After dinner, Chihaya Higashino wanted to watch some TV programs before going to bed, so she stayed in the living room.

Higashinoji returned to his room, meditating in front of a table of comic tools.

Thanks to the system's "art talent in your previous life, you can quickly master any painting and painting-related techniques." Higashino bought many comics tools and quickly got started.

Shadows are cut out with specific dot paper and a utility knife. Many professional cartoonists do not draw shadows and directly paste them on dot paper, which is convenient and beautiful.

For curves, there is a curve board, and the main drawing is with a G pen dipped in water - the kind used by professional cartoonists.

This G pen tip has complex and changeable strokes, and the lines drawn are very expressive.

But—

This thing is really difficult to use.

Higashino thought of the time when he just used the G pen tip.

This thing either bifurcated and cracked directly in the middle, or because the pen tip was so sharp, it directly made a mark on the comic original paper.

Higashinoji almost devoured this thing alive.

But this is life, and no profession is easy. Even if he has the talent and foundation of painting, it took Higashino a week to master the use of the G pen tip - it's not like he is invincible with the system.

As for the others?

Everything else is pretty good.

Comic tools are cheaper than professional drawing tools. A set of 20 pieces of comic manuscript paper only costs 1,000 yen. Higashino bought ten sets and kept them at home. When he practiced using the G pen, he spent one set of manuscript paper.

The G pen will not be worn out after you use it skillfully.

"let's start."

Higashinoji picked up the G pen and started working on the smooth manuscript paper.

What he drew was the manuscript for the second episode of "The Ring", and it is actually more than half completed now.

The second episode is different from the first episode of "The Ring" in that it introduces the cause of Tomoko's death, and then introduces the heroine Reiko Asakawa and the cursed video tape.

The total length is 21 pages, which is the standard number of pages for serial comics.

This can be regarded as an unwritten rule of comic serialization.

The first serialized chapter of the Japanese manga has about forty pages.

This may sound like a lot, but in fact it is not, because in the first chapter you need to explain the world view, explain the plot, and show the interesting points of your comic. Over forty pages can only be said to be neither good nor bad. It just so happens that

enough...

For example, the first chapter of Higashinoji's "Midnight Ring" lasts forty-eight pages, which is just right.

But some new authors draw more than a hundred pages for the first time they draw comics.

This kind of author is called a self-feeling type of author, which is similar to those Internet article authors who feel that they can write "Lord of the Mystery" when they write an Internet article for the first time.

For this kind of author, the answer given by the publishing house is basically - if you can draw, it is recommended to publish a book yourself.

There is no way, a weekly magazine only has more than 400 pages, and a large issue only has more than 500 pages.

No comic can be so impressive, with one chapter occupying a quarter of the magazine's page.

Even if your work is really excellent, it still needs to be chopped into more than 40 pages.

The manuscript for the second episode that was later sent to the publishing house was roughly in the range of seventeen to twenty manuscripts.

Higashinoji once again used his empathic painting skills.

During the use of the skill, he could clearly feel that he had become Reiko Asakawa in the painting.

When he drew the twisted and horrified death scenes of the comic characters, Tonoji also felt a chill on his back.

This skill is really weird.

The pen in his hand seemed to have some inexplicable magic power, pulling Higashinoji into the weird and terrifying world of "The Ring".

During the trance, Higashinoji could even hear his own heartbeat...

No...it's not a heartbeat, but——

There was a rapid ringing of the phone!

Higashikata raised his head.

A pair of cold, scarlet eyes were staring at him.

Seeing this, Higashinoji just put down the pen in his hand, glanced sideways, showing a sense of calmness, and then made a sound like chasing away bed bugs: "Go, go."

The cold scarlet eyes spread out like clouds.

Higashikata suddenly came to his senses.

On the desktop is page 19 of the original manuscript of "The Ring".

One page takes 90 minutes.

The dying figure of the supporting character in the picture is looking here in a ferocious and terrifying way... his malicious eyes seem to be able to project into reality.

"One and a half hours per page." Higashino held his chin.

This is considered a relatively standard length of time.

The kind of monster in a novel who draws thirty or forty pages in an afternoon...

To be honest, it is not possible in real life.

After all, just use a utility knife to cut a grid paper, and it only takes ten or twenty minutes to keep improving.

"Let's find a chance to draw the rest tomorrow."

Tonoji yawned.

There were too many things to deal with today, and he was not an iron man, so he was naturally tired.

Tomorrow I will meet with the editor of Urashima Publishing House, and if I am not mistaken, we will discuss the serialization of "The Ring".

After all, if you are shot dead by the publishing house, they will not call you specifically to notify you, nor will they ask for a meeting.

At most, when replying to the letter, he mentioned vaguely in the letter, "Your comics are very good, but they are still a little short of being published in our magazine."

And it’s just this ‘little bit’ that has killed so many comic book authors.

But Higashikata didn't panic at all.

He has always been very confident, firstly in his painting skills, and secondly in the script of "The Ring".

As for the hallucination he just saw...

He had seen that thing a long time ago.

It seems to be the effect of using the skill of ‘Empathy’.

Higashinoji felt that some specific people would have the same hallucination after seeing his painting "Midnight Ring".

I wonder where those lucky ones are?

Higashikata muttered something, and then took another look at his wardrobe.

The Higashino family still had 500,000 yen before.

Putting aside the expenses of these days and the subsidy from Higashino's painting sales...

"Is there still 400,000 yen left?"

Higashikata muttered to himself.

Four hundred thousand yen is definitely not much.

The gas, water and electricity bills total 10,000 yen.

The mobile phone fee is 1,500 yen, daily travel expenses are 100,000 yen, and the national insurance fee that must be paid is 4,000 yen.

Calculating it this way...

Four hundred thousand yen cannot last two months.

This is without considering the rent.

“Those who could study abroad in those days were too rich.”

Higashino sighed, but his heart didn't waver much.

If we can reach an agreement with Urashima Publishing House tomorrow, we won't have to worry about living expenses so carefully.

He can also concentrate on preparing for the Tokyo National Youth Awards.

"However, I feel that just receiving the gold medal in the Tokyo National Youth Awards student category is not enough to speak for me."

Higashikata groaned.

Chihaya Higashino's situation is very special. Just winning the gold medal in the student category would probably only allow Ryuichi Yoshimine to make some concessions, but this concession is definitely not big...

"Sure enough, we still have to think of other ways."
Chapter completed!