Chapter 4: AI is good at drawing?(2)

A painting by artificial intelligence, rendered through a human body.

Before evaluating its quality, there’s an obvious premise.

Groomloc isn’t a painter so unskilled that he’d exclaim “Amazing new technology!” at just any painting.

Of course, Groomloc doesn’t know how Clicker works.

Chloe calls it demonic arts, but there’s no reason for Groomloc, who doesn’t understand the principles of generative AI, to feel aversion or wariness.

However, just now, when he saw Chloe’s sketches scattered on the floor.

‘Clumsy.’

Groomloc’s aesthetic eye had already discerned their level and limitations.

Superficially beautiful, but that’s it.

These drawings lacked any aesthetic sense.

Again, if these were his apprentice’s drawings, even the gentle Groomloc would have given her a barrage of head flicks.
Demanding to know who taught her to insult art like that.

However.

Groomloc didn’t scold Chloe.

Instead, his hands trembled with anticipation.

“I’ll begin.”

Swoosh-!

Chloe started by wielding the brush boldly.
Spreading the roughly applied paint across the canvas.

‘What is she doing?’

Jiksli, who stood by silently, was puzzled.

Underpainting?
No, it was too haphazard for that.

Moreover, Chloe went beyond using the brush, applying paint directly with her fingers.

‘…Is she playing around?’

Not an accusation.

Not anger.

Pure, literal curiosity.

To Jiksli, Chloe’s brushstrokes looked like nothing more than a child’s play.

That’s why.

Jiksli was a step too late to realize the answer.

‘…No, wait. Could it be?’

Barely a minute after Chloe picked up the brush.

A scene was emerging on the canvas.

Vividly, as if coloring a finished sketch.

‘Did she already envision the outline of the painting?!’

With the lively expression gone from her face.

Chloe moved like a puppet, dancing with the paint.

Joy. Hesitation. Fatigue. Pleasure. Irritation.

The humanity that dominates a painter, that seeps into the painting.

The errors inherent in any living being.

All of that was eliminated in this quantified dance.

Brushstroke after brushstroke, with no wasted movement.

A doll-like, expressionless face.

An ominous aura emanating from her tightly closed lips.

Groomloc and Jiksli were overwhelmed by her presence.

Because Chloe’s hands were so precise and fast?

Wrong.

That’s a superficial observation a beginner might make.

“It’s not her hands that are amazing….”

“…It’s her eyes, right?”

Painters say,

That painting isn’t done with the hands.
It’s done with the eyes.

‘Just like a composer creates music with their inner ear and merely transcribes it with their hands.’

Just as music is for the ears, painting is for the eyes.

In other words, a painter with fast brushstrokes doesn’t have fast hands.
They have good eyes.

‘When you reach the level of painting with your eyes, all you have to do is transfer the finished image in your head onto the canvas.’

It’s like solving a problem with the answer sheet in front of you.

That’s why tracing is much easier than copying.

‘But… that’s usually just empty talk.’

It was so theoretical that even Groomloc couldn’t do it.

The more effort put into a painting, the more preparation is needed.

It takes effort.

It demands time.

That’s why.

Painters invent and practice all sorts of techniques.

Techniques like rough sketches and studies.
They are all techniques ‘to preview the finished painting.’

A painter’s magic to compensate for their lacking eyes.

A preliminary skirmish to explore how their painting will turn out.

However.

‘Chloe’s brushstrokes… lack any such effort.’

Steadily, without any technique,
she simply paints.

And in doing so, she reaches her own completion.

‘She sees the world differently. Completely different from us!’

That’s why she’s so fast.

That’s why she’s so unwavering.

Jiksli was astonished.

Even frightened.

Because Chloe’s working method was a repetition of all the classic mistakes beginners make.

Completing the painting from the corners.
Wasting paint carelessly.

Over-wetting the brush by changing colors too frequently.

And yet.

No, while doing so.

“I’m finished.”

That speed and vision visited them with a strange elegance.

Accompanied by an almost cosmic thrill.

The finished painting was a portrait of a goblin.

The reinterpretation of the style was so bold that it took a moment to recognize, but it seemed Chloe had painted Jiksli.

The subject instinctively applauded.

Because Jiksli now understood.

“A-Amazing! Chloe, you truly are a genius!”

Why her master lent his art supplies to this child.

The fact that Chloe was undeniably a genius.

Jealousy towards the genius girl?

‘Impossible.’

Even inferiority fades before true talent.
That’s what Jiksli thought.

There’s no martial artist who would try to compete with a meteor in a punching contest.

Being jealous and frustrated with a natural disaster is something only the world’s biggest fools would do.

Goblins don’t do that.

Jiksli, a pure-blooded goblin, wouldn’t be wrong.

However.

“No. I still don’t think it’s very good.”

Jiksli felt like giving her a head flick for her humility.

Several, in fact.

“…Not good? What’s wrong with it?”

The brushstrokes were admittedly crude.

But that’s only natural.

It can’t be helped if it’s not delicate when painted so quickly.

Or is it goblin discrimination?

A roundabout way of saying the model was ugly and ruined the painting.

Fortunately, Chloe avoided a preemptive head flick by shaking her head coyly.

“I could have expressed it better with a musical instrument.”

“A musical instrument…?”

Jiksli suddenly remembered.
That this child didn’t come here to learn painting.

“Yes. I learned music properly back home! I think I’m more suited to music than painting!”

This statement was Chloe’s small act of resistance,or rebellion.

