Jedakk's Masterpiece

[Wragg]

I always think it looks a bit awkward nailing the feet onto an erect cross. As you say, it would be difficult to hold the feet in place and the ropes seem to me to be the only credible possibility. But once again, Jedakk, you've got that moment of helpless agony and panic. A full swing of a heavy hammer connects with the nail. Terrific!

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

Hello Jedakk,

Thank you for these captivating further scenes from your superb masterpiece "The Serpent's Eye". Some of these pics seem to be several frames away (allowing for a frame speed of 24 fps) from those stunning images of Sabina's ordeal and crucifixion you masterfully created, all that time ago. Are these images to expand your earlier work featuring Sabina et al or a separate graphic work, please?

Gratefully, Ranger.

Ok, these are not frame captures from a video, just the same scene from different angles and camera positions. Each 3D scene was created to illustrate a particular point in the story, and then I essentially moved a camera around the scene and took snapshots from various angles, looking for the most dramatic shots to use as illustrations. These are some of those that I didn't use, but nevertheless thought they were interesting.

 

[Hondoboot2]

Ok, these are not frame captures from a video, just the same scene from different angles and camera positions. Each 3D scene was created to illustrate a particular point in the story, and then I essentially moved a camera around the scene and took snapshots from various angles, looking for the most dramatic shots to use as illustrations. These are some of those that I didn't use, but nevertheless thought they were interesting.

They are more than interesting, they are fantastic, I love them. They also give me a sense of how much work went into the story.

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

I always think it looks a bit awkward nailing the feet onto an erect cross. As you say, it would be difficult to hold the feet in place and the ropes seem to me to be the only credible possibility. But once again, Jedakk, you've got that moment of helpless agony and panic. A full swing of a heavy hammer connects with the nail. Terrific!

Yes, I think it would have been very awkward trying to work under the projecting knees of a victim, particularly on a cross like this one which I made low enough for the executioners to reach when lifting up the victim by hand. And then having someone hold the feet in place by hand, bearing in mind that with the legs bent as they would be with the victim hanging, the lower legs would be close to perpendicular with the stipes. You'd have to depend on grip strength to hold against all of the strength in her legs. Doesn't look plausible to me, so for that reason and others I had them bind her feet to the cross for nailing.

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

I should also add that this is one of those things that becomes apparent when you try to create a 3D scene of this kind of action. This happened to me several times in the course of doing these illustrations; something that sounded fine when I wrote it would not work in reality.

For example, in the wrist nailing scenes the main reason the executioner's helper is straddling Sabina - and really taking a chance on catching a knee in the balls - is that when I posed him to the side, holding her wrist in place while the executioner drove the nail, he was in the way. No one would do it that way, taking a chance on being hit in the head by the hammer. The best solution was to have him straddle Sabina and I re-wrote that part of the story to reflect that.

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

Ok, maybe this is kind of a sideline, but since I mentioned how I choreographed that nailing scene let me add some further thoughts about it.

There were a couple of other ways that I could have cleared space for the executioner to work and had Sabina restrained and helpless for the nails to be driven in: One was to have them tie her hands to the patibulum prior to nailing and not have either of the executioner's helpers participating in the following scenes, where the nails are actually hammered in. I would have them remove the ropes afterward simply because I wanted to show her clearly hanging by the nails in the following scenes. I think I might use this method if I were having them crucify a man, presumably much stronger than Sabina and harder to hold down when they are fighting for their life.

A second way might have been to have them leave Sabina's shackles on her wrists and use the chains to hold her wrists where they want them. I haven't given this one much consideration, but seems like it might have been pretty clumsy.

Now another reason for having the big strong executioner's helper straddling little naked Sabina is that it looks so much like a rape scene and would certainly feel that way to a victim, completely overwhelmed and overpowered.

It was dramatic that way and another reason I had to create the scene like that. I even had Salonina, the cook who came to visit Sabina in prison, tell her how it would be:

“They might tie your hands to it, but these are very big, strong men, used to handling strong men who are fighting for their lives, so they might just hold you down. Try not to panic if one of them gets on top of you and pins your arms down. That’s bad, a helpless feeling, like you’re about to be raped, and you’ll want to struggle. Everyone does, but it’s easier for you if you don’t fight. Try to remember that when the time comes.”
​

And later, when Sabina was actually being crucified, she described being held down by the executioner's helpers:

And then I felt the rough wood of the beam behind my neck, and Ajax was on top of me, huge thighs on either side of my hips. My arms were locked in a vice-like grip, wrists pinned against the timber. I struggled to get them free, to put off what was coming, but I was completely overpowered.​

And from her domina Julia Lepida's point of view:

The one atop her had thighs as big as her waist. She might have been a child beneath his muscular body, screaming and trying to push him off of her until he and the other one seized her arms and effortlessly pinned her wrists against the patibulum. I could smell the hard, metallic scent of her fear. The executioner was already kneeling beside her, his hammer and nail ready.​

So I was happy with the dramatic way the story and graphics came together and hopefully reinforced each other.

