From: owner-scribes@castle.org (scribes digest) To: scribes-digest@castle.org Subject: scribes digest V4 #91 Reply-To: Sender: owner-scribes@castle.org Errors-To: owner-scribes@castle.org Precedence: bulk scribes digest Saturday, November 25 2000 Volume 04 : Number 091 ======================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list, send email to with unsubscribe scribes-digets in the body of the message. Leave the subject line blank. Do not include any additional text. [scribes]: Preparing for Competition [scribes]: In this month's "Smithsonian" magazine ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000 12:55:04 -0500 From: Randy Asplund Subject: [scribes]: Preparing for Competition Lady Portia et al, I cannot answer your question specifically since I live in the Middle Kingdom and it is probably different. Nevertheless, there are a few things which I can pass along. Out here we like things to look as much like an artifact as possible, but not one which we have seen before. In other words, creativity is encouraged over direct copying. I find it easier to go through the A&S criteria and discover all of the ways points are awarded, and then plan on how to satisfy as many of those points as possible. Sometimes you can get a point or two from explaining a reasonable justification for substituting a modern material for a medieval one, for example, explaining that you used Titanium white instead of lead white because it is safer and it has very similar qualities. Documentation is the key to doing well in a competition. I strongly suggest that you plan the documentation points BEFORE you actually make the art. Many people do worse at the competition than was necessary because they make the art first, and write the documentation second. Then they discover that they can't document something, but there was a similar option that they could have documented if they had only thought of it before doing the painting. The other key to documentation is brevity and assumption of ignorance. I strongly recommend that you write your criteria for someone who knows nothing about what you made and has a low attention span. That may sound harsh, but I have seen people write huge stacks of documentation, only to have judges mark them down because the judge didn't understand the truth of the art and didn't have the patience to read through the whole documentation. And why should they? It isn't their job to have to hunt for your points! It is the entrant's job to provide the points so they can be quickly found. It is common for this to happen because often times judges have to go through a lot of entries and it takes a lot of time. Sometimes there is so much to read that the judge just doesn't have that time. And then there are the people who decide that their documentation is just books from their collection! This is like documentation suicide because it usually isn't organized and a judge looks at a stak of books with yellow post-it notes sticking out of the top and just thinks "I don't have time to wade through all of this mess!" Also, it tells the judge that the person suspects the information is in the book, but doen't tell the judge that the entrant actually knows what that information is. So what to do? If you want to show pictures, provide print out pictures with source info written on them. Put them into your documentation so that they can be easily referenced. That way you eliminate having books out. If you have a good desktop printer it is even better to print them as illustrations in the documentation page. Above all, don't make documentation wordy. Make it short and compact. Put as much into it as possible, but lists with short descriptions and pointers to the real source can do the job efficiently. Follow this model: According to "source", "element" was done in "place" and "time". See Illustration #___. I used it for___, or I substituted ___ because ___. Please beware of this pitfall. Some people think that documentation is a chance to explain that they know what period techniques, etc. were. But then they neglect to say that they FOLLOWED those techniques. They have not documented their work sources, only documented that certain things were done by others at another time. As a judge I fel bad about giving such a person a big "0", but that's what they get. The point is to document what you have done, not what someone else has done When I judge I look for these things: Are the materials used in the art the same as would have been used in a piece from the middle ages? If not, do they look the same, are they applied the same, do they need similar techniques to work? Did the entrant use medieval technique? If they used modern tools, is the effect the same and do the modern tools work the same way? Do the reported time and place being emulated match the following: Design, layout, colors, pigments, scale, depicted content, materials, techniques used. For example, I am way more impressed if the entrant used a pinprick, drypoint stylus, and straight edge method to rule for the calligraphy than I am if they just used an Ames lettering guide and a pencil. Good luck on your entry! RanthulfR AsparlundR, OL Portia Montessori wrote: > > I have a question for some of the more > experienced scribes on this list. > > My sisters and I are considering boldly entering > the scary world of A&S Competition, and would > like any advice that might be available. > > I've been entering A&S competitions for some > time now, but all of my entries have been 17th > century portraiture, not calligraphy or > illumination. In this area of competition, I'm > afraid, none of us have any experience. > > Now, I know that all of our pieces are as close > to what they did as we can get them. If we did > break with history, I know each point where we > did and exactly why we did it. However, I have no > idea of what the judges will be looking for or > why they will be looking for it. In the end, > just because we know what we're doing doesn't > mean we can convince the judges of it. > > So, from soup to nuts, can anyone describe how to > prepare for, enter, and, hopefully, excel, at an > Arts and Sciences competition? > > My Thanks in Advance, > > Portia Montessori, > AEthelmearc > > > ===== > "Dance like nobody's watching, > Love like you can't be hurt, > Sing like nobody's listening, > Live like it's heaven on earth." > -William Purdy > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. > http://shopping.yahoo.com/ > =================================================================== > To unsubscribe from this list, send email to > with a blank Subject: line and > unsubscribe scribes > in the body of the message. Do not include any additional text in > the body. - -- Randy Asplund (734) 663-0954 Science Fiction and Fantasy Illustration 2101 S. Circle Dr., Ann Arbor, MI. 48103 See a Universe of art ranging from Medieval Manuscripts to Star Trek and Magic: The Gathering at: http://www.provide.net/~randyaf =================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list, send email to with a blank Subject: line and unsubscribe scribes in the body of the message. Do not include any additional text in the body. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000 13:58:46 -0500 From: "Sally Burnell" Subject: [scribes]: In this month's "Smithsonian" magazine Be sure to check out this month's issue of "Smithsonian Magazine". On page 79 there is an article about the St. John's Bible which is currently being hand illuminated and calligraphed by Donald Jackson, Scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Crown Office at the House of Lords. You can read an abstract of the article online at: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ or visit your local public library to read their copy if they receive it. This is certainly something worth reading about for us scribal types and if you can pick up a copy of this month's issue at your local newstand, I urge you to do so! Enjoy! Saradwen Midrealm =================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list, send email to with a blank Subject: line and unsubscribe scribes in the body of the message. Do not include any additional text in the body. ------------------------------ End of scribes digest V4 #91 ****************************