Because she didn’t want to become an overpowered protagonist hiding her strength with AI art in a medieval setting.

‘If I did that, the title of the novel would have to be changed to “Clicker Hides its Conscience,” right?’

Well, it does sound more like a modern webnovel than the original title, which was something about a stargazing magician.
Chloe chuckled inwardly.

Was she confident that she was as good at music as she was at AI painting?

‘Of course.’

For once, Chloe wasn’t burdened by guilt.
After all, when it came to playing musical instruments, it was 100% Chloe’s skill.

Whether she was praised or criticized, she wouldn’t feel guilty!

‘They won’t tell me to just go draw if I’m bad at playing, right?’

[If anything happens, I’ll play for you! 😎]

Yeah, yeah, just go draw.

And so what if she gets criticized a bit?
If it’s about skill, she can just say, ‘Your ears are just uncultured.’

Accusations of mental gymnastics are absurd.

As proven by unfortunate artists like Van Gogh, artistry isn’t something you can rank.
No one can accurately measure its superiority or inferiority.

However.

That’s something only the person involved can say.

Jiksli looked at the canvas in bewilderment.

“Suited? Musical instrument? Better than this?”

Her usual sophisticated vocabulary regressed to the average goblin level, but what could she do?

She felt like she had been hit in the back of the head with an organ.

‘She learned how to play music properly?’

Then what about painting?

“…Chloe, you didn’t learn painting?”

“That’s right! I didn’t learn!”

It was a conversation that even lowered the intelligence of the listening orc.

Groomloc wisely ignored it, and Jiksli’s mouth opened and closed.

‘This good without ever properly learning?’

And she’s even better at music than painting?

So she wants to be a musician instead of a painter?

‘Is this even possible? She’s only 8!’

Retract the statement.

Retract and retract again.

Jiksli was jealous of the natural disaster.

“Human bad!! Bite!!”

“Kyaaaak?!”

Goblin and human rolled across the attic room together.

Once again, art transcended race and class, uniting people.

Groomloc, oblivious, focused on the painting.

‘As expected, the overall level of completion is low.’

It probably wouldn’t sell for the same price as the other paintings.

Most likely, it would receive a fair amount of criticism.

However.

‘What if it’s revealed that this is Chloe’s work?’

A work by an 8-year-old genius girl who never learned art!

Groomloc’s heart throbbed at that title.

Let me repeat.

A work by an 8-year-old genius girl
who never learned art!

If that’s the case, the evaluation changes drastically.

‘From that moment on, this painting isn’t wrong.’

It’s not wrong.

It’s different.

Unique.

New.

‘In other words, a new paradigm!’

A child’s (not really) world expressed through a unique perspective.

A pure painting, untouched by the ‘stain’ of tradition.

Isn’t this the ‘childlike innocence’ that countless masters dream of recreating throughout their lives!

(No.)

Groomloc clenched his fist, reaffirming his belief.

That he was standing at a crossroads in history.

‘Chloe will bring a storm to the art world.’

And in that storm, the painters will have to choose.

Whether to stand firm like a giant tree and weather the storm.

Or to ride the new wind and soar.

Because a new world only arrives by destroying the order and traditions of the old world.

Strangely enough, Groomloc’s impression was similar to that of painters on Earth.

Pre-modern Earth.

Just as the new technology of photography pushed painting into the realm of pure art.

And just as AI technology ushered in a new era for 21st-century artists.

In the end, Clicker’s painting wasn’t highly regarded in and of itself.

Meaning, if Chloe were an adult, it would have been ignored.

One could say Chloe underestimated the artists of this world.

‘…Hmm? No, wait.’

But Groomloc’s satisfaction ended there.
He looked at Chloe, who had elbowed Jiksli in the jaw and subdued her with an armbar.

Chloe is undoubtedly an artistic genius.
Regardless of the direction of her talent.

But she’s also just an apprentice.

An apprentice’s role is to assist other painters.

To put it bluntly, a servant.

That means Chloe, like everyone else, must sincerely help her seniors!

Groomloc felt dizzy.

‘Such a genius… serving others?’

And serving painters less skilled than her?

‘…Can she endure it?’

Most likely, she can’t.

At least, the geniuses Groomloc knew couldn’t.

‘A genius’s talent and pride cause conflict.’

A genius’s arrogance and contempt.
A mediocre person’s jealousy and frustration.

The seeds of discord that inevitably follow the path of art!

This isn’t something Groomloc can resolve with his efforts.

Favoritism from the workshop chief would only backfire.

What should he do!

Groomloc tossed and turned that night, consumed by anxiety.

The next day.

“Chloe, can you do the underpainting here~?”

“Yes! I’m on my way~!”

Groomloc’s atelier was about three times more lively than usual.

“What.”

“What the.”

The atelier, transformed like a new house.
The greenskin master and apprentice gaped.

Then, a silver squirrel came running.
It was Chloe, her face covered in dust and paint.

“Good morning, Teachers!”

“G-Good morning. You’re early.”

“I’m an apprentice. Have a good day, Teachers, and please call me if you need anything!”

“S-Sure.”

A cheerful bow, her tiny fists clenched.
And then, the sight of her diligently tackling the chores that the apprentices were terribly clumsy at or hated!

Groomloc was struck by a sudden epiphany.

“Huh… As expected, cuteness is the best!”

Well, who could hate her?

She’s so diligent and cute.

Whether Jiksli was shocked by his mutterings or not, Groomloc nodded in agreement.