 

[Primus pilus]

And later, when Sabina was actually being crucified, she described being held down by the executioner's helpers:

And then I felt the rough wood of the beam behind my neck, and Ajax was on top of me, huge thighs on either side of my hips. My arms were locked in a vice-like grip, wrists pinned against the timber. I struggled to get them free, to put off what was coming, but I was completely overpowered.
And from her domina Julia Lepida's point of view:

The one atop her had thighs as big as her waist. She might have been a child beneath his muscular body, screaming and trying to push him off of her until he and the other one seized her arms and effortlessly pinned her wrists against the patibulum. I could smell the hard, metallic scent of her fear. The executioner was already kneeling beside her, his hammer and nail ready.

These two descriptions and the single image match so perfectly. Both so descriptive, both so dramatic that the watcher is taken into the scene.

 

[Thessela]

And later, when Sabina was actually being crucified, she described being held down by the executioner's helpers:

And then I felt the rough wood of the beam behind my neck, and Ajax was on top of me, huge thighs on either side of my hips. My arms were locked in a vice-like grip, wrists pinned against the timber. I struggled to get them free, to put off what was coming, but I was completely overpowered.​

And from her domina Julia Lepida's point of view:

The one atop her had thighs as big as her waist. She might have been a child beneath his muscular body, screaming and trying to push him off of her until he and the other one seized her arms and effortlessly pinned her wrists against the patibulum. I could smell the hard, metallic scent of her fear. The executioner was already kneeling beside her, his hammer and nail ready.​

​

Oh Goddess these scenes are so hot!
I feel him, on top of me, pinning me, as the nails are driven home............

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

One more viewpoint of this scene was given by Balbus, the carnifex. While the other characters all see this as frightening and dramatic, he's seen it all so many times that he's past that. It's just part of business. Once he's given the order to crucify Sabina, he's busy trying to teach Gundericus, his new German slave, the fine points of carrying out a proper crucifixion. The horror and agony of what is happening, the strident screams of the victim, are somewhat of a distraction.

“It’s a public execution,” I said, almost shouting to make myself heard over all the screaming and hammering. “What matters is what the public sees and how long it lasts.” I gestured at the crowd, “These cocksuckers can’t see how much it hurts, and these crowbait on their crosses are already screaming as loud as they can, so how would they know if we made it worse? Anything we do to make the pain worse doesn’t show, it only makes these assholes die sooner.”

“Ja, but nails driven through wrists and feet, how can it hurt more or less?” Gundericus asked without looking at me. His eyes were still fixed on the spectacle of the naked slave girl writhing and screaming her lungs out as Antius hammered the nails through her wrists.​

In this picture, Balbus is the older man in the upper right corner of the scene pointing at Sabina with his stick while talking to Gundericus, the man to the left of him holding the whip. Gundericus is clearly engrossed in the sight of the naked, sweaty girl screaming and writhing in agony as the nail is being driven through her wrist, while Balbus is much more clinical.

 

[Jollyrei]

One more viewpoint of this scene was given by Balbus, the carnifex. While the other characters all see this as frightening and dramatic, he's seen it all so many times that he's past that. It's just part of business. Once he's given the order to crucify Sabina, he's busy trying to teach Gundericus, his new German slave, the fine points of carrying out a proper crucifixion. The horror and agony of what is happening, the strident screams of the victim, are somewhat of a distraction.

“It’s a public execution,” I said, almost shouting to make myself heard over all the screaming and hammering. “What matters is what the public sees and how long it lasts.” I gestured at the crowd, “These cocksuckers can’t see how much it hurts, and these crowbait on their crosses are already screaming as loud as they can, so how would they know if we made it worse? Anything we do to make the pain worse doesn’t show, it only makes these assholes die sooner.”

