about it, we’re all in the same trade. Interaction helps us to grow together. I’ve only entered the trade a couple of years before you.”

A few minutes later.

Painter Old Liu: “!!!”

“… I take back what I said earlier, you’re the veteran! Those shadows, that style, the details! Are you sure you’re really only a fourth year student?”

Before long, the other lurkers were lured out by these images.

“Yet another veteran who’s pretending to be a rookie? This guy’s calling himself a rookie with such skilled techniques? If you’re a rookie, what am I?!”

“His foundation is so solid!”

“The presentation style is really unique! That dragon is Guan Yu? Even though the style seems really overhauled, it doesn’t come across as glaring and it’s really natural!”

“This is a really epic feeling! Be it the character or the background, everything looks so grand!”

“Are all rookies so monstrous?!”

“I can’t even give any opinions in terms of technique for an original art of this level. This is just gifted!”

“This gave me the feeling of an overseas veteran’s art! Even Fantasy World’s original arts aren’t as stellar as these!”

“Well, it’s not exactly perfect. There’s still room for improvement in certain details… but of course, it’s more than enough to win me in a fight…”

The few images that were sent had caused the entire group to explode!

Since these were all professionals, it was only natural that they could spot the merits that laymen would not be able to.

Most people would only look out for whether it resembled anything or how specific it was. At best, they were constrained to their own subjective point of view.

However, professionals would instead spot the shadows, details and style of the art…

In other words, for laymen, they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between two similar pieces of art. However, professionals would be able to spot the skill level of the artists right away.

Right now, the art that Ruan Guangjian had sent was at a peak level according to these veterans of the industry!

“Amazing! The main point is about imagination!”

“One must possess a bold imagination in order to create something out of a framework that has already bypassed traditional characters while one must also possess an extremely skillful foundation along with innate talent in order to turn that imagination into a concrete image.”

“If this original art could be made into a game, that would be amazing!”

The person who had sent that message was none other than the owner of the group chat and renowned concept artist in the domestic games circle – Chen Qi.

He paused for a moment before asking, “Friend, when did you enter the group? I don’t seem to recall…”

Ruan Guangjian’s mouth twitched – indeed, Chen Qi had forgotten about him.

After all, he was pulled into the group by chance a year ago and he had not sent any messages since then. Given that there were quite a number of people who were added after, Chen Qi had long forgotten about Ruan Guangjian.

However, that did not matter. To an artist, the most important thing was for his work to speak in his place!

The moment these images were sent out, everyone in the group now knew of this talented rookie artist, Ruan Guangjian!

“Brother, would you consider joining my company after you graduate? I’ll definitely give you a higher pay and better benefits than the national average!”

“You should come to my side! You’ll get further with us since we have many games projects and higher bonuses!”

People in the group were starting to scout him out!

Naturally, Ruan Guangjian was elated. The fact that his work was recognized by veterans of the industry was something he should be overjoyed about!

In truth, he wasn’t exactly confident about whether or not his creative style would be recognized or popular before this set of original arts were produced.

This was the same for similar fields – no one could predict whether or not a book or movie would be popular before they were released.

It was even more so for something such as original arts where its beauty definition was subjective.

Yet, the feedback from these veterans had affirmed Ruan Guangjian of his skills!

However, he had not forgotten what his intention of being here was.

“Actually, these original arts were created for a game, Ghost General.”

Ruan Guangjian continued typing. “But, there’s some issues with the game right now and that’s the reason why I wanted to come seek you guys for help.”

Chen Qi: “What’s wrong?”

Ruan Guangjian: “Sigh. This game was created by a small company with a heart. They don’t have much money and spent all of it on the game’s quality. In the end, they didn’t even manage to save up any advertising budget!”

“Therefore, I hope that all of you veterans could help to promote this game. Perhaps just a casual share on Weibo will do!”

Chen Qi: “Just sharing on Weibo? Sure thing, that’s easy. What’s the name of the game and the company that produced it?”

Ruan Guangjian: “Ghost General. It’s created by Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd.”

“Tengda? Tengda… why does it sound so familiar?” Chen Qi was curious.