So who is this Stam anyway?

The *other* art commission

I didn't tell either artist...

But I asked two different artists to draw the same character.

Here's what the second artist came up with.

She said her procedure was to first send me a sketch, then later the fully completed version after I gave her my comments on what I'd like changed. I also passed on to her a few easily-found insignia of the three deities Katla followed - Selune, Sune and Lathander.

(I did note that I'd asked two different female artists to draw my female character. But that only makes perfect sense, doesn't it?)

The line-art that I was first sent - somehow, the sketching part ended up getting skipped! I asked her to make some changes to the ears, remove the gloves and to ensure that she was muscled.

I hadn't noticed this until it was colored, but there were two problems with this (and I had a bit of a time-lag noticing the second). First, the elbow looked to be in the wrong place. Second, the insignia on her tunic was slightly off the description I'd given her, with Sune and Selune's symbols being in the wrong places.

And the finished product!

And, of course, credit where it's due to Ruina, who can be contacted via her Deviantart profile.

Posted by adam at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)

Art Commission and progression

I've finally created a character I liked so completely enough (despite some weaknesses at her created level and current level) to ask for an artist I know to do a commission.

And she's good.

(Warning, image-intensive.)

The character is one Katla Arneson, a female half-elven monk, weaponsmith and minor arcanist (wizard).

Here's the description I gave Raina:

Standing just under 5'5, Katla Arneson is a half-elven woman of thirty-three years. She has her elven father’s gold-flecked blue eyes. Her long hair has a bit too much brown in it to match her her mother's rich, Sunite-red shade. Katla keeps her hair under control in a tight braid; exposed hair in a forge is a very bad thing for a woman, regardless of what a dwarf will tell you about how many times he's singed his beard. The pulled-back hair exposes her pointed ears for anyone who wants to double-check her bloodline. Her face is pretty in a plain kind of way. Katla has no obvious facial flaws, but is no striking beauty like her mother. Her body, too, reflects the same. While she’s properly proportioned and in very fit condition, her build is not close enough to the slender look that most (or many) prefer. Katla's physique is somewhat short and stocky for her race. Time spent before a forge has toughened her muscles, yet her muscles are layered in compact, modest (dare I say, feminine?) packets instead of showing overtly. Palm, knuckles and edge of her hands are calloused from time spent at the forge and more time spent practicing the unarmed attack forms.

Now that the weather has improved, she wears a simple sleeveless close-fitting robe in the warm colors of her order: a not-quite-bright yellow edged in orange. Falling just to knee-length, a sturdy leather belt cinches it at the waist on which she also hangs her spell component pouches and (while she's working) tools. Just over her heart, the symbol of a trio of deities - Selune, Sune and Lathander - are embroidered, with Selune's Stars-around-eyes closest to the right, Sune's flame-haired woman next to it on the left, and Lathander's sunburst below them.

Also at her belt is a small pouch full of razor-edged shuriken and what looks to be a smaller version of a scythe. The kama's blade shows its craftsmanship, with fold-ripples in a crescent pattern and a slight bluish hue to the metal.
Katla also wears a pair of newly-created silver bracelets. Made of beaten metal, the pair of simple ornaments were brushed down until they almost glow with a nice silvery shine. Very apt for a Selunite.

Here's the sketch Raina sent me...hmm...I think it was a week later?

That was swiftly followed by this pair. She was playing around with a new book on character art and its accompanying tools (without any hint of complaint from me, I might add).

For those of you interested in commissioning her considerable skill for your own characters...Raina can be reached here on Deviantart.

Shabbos: Chapter 1, Mishnah 6

The scholars from the House of Shammai continue to add specific cases (or examples) of non-involving tasks that take considerable time. Even though you do not have to be present and actively involved in them, the House of Shammai forbade beginning them too close to Shabbos unless there was enough time for them to be completed.

(See previous post for their reasoning.)

The House of Hillel permitted them, so long as you started the task before Shabbos (nightfall on Friday eve).

The examples given:putting bundles of flax into an oven (apparently to whiten them?), putting wool into dye and setting traps for wild animals (birds, fish and game).

Shabbos: Chapter 1, Mishnah 5

The first of the four rulings:

The House of Shammi ruled that, on Friday, one should not begin soaking ingredients for ink or dye, or begin soaking animal feed, unless there was enough time left before nightfall to complete the preparation.

(They felt that a person should not have his utensils doing work for them on Shabbos that the person would not be allowed to begin on Shabbos. Hence, they shouldn't even begin a process that didn't require their supervision or interference unless there was enough time left for it to finish before Shabbos.)

The House of Hillel didn't agree and permitted this.

Something that's interesting to note here: I don't think we actually rule like the House of Shammai in this case, despite the preface I put in. Because I know for certain that you're allowed to hang out washing on the line late on Friday, even though it'll continue drying on Shabbos...

Hmm.

Shabbos: Chapter 1, Mishnah 4

This Mishnah is more an introduction to the next...one, two...four.

It tells a story of one occasion when quite a few sages went to visit a sick colleague. Finding that there were quite a few sages present, they sat down to an impromptu Torah-gathering and started discussing laws that they had been deliberating.

Scholars from the House of Shammai, which were normally in the minority, found that at this particular gathering they formed the majority - and took advantage of that to establish several laws according to their opinion. Those laws follow in the next four Mishnayos (plural of Mishnah), as I mentioned above.

Continue for a pair of side points - well, more detailed explanations, really.