“Ja, but nails driven through wrists and feet, how can it hurt more or less?” Gundericus asked without looking at me. His eyes were still fixed on the spectacle of the naked slave girl writhing and screaming her lungs out as Antius hammered the nails through her wrists.​

In this picture, Balbus is the older man in the upper right corner of the scene pointing at Sabina with his stick while talking to Gundericus, the man to the left of him holding the whip. Gundericus is clearly engrossed in the sight of the naked, sweaty girl screaming and writhing in agony as the nail is being driven through her wrist, while Balbus is much more clinical.

So much detail in the picture. These are each a story in themselves. Who is the chap looking away? He's clearly not happy with this at all. I noticed him immediately since he's the only one not looking at the crucifixion, and is obviously trying to separate himself from it.

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

So much detail in the picture. These are each a story in themselves. Who is the chap looking away? He's clearly not happy with this at all. I noticed him immediately since he's the only one not looking at the crucifixion, and is obviously trying to separate himself from it.

That is Rufus, a slave in the household of Gnaeus Julius Carbo, Julia Lepida's great-uncle. When Julia Lepida insisted on attending the execution of her slave Sabina, Carbo sent Rufus along for her safety. Sabina was a slave in the same household for a couple of months. Rufus knows her, likes her, and it's breaking his heart to witness her crucifixion.

At the same time, he may feel that it's necessary for the safety of the rest of the slaves in their household. Salonina, the cook, also a slave in the same household, visited Sabina in her cell the day before and came away with a different opinion of her than she did when she came to see her:

I was angry and frightened myself now. With more time in Carbo’s domus, she might have done something even worse than attacking her Domina. This one might have got all of the slaves in the house nailed to crosses, including me. Maybe it was a good thing Sabina was going to the cross now, and by herself.
​

All of the slaves would have talked among themselves and they surely would have wanted to know everything they could about one of their own who was about to be crucified. It's likely that Rufus would have shared the view that as difficult as this was going to be to watch, it was necessary.

 

[Repertor]

Jedakk, I haven't read the story yet but I downloaded the pdf and it's in the priority section of my "to read" pile.
I do have read a lot of your "the making of" posts and I find them most interesting and inspiring.
The descriptions of your workflow, the choice of the camera angles, the details, your efforts to make the pictures match the story and vice versa... It's all so well explained.
You are a great writer, a great Poser artist and a great teacher.

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

Jedakk, I haven't read the story yet but I downloaded the pdf and it's in the priority section of my "to read" pile.
I do have read a lot of your "the making of" posts and I find them most interesting and inspiring.
The descriptions of your workflow, the choice of the camera angles, the details, your efforts to make the pictures match the story and vice versa... It's all so well explained.
You are a great writer, a great Poser artist and a great teacher.

Thanks very much, high praise!

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

In the story, Sabina narrated the nailing of her feet and there was very little break between the nailing of her right foot and then her left. After I wrote all that and had time to think about it, I realized that I'd missed the moment when Sabina is bearing all of her weight on the ropes binding her left foot, the one that hasn't been nailed yet. And she watches with horror as the executioner prepares to drive a nail through that one too.


She wants to pull her foot out of the way, protect it, but she can barely move it under the ropes that hold it in place. Once that foot is nailed, she will have nothing to support herself that is not impaled with an iron spike.

I went back later and illustrated that scene, but I never used any of the renders as illustrations in The Serpent's Eye. Earlier in the story, when Sabina was in prison on the day before her crucifixion, Salonina the cook visited her and they talked about what was going to happen to her. Salonina told her what it was going to be like and gave her the advice that Roman slaves passed on to each other about how to bear the agony and how to avoid making it worse. This is the part about nailing her feet:

“When he starts nailing the first foot,” I said, “you’ll shift to the other foot because it’s all you’ve got left. Now you’ll only get that chance for a moment, because as soon as he finishes driving that nail, he’s going to drive the last one quickly. If you’re holding yourself up with that foot when he starts to nail it, you’ll likely collapse and drop onto the nails in your wrists, and you don’t want that.”

“Because letting go and… and falling, having my wrists stop me,” Sabina said, almost whispering, “it would make the pain even worse, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, that’s the way of it. Better if you don’t make sudden moves. Bear down on the nails slowly, it won’t hurt as much that way."
​

I don't know if Roman slaves really gave each other advice like this, of course. But what else would you do if you were visiting a friend in prison who was about to be crucified?

 

[Hondoboot2]

In the story, Sabina narrated the nailing of her feet and there was very little break between the nailing of her right foot and then her left. After I wrote all that and had time to think about it, I realized that I'd missed the moment when Sabina is bearing all of her weight on the ropes binding her left foot, the one that hasn't been nailed yet. And she watches with horror as the executioner prepares to drive a nail through that one too.


