3

Renn starts out as a painter apprentice. It's during these years that he starts to realize his abilities. In fact one sign is that he is trying to get the right shade of green for eyes in a portrait, that is called Imager's Green because only Imagers can make it, and suddenly the portrait has the right color. Later on he paints portraits of the Masters and even draws quick sketches of suspects when he is a patroller. The portraits take weeks or months to finish. So why doesn't he just Image the portraits?

He is shown to be a very strong and talented Imager, in later books it's shown how strong, but he never once seems to grasp that he could just Image a painting. Following the rules of the book it wouldn't even be taxing if he laid out all of the supplies the same as if he was painting it himself.

1
  • I'd guess it's because he paints for a hobby, not to have paintings :)
    – Tacroy
    May 9, 2012 at 18:16

3 Answers 3

2

Good question.

As you mentioned, he uses it for small, specific adjustments to his paintings.

Don't forget that imaging does create from nothing, it takes from the surrounding environment and uses those substances. Changing the tint of a small amount of paint requires trivial matter and effort - trying to image an entire painting at once would be difficult:

  1. Details - it would be extremely difficult to hold every detail of a complicated painting in your mind at once - it would probably turn out blurry and undetailed. When imagers first try to image coins, the coins often come out "dodgy"
  2. Effort - different substances and size of imaging take more effort - sometimes exponentially. One imager states that he was sick in bed for a week and nearly died after imaging a single gold coin.
  3. Materials - the materials for the painting would still need to come from somewhere in the surrounding environment. He would still need to setup the components before he could image the painting.

Also, the idea of him being a portraitist is possibly perceived as a partial cover for his real position within the college.

But most importantly, I think he just enjoys doing it.

1
  • Good points. I also stated that if he set up his materials it would be less taxing. Like when he made metal powder before making rods. May 11, 2012 at 17:43
1

At one point (in the first book, I think) Dichartyn asked Renn if it would be wrong to image a copy of another's painted work and he replies that it wouldn't be possible since there is too much detail in a painting. Dichartyn is trying to get Renn to see that there is value in what is rare - because it is rare. Even so, Renn missed that point and zeroed in on the technical impossibility of imaging a good painting with all its many elements.

1
  • Good point. I'm reading Imager's Battalion now and the author gets into the actual mechanics of how detail matters a little better but in the first series Imaging seemed to me like a photo projection technique where if you have the skill to notice or were trained as an artisan in the same field then you could reproduce it. Also growing up in a world of instant photos it's hard for me not to see it as easy but in a world of portrait artists it would be a stunning and detailed task. Apr 29, 2013 at 16:47
0

He could perhaps image a portrait, even if it took several sessions doing small portions--but why bother? He's not doing portraits for the money (he's no longer a guild member, so cannot charge for any portrait), but because he enjoys the work--it's a skill he spent nearly 10 years learning--and it does seem to help him develop his ability to observe and analyze closely for imaging.

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.