Spirit artist

Spirit artists are apprenticed as teenagers and train for many years with a master artist. The first few years are spent learning where to collect the ingredients and materials required, how to mix pigments and dyes, and the history of the art. The following years are spent learning the meditation and painting techniques required to capture a person's spirit through art. It is only when the master judges their pupil to be ready that they are allowed to attempt their first spirit painting.

Spirit artists demand no payment for their work as it is considered a public service and is part of their spiritual belief system. However, the family and friends of the deceased will most often gift the artist with small luxuries or perform a service in return.

As their trade takes many years of study and is such an embedded part of Pakkan culture, Spirit artists are exempt from being assigned other duties.

It is a spirit artists job to capture the spirit of a person in art. After the death of a Pakkan the family of the deceased will seek out a spirit artist to draw a representation of their loved one upon the wall of the family home. Through meditating on the stories of the ones closest to the deceased, they are able to capture the essence of who that person was and translate it into a mural.

Although no trade is considered more important than any other within the Pakkan culture, Spirit artists are still held in high regard by most people as it is a skill which few can achieve.

Spirit artists are quite rare due to the length of time required to study, with only about ten to fifteen active at any time.

As the Pakkan do not bury or cremate their dead, and as such have no graves to visit or ashes to keep, the spirit murals developed as a way for them to remember and honour their dead. The first mural was of Anouk of clan Hikkut, the woman deemed to have forged the Pakkan into one people. After her death those who took up her mantle wanted a way to remind people of the spirit of her message and what she had achieved for the Pakkan people. Her mural decorates the great entry way into Haavan alongside those of others who the Pakkan deem to have achieved great deeds in service to their people.

A spirit artist requires a variety of tools in order to perform their craft: knives and specialised tools for collecting and preparing ingredients, mortar and pestle for mixing pigments, pots for storing the pigments and of course their brushes. Brushes are unique to each artist as they must craft them themselves and it is considered taboo to use another artist's brushes.

Artists make most of their own pigments from ingredients they have collected or traded for themselves. Some pigments require complicated or specialised processes to create and thus will be made by other craftsmen and traded for like other goods. Their brush handles are usually crafted from bone, though some artists prefer the weight of a stone handle and the bristles come from animal hair or even the fur of the artist themselves.

Spirit artists conduct their craft in the family homes of the deceased, however each will have their own workshop where they prepare and mix pigments and train their apprentice. A spirit artists workshop can often resemble a herbalists shop as many of their pigments come from plants and other natural sources. The workshop is split into a preparation and mixing area, and an area for study and training. The workshops are situated in quieter areas of the city as learning the mediation techniques requires little distraction.