She wants to pull her foot out of the way, protect it, but she can barely move it under the ropes that hold it in place. Once that foot is nailed, she will have nothing to support herself that is not impaled with an iron spike.

I went back later and illustrated that scene, but I never used any of the renders as illustrations in The Serpent's Eye. Earlier in the story, when Sabina was in prison on the day before her crucifixion, Salonina the cook visited her and they talked about what was going to happen to her. Salonina told her what it was going to be like and gave her the advice that Roman slaves passed on to each other about how to bear the agony and how to avoid making it worse. This is the part about nailing her feet:

“When he starts nailing the first foot,” I said, “you’ll shift to the other foot because it’s all you’ve got left. Now you’ll only get that chance for a moment, because as soon as he finishes driving that nail, he’s going to drive the last one quickly. If you’re holding yourself up with that foot when he starts to nail it, you’ll likely collapse and drop onto the nails in your wrists, and you don’t want that.”

“Because letting go and… and falling, having my wrists stop me,” Sabina said, almost whispering, “it would make the pain even worse, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, that’s the way of it. Better if you don’t make sudden moves. Bear down on the nails slowly, it won’t hurt as much that way."
​

I don't know if Roman slaves really gave each other advice like this, of course. But what else would you do if you were visiting a friend in prison who was about to be crucified?

Very interesting back story to the feet nailing. I just cannot imagine the pain of having each of your feet nailed separately.
These two images are beautiful. The first image I find very erotic, with her one leg straight and the other bent slightly, her stomach is pulled in, really showing her sexy waist. I just love this angle. The second image is another great angle, for obvious reasons

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

Very interesting back story to the feet nailing. I just cannot imagine the pain of having each of your feet nailed separately.
These two images are beautiful. The first image I find very erotic, with her one leg straight and the other bent slightly, her stomach is pulled in, really showing her sexy waist. I just love this angle. The second image is another great angle, for obvious reasons
View attachment 282276 View attachment 282277

It took me several tries to get those legs arranged the way I wanted and to get her body into a position where I thought it looked like she was resting her weight on her left leg. When the feet are placed that close together the only way one leg can bend while the other doesn't is to have her hips rotated around one or more axes. That's a bigger deal than it sounds like.

Yes, I included that second picture for obvious reasons too. And then there's the one with the view sort of around behind...

 

[Primus pilus]

One more viewpoint of this scene was given by Balbus, the carnifex. While the other characters all see this as frightening and dramatic, he's seen it all so many times that he's past that. It's just part of business. Once he's given the order to crucify Sabina, he's busy trying to teach Gundericus, his new German slave, the fine points of carrying out a proper crucifixion. The horror and agony of what is happening, the strident screams of the victim, are somewhat of a distraction.

“It’s a public execution,” I said, almost shouting to make myself heard over all the screaming and hammering. “What matters is what the public sees and how long it lasts.” I gestured at the crowd, “These cocksuckers can’t see how much it hurts, and these crowbait on their crosses are already screaming as loud as they can, so how would they know if we made it worse? Anything we do to make the pain worse doesn’t show, it only makes these assholes die sooner.”

“Ja, but nails driven through wrists and feet, how can it hurt more or less?” Gundericus asked without looking at me. His eyes were still fixed on the spectacle of the naked slave girl writhing and screaming her lungs out as Antius hammered the nails through her wrists.​

In this picture, Balbus is the older man in the upper right corner of the scene pointing at Sabina with his stick while talking to Gundericus, the man to the left of him holding the whip. Gundericus is clearly engrossed in the sight of the naked, sweaty girl screaming and writhing in agony as the nail is being driven through her wrist, while Balbus is much more clinical.

Jedakk, the contrast amongst the four is vivid. Two watch with what seems almost professional detachment. The young woman watches horrified, unable to turn away as the third man does. A very effective comment on the way a range of people will react to a confronting scene.

 

[Wragg]

May I join in the chorus of approval for this view?



I said before about views that we get nowadays that the Romans didn't enjoy? Well, Sabina would have had a similar view but she might not have enjoyed it quite as much as we do!

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

Very interesting back story to the feet nailing. I just cannot imagine the pain of having each of your feet nailed separately.