(Side point - The House of Hillel and the House of Shammai:

Hillel and Shammai were colleagues and co-leaders of their generation. Each had a very different nature; while both were incredibly studious, Shammai's innate nature was strict/diligent and Hillel's was more open/accepting.

Due to their natures, Shammai attracted only the sharpest and brightest scholars among the nation, while Hillel attracted any who truly had a desire to learn. Hillel accepted anyone who truly desired to learn, with there being a couple of well-known and quoted stories in the Talmud of prospective converts who came to each with...odd...prerequisites to their conversion.

The scholars of the House of Shammai were acknowledged as the smarter, but the scholars of the House of Hillel were more numerous. So to this day, the vast majority of laws follow the House of Hillel's opinion.)

(Side point - Establishing law in Judaism:

In short, it's done based on the majority vote of a court of sages. As each sage may understand the laws and their reasoning/sources different from each other, much discussion takes place before a majority consensus is reached. But once the law has been decided, it's done. Courts of lesser standing cannot dispute or revoke that law (or judgement, if it was a specific ruling); only the original court or one considered greater can change it.)

Put those together, you'll understand how the House of Shammai slipped those laws under the rug. They weren't revoked, either; they stand.

Shabbos: Chapter 1, Mishnah 3

Mishnah 3 continues with the theme from Mishnah 2 - staying away from things which may bring you to transgress by forgetfulness.

Professionals should not leave with their tools close to Friday afternoon. If they do, they may find themselves still carrying those tools at sunset, when Shabbos comes in. The examples given are a tailor and his needles (even if he sticks them into his coat) or a scribe and his quill (stuck behind his ear).

Mishnah 3 adds one more in this category; a person should not check his clothes for unpleasant little bugs late on Friday. (Removing an unwanted substance from a desired substance is another of the 39 prohibitions on Shabbos.)

Then it moves on to Shabbos itself while still retaining the general theme: a person should not read alone by the light of a candle on Shabbos. The candle may begin flickering annoyingly or dim, causing the reader to unthinkingly adjust the wick or (with an oil lamp) increase the flow of oil. Either action transgresses the prohibition of igniting/burning (also one of the 39).

Shabbos: Chapter 1, Mishnah 2

This Mishnah speaks about things that one should not do on Friday afternoon, close to sunset - but commentators note that this applies also to weekdays, for a very similar reason.

Simply put and condensed, one should not enter into any (possibly lengthy) time-consuming activity close to Shabbos. The examples given include visiting a barber, a bathhouse, one's place of business (maybe you'll find a possible impending loss of profit and try to fix it), sitting down for a full meal or sitting down to judge a courtcase.
Because if you do begin these things - even if there's theoretically enough time for you to finish - things might go awry and when Shabbos comes in you'll find yourself still embroiled in the middle of it.

However, if you began one of these (or similar) without realizing how little time you had left, you don't have to stop in the middle. (No needing to walk around for a day with only half your hair cut.)

The Mishnah, having mentioned interruption, then digresses-

(Side-note. Digression is something both the Mishnah and the Talmud do. Often extensively.)

-to say that if two Torah-scholars are learning, they must stop in the morning to say the Shema prayer. But they do not have to stop their learning to say the Amidah (the silent standing prayer).

Mishnah Series

(For those who don't know what Mishnah is, see Wikipedia's reference on the word Mishnah. Caution, lots of detail.)

Although I've got a blog entry in the making, it's rather long and will take me quite a bit more time to complete. So while you're all waiting, I don't want this space to go empty.

I've also decided that I need to get some daily study done and this probably isn't a bad place to stick up notes on progression. I'm going to try to stick with this through the tractate of Mo'ed (translation, Festivals), or through as much of it as I get. There are lots and lots of details and lots and lots of laws...

Got a question on something I put up, or a request for more detail? Just post a comment!

And so - Mishnah 1 of the first chapter of Shabbos:

One of the 39 prohibited forms of work (commonly known by the Hebrew 'Melocho') on Shabbos is carrying from a public domain to a private domain (or vice versa). Transferring from one domain to another, in effect.

This Mishnah talks about two ways that the Torah-prohibition (distinct from the Rabbinic-prohibition, which is mentioned next) can be violated by someone standing outside the house and two ways by someone standing inside the house. The Mishnah refers to the person outside as a pauper and the person inside as the home-owner; the object(s) being passed are most likely food and/or utensils.

If the pauper sticks his hand in the window and takes the food from the home-owner's hands, or returns the empty utensils through the window into the home-owner's hands, he has transgressed this Torah-prohibition.
The home-owner has not done the prohibition...but (depending on circumstances) he may be considered to have 'set a stumbling-block before the blind' by giving the food in such a manner or allowing the pauper to return the items in such a manner.

If the home-owner sticks his hands outside and places the food into the pauper's hands, or reaches out the window and takes the empty utensils from the pauper's hands, he has transgressed this Torah-prohibition.
Again, the pauper has not done the prohibition - but again, may (depending on circumstances) be liable for a different problem, that of causing the home-owner to transgress.

Breakdown: In order to transgress this prohibition of transfer-of-domain, one has to pick up the article from one domain (private or public) and place it down in the other domain. In the above cases, both of these actions were done by the one person - and so that one person has transgressed the prohibition, while the other has not.

If half of the action (the picking up) would be done by one party and the other party would complete the tranfer (the placing down), then neither party would be considered to have transgressed by Torah law. However, to prevent such obvious circumvention of the law (breaking of the 'spirit' of Shabbos), there was a Rabbinical-prohibition placed on such partial transfers as well.

And - first Mishnah done. See you tomorrow!