Further to this, yes, it is hard to truly encompass the incredible pain of having big iron spikes driven through each of your wrists and feet, one by one, with each of those nails requiring maybe a dozen blows of a heavy hammer. So it's not just a sudden piercing of your flesh; each blow sends the rough edges of a square nail rasping through muscle, tendon, bone and nerves, and hammering just one of those nails into place might take a minute or so from start to finish.

Before Sabina was a crucifixion victim, she was part of the crowd at many crucifixions, shouting along with the rest because that's what you did when you watched a crucifixion. Here's what she said in recounting the crucifixion of a man:

He continued to plead and became hysterical when Antius pressed the point of a nail against his wrist and raised his hammer. His babbling was cut off with an agonized scream as the first blow of the hammer fell. Verina and I laughed out loud at the ridiculous way his cock flopped from side to side as his body jerked following each blow of the hammer, like the shock of the hammer would travel down his body and come out there. It was so funny to watch!​

And later in her prison cell on the day before her crucifixion, Sabina talks with Salonina about nailing. She doesn't really want Salonina to know that she's been going to watch crucifixions and so knows how they go.

“Now Sabina, the executioner will want to drive that first nail quickly. He’ll try to drive it straight through and into the wood with the first blow to pin your wrist to the crosspiece. If he gets it right, his helpers don’t have to hold your left arm any longer. With them out of the way, he’s free to take bigger swings with his hammer.”

“And… if he doesn’t get it right?”

“Then he has to hit it again, but if it’s already halfway through your wrist, and you’re struggling, he’ll have to shorten his swing to be sure he hits it. Every one of those hammer blows hurts.”

“I- I know,” Sabina said. I’ve seen the way they all scream, every time… each time the hammer comes down. How the shock… it makes their whole body jump, like… like you can see the pain like a wave, going right down their body, all the way to their toes!”​

Then when her wrists are being nailed, Sabina describes what she is feeling:

The hammer seemed to hang high above me for a long time, then come down in slow motion. My eyes followed its arc until it hit the head of the spike. An instant later I felt the shock and stabbing pain as the point of the nail grated between the bones of my wrist. I heard someone scream and realized that it was coming from my own throat. I was twisting and writhing in agony underneath Ajax, who was on top of me. The hammer came down again and again, driving the spike deeper into the timber, rough iron grating against bone, wedging the bones in my wrist apart, sinews snapping.​

And finally, as her feet are being nailed the agony is even worse because the shock of the hammer blows travels through the timber and vibrates the nails in her wounded wrists.

As I had when my wrists were nailed, I felt the shank of the spike grating between the bones of my foot, forcing them apart. The cross trembled with each blow as the executioner continued to hammer the spike deeper into the timber. The shock traveled through the wood and nails, vibrating the iron between the bones inside my wrists, creating a horrible new agony.​

I have no way of knowing whether or not a victim would notice that added pain in her wrists but I think it's a possibility.

One other point I'd mention is that in all of man's history up until the late 19th century or so, there was an expectation and acceptance of severe, maybe excruciating pain. Teeth were extracted, broken bones set, wounds cleaned and sewn up, limbs amputated, and surgery performed all without anesthetic. This being the norm, perhaps punishments that were no worse than the norm wouldn't have the same impact on the onlookers and thus would not serve their purpose as a deterrent to criminals.

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

May I join in the chorus of approval for this view?

View attachment 282323

I said before about views that we get nowadays that the Romans didn't enjoy? Well, Sabina would have had a similar view but she might not have enjoyed it quite as much as we do!

Now that's two people who have specifically pointed out that picture as being especially erotic! That's interesting, because it jumped out at me as being very erotic too.

As odd as it may seem, I didn't start out knowing what renders I wanted to get of any of these scenes. What I did was systematically revolve the camera completely around the cross at specific levels and look to see what I could see. - horizontal, 30, 45, and 60 degrees above and below. Then I'd zoom in out when I saw an interesting view, framing the characters, going for dramatic views, not just skin but expressions and actions. When I found one I wanted to use, I'd store those camera settings in the menu. So I "discovered" interesting views in my 3D scene rather than planning them.

I'd already done all of Sabina's scenes and was working on the Lucilla chapter when I tried getting extreme closeup views from above, and those really jumped out at me. You couldn't really see enough to understand all of the action in the scene, but it was like you were in so close that you could almost smell her sweat or reach out and pinch a nipple. And the 3D figures are of such high quality that they'll stand up to closeups pretty well. These were the first ones I rendered like that:


I also found that I particularly liked the ones that put you in with the executioners, seeing what they would see. Here are some examples: