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Iridium Magazine Issue 3

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eZine lover (@eZine)
Published in 
Iridium
 · 1 year ago

'Not Much to Say About the Third'

By Raistlin Majere [Iridium Founder]


Here we are, one month later, with Iridium #3. Yes, we surprised you, and ourselves by getting this out basically on time.

Everyone worked hard to get this issue out. You will notice a lot of the same stuff as Issue #2, basically because we are following the same format. Read the information provided on Issue #4, I think you'll find some pleasant surprises.

We'd like to welcome Quazar back to active membership in Iridium, his absence (although you most likely noticed none) was due to communication failures of both myself, and Quazar.

There's not much to say concerning Issue #3 that you won't find repeated elsewhere in the magazine, so I'll speak very briefly on Issue #2:

I was VERY disappointed with the response to the previous issue of Iridium. Don't misunderstand, all responses were generally positive. I heard lots of "Iridium was great," "looking forward to the next issue," "Can't wait for #3," etc ... Yet, not many of you did anything to contribute to the third issue. Personally, I do not understand why this is the case. It must either be that Iridium did not have enough positive impact to spurr the public into action, or that most people feel that Iridium works independently from the scene, and simply provides you with something to look at each month.

* THAT is not the case. Iridium is PART of the artwork scenery and CANNOT EXIST without support from it. *

Sorry for those bitter remarks, I simply felt I had to get that off my chest, and explain the real status of Iridium Magazine.

Read on, and ENJOY THE ISSUE!


Greets and Thanks (this is the ONLY place you'll find these in Iridium):

  • Metal Head: More artwork! :) Great.
  • Excalibur: The smiley face magazine! Get to Issue #4!
  • Natex: Thanks for all the help... I owe ya!
  • Quazar: Welcome back.
  • Asriel: Keep adding to your memoirs. MORE BOOKS = YOURATE!
  • Xerobe: Thanks for the views . . .
  • Lord Soth: Mucho for the black and white . . .
  • Dr_Death: The ?# of Jews of iCE! (Happy?)
  • SharP: The most dependable guy I know . . . :)
  • Shihear Kallizad: I'm going to call you an annoy you again!
  • Bad Karma: Appreciate the last minute come-through. I owe you.
  • Corwin: You can't be reached!
  • R. Noble: Where's my backscratch? You liar! Ahhhhh!
  • Elminster: Reluctant, but helpful.
  • Golgatha: Thanks again, and waiting for Interface #3!
  • Primordial Chowder: Just touch it up a bit, and . . . :)
  • ShadowSorcerer: With an 'e' not an 'o'! (I'm special, wee.. )
  • White Devil: Sorry I didn't like it, do I still get a VGA?
  • Village Idiot: Slow down, you are going to hurt yourself.
  • Special Ed: Tempus will be back soon, you'll get competition (Not.) :)
  • Wharf Rat: Can you believe Mark did that to Allison! My god!
  • Cyberpunk: You do a lousy chinese guy.
  • Wharf Rat (again): "I think rape's fucking hysterical."
  • Battle Lord: 609 rots.
  • Bane: Sonoma?! A conference! Liar! Lengthen that article! For #4!
  • No Carrier: They're calling you "Sujeet the Ripper," tell 'em what for!
  • Devil's Spawn: You are a piece of work.
  • Vision: The funniest guy on the nets . . .
  • Neriah Davis: You have a really nice body.
  • Beastie: Talk no me you more. Call more no me. yhW? :D
  • Lord Mischief: What? <checks ears..> you have a MODEM?!
  • Egghead: Merci. For something..
  • Spyder Man: You are really one of the most dependable guys I know.
  • Glenn Danzig: You suck, I suck, we suck together!
  • Crewl Blade: Thanks for the interface of.. um.. uh... :)
  • Kronos: 2 articles! Neither the one I asked for! Great! (Thanks tho..)

I'd like to close with a quote from the infamous George Carlin:

"I want to live! I don't want to die! That's the whole secret of life -- not dying ... Here's another bunch of macho-asshole bullshit floating around in this country, people talking about, "aww.. pull the plug on me. If I'm ever like that, if I'm ever comatose, if I'm like vegetable -- pull the plug on me."

?

FUCK YOU! Leave my plug alone! Get an extention cord for my plug! I want everything you've got . . . Tubes, cords, plugs, probes, electrodes, if you've got something -- stick it in me man!"

See you all in issue #4!

- Raistlin Majere, Iridium Founder.

Iridium Magazine Issue #3

The following is a list of the executives, contributing members,
and distribution sites of Iridium Magazine.

Executives/Staff:

  • Raistlin [iCE] (Founder)
  • Excalibur [Programmer]
  • Metal Head [iCE]

Members:

  • Quazar [Tribe]
  • R. Noble [iCE]
  • Asriel [Tribe]

Contributing Writers:

  • Metal Head [iCE]
  • Golgatha [Gothic]
  • No Carrier [Dissident]
  • Raistlin [iCE]
  • Black Knight [BAD]
  • Asriel [Tribe]
  • SharP <ACiD>
  • Kronos <ACiD>
  • ShadowSorcerer [Empire]

Artists:

  • Raistlin [iCE]
  • Metal Head [iCE]
  • Quazar [Tribe]
  • Golgatha [Gothic]
  • Kronos <ACiD>
  • Lord Soth [iCE]

Top Five Contributors:

  • Metal Head [iCE]
  • Raistlin [iCE]
  • Quasar <ACiD>
  • Lord Soth [iCE]
  • Kinayda [Gothic]
  • Kronos <ACiD>
  • Bane [iCE]
  • No Carrier [Dissident (LTD)]
  • egghead <ACiD>
  • Soul Rebel [iCE]
  • Lord Mischief [iCE]
  • SharP <ACiD>
  • Sypder Man [Independent]
  • Village Idiot [Empire]
  • Xerobe [iCE]
  • Syntax Error [iCE]
  • The Immortal [Gothic]
  • Glenn Danzig [iCE]

Distribution Sites

The Shadowlands 609-256-0332 / 609-589-1317 - World Headquarters
The Twisted Tower - Canadian Headquarters
Latitude Zero - Western Headquarters
The Web - Eastern Headquarters
Free Beer - Southern Headquarters
Mechanical Resistance - Central Headquarters
The Sanctuary(tm) - Distribution Site
Countdown to Extinction - Distribution Site
The Powergrid - Distribution Site
Corrosive Poison - Distribution Site
Eulethuria - Distribution Site
After Dark Club - Distribution Site
Downtown Militarized Zone - Distribution Site
Infinity - Distribution Site

* - Note: There are no Iridium 'Member Boards.' They do not exist.

iCE Column

By Metal Head [iCE Senior Staff]

Well, another article, another toe-nail being pulled. Let's keep this short sweet and to the point. What kind of neat-o stuff is iCE working on? Well, let's just make a list:

  1. iCN! iCN is finally up, and polling. Public bases are set up, people posting and all that good stuff. More boards are picking it up steadily so soon enough you will be able to call your local iCE board and read it. Check it out, and if the board doesn't have it then bug the sysop to pick it up.
  2. Lucidity, the official iCE magazine (A combination between Intensity & Lucid), is being worked on steadily and should be out in a couple of months. It will be a magizine focusing exclusively on the ANSI art scene and on the demo scene. Tremendous support is being shown for the demo section of the magazine, and the ANSI side is getting good support but could use more, if you'd like to contribute in any way to the magizine then contact either Sould Rebel, Syntax Error, or I.
  3. The iCE MusicDisk, 'Epidemic', has music being made for it and is in the process of being coded. With works from C.C.Catch, Necros, Amroth, Eternal Darkness, and possibly other suprise musicians, it should be QUITE impressive.

Other newer happening in iCE includes the migration of Glenn Danzig & Crewl Blade to iCE from ACiD. Glenn Danzig enters the group as a director of ANSI, his presence will give to iCE something that it has lacked throughout it's history: Good representation on the west coast of the US. We also look forward to seeing some great art coming out of both Glenn Danzig & Crewl Blade.

That's about it for a short summary on the happenings in iCE lately except for one matter, that matter is the ever popular Sand. As I type I am on the phone with him, and we would like to set the whole matter of what EXACTLY happened with the whole iCE/ACiD/Sand matter. So here it is, direct from his mouth.

Hello, Sand here to settle all the confusion over my group situation. Let me tell the whole story over what happened. Somewhere around the middle of last month Rad Man started calling me with other ACiD people every day trying to coerse<sp?> me into joining ACiD. As a nicety Beastie suggested that Hannibal Lecter would be willing to do a font for the ansi that I had almost completed. So I sent the ANSI to Rad Man, who in about 2-3 days returned the ansi with the font attached. And with "Sand ACiD Productions" already signed to it. About 4 days later I thought, why not join ACiD, so I left a message on Rad Man's VMB saying "Ok, I guess i'll join your lamer group". The next day, Xerobe gave me a call and when I heard from him I decided to stay in iCE because I was still unsure of quitting iCE.

Later that day, after Egghead played the VMB message to Metal Head, Syntax called me after Metal Head couldn't get through to me. And that totally settled the fact that I was staying in iCE.

A day later, Metal Head called me up and suggested that I leave a message on Rad Man's VMB stating that I was definatly NOT joining ACiD, which I did. As I understand it, Metal Head also asked 2 ACiD people to tell Rad Man that I was not in the group, and that he should not release the ANSi. The End.

A few more things to clear up is, first, that on the matter of the ANSI saying "iCE Productions", that is because since Hannibal Lector had already signed it "ACiD Productions" I just switched the 'ACiD' with the 'iCE'. Second, as far as I am concerned, even though i did leave that message on Rad Man's VMB, I never offically joined ACiD, nor did I ever officially or non-offically, leave iCE. Third, for the people that belive that the ANSI I did was done for ACiD, take this into consideration. The ANSI that was done for iCE was my completed version. To prove this just compare the two ANSi's and note the large amount of suttle shadding changes that were made in the iCE ansi.

That's it. Hopefully this will clear up this whole mess and stop the stupid disscusions that I hear are going on on FederationNet.

- Metal Head [iCE]
& Sand [iCE]

Final note (This is MH) my internet account, metalhed@phantom.com has finally been deleted after 2 years of free use. All i can say is thanks to the guys at mindvox for keeping it up as long as they did. As soon as I get my lazy butt up to get a new e-mail address, I'll post it, and it'll be in the iCEPACK .NFO.

ACiD Column

Sharp [ACiD Senior]

ACiD, well, what can I say...Things were pretty quite there for a while. iCE was reorginizing, Gothic was still forming, and ACiD seemed to be pretty stable and succesful. However, good things never last. While ACiD is still both stable and succesful, we've got some pretty stiff competition to deal with. I've got to complement Gothic on their recent packs, some people still say "OH I'VE SEEN ALL THESE ARTISTS DO BETTER"... or "THIS GROUP WILL FALL APART JUST LIKE VALIANT". Well, I think Gothic is running efficiently and I for one thought the Gothic relival pack was quite good. Gothic is good and bad news for us here at ACiD. On one hand it sure is tempting for artists to leave us for a higher position being offered to them by Gothic Senior Staff. However, just like any other good ansi group, Gothic provides the incentive and the need to improve our artwork, not only in quantity, but in quality. Recently, Rad Man decided to change policies as to what is put in the Acquisition. In past packs, almost everything created went into the zip, regardless of quality. We felt that we should include all the artwork from each artist every month... unfortunatley, sometimes this dropped the quality of our packs considerably. After some discussion, we decided that the new policy should be based on what the artist was capable of doing, Vs. what he had produced. In other words, if Joe Artist released a 5k graphic in ASCII with a THEDRAW internal font, and just last month he had produced a 50K scroller, we would probably let Joe know that his contribution would not be included in the pack. However, ACiD is by NO means taking a hard line approach to this policy. I mean, if you tried, and the sucker looks half decent, it's going in the pack. But no more 3D cube wanna-be-pathetic vector demos.

There is something that I wanted to address in this article, the general idea that ACiD is a BIG business, and we do everything like a corporation. In some ways that's true, we have deadlines to meet, and we have standards to uphold, but we also take breaks. Quite a few matter of fact. Being in ACiD is NOT a lifestyle, except for Rad Man. Being in ACiD is a hobby. Just something you do to have fun and socialize with other artists of your same caliber. There are those that will say we should go ahead and get our own stock symbol... but, hey you can't please everyone.

Well, what's next for ACiD productions?. I'd say quite a bit. That Sierra-type game we've been promising is STILL in the works, with a few less bugs now, but still in great need of more coders. If you are interested, let us know. The first release of the game demo would appear to be around Summer time, but hopefully we'll get some extra help and be done closer to mid-spring if we're lucky. Alter Ego has a KILLER ansi out this month, look for it in the pack. Not to mention Vinidcation has something nice coming as well. You all must be sick of my spelling by now, so I'll go ahead and stop writing. Hope to see more from Gothic in the future...

Sharp[ACiD Senior]


Greets to : Rad Woman, Soultaker, Hannibal, Egghead, Vindication, Corwin, Beastie Alter Ego, Kronos, Shihear Kallizad, Midnight Shaddow, Cerebrus, Astinus, Syntax Error, Tempus (FIX YOUR DAMN COMPUTER), Golgotha, Elemenster, Affex Twin,... and all the ACiD gang.

iCE : Hang in there...the sun'll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom doll...
...ah you get the point.

Gothic in a Nut Shell

by: Golgotha <Gothic Senior>

Many people have asked us at Gothic what is it which differs us from other groups. I start by saying friendship. Lets face it, we join art groups because we enjoy making art or enjoy the fellowship of being in a group. Many groups seem to think that they are a major corperation. Running as if Hitler himself were the head they lay down deadlines and quotas for the artists to meet. Since most of us have other aspects to our life we often find it very difficult to meet some of these deadlines. The last thing we need is some freak breathing down our necks for some artwork.

At Gothic Studios we try not to lie deadlines and quotas as we do not wish to add pressure unto our members. We do not search or steal members of other groups. They come to us on their own insentive. Once approached about Gothic membership we will encourage joining but we will not 'bribe' or pressure the artist. The main purpose of Gothic is to produce quality artwork to meet the demand of the ever changing scene and add a little fun to it. We seldom will start a war unless provoked. I (Golgotha) personally like many of the members of what some may call the 'competition'. Metal Head for example I think of as a very distinguished artist and a helluva friend.

I could sit here for hours and tell you about what Gothic is and still be missing alot. There is no definition of what Gothic really is. It's a bunch of artists, coders, musicians doing what they enjoy, at their own speed.

Now, a word or two on the facist scum that pollutes the art scene. Yes believe it or not the biggest problem we have to overcome is discrimination. We constanty put up with red-neck bullshit. Some arrogant asses have it rammed up their butts that Gothic is a bunch of useless Canadians. An prime example of this ignorance is Quasar of ACiD. This buttfuck constantly gets his jollies off of making fun of Canadians. He and others like him think that if they put us down enough it will extend their penis while in reality it makes them look like ignorant motherfuckers.

Gothic is not a Canadian nor American group. Gothic is not loyal to any particular country. Gothic brings artist together from hells-half-acre to form a family. If your gonna pre-judge us, do it because we have shitty art, not because we have many Canadian members.

Golgotha [Gothic Senior]

'The Reign of Terror'

By ShadowSorcerer [Empire]

We may not be ACiD - but hell... who wants to be ACiD, right? We may not be iCE - but we don't desire second best. We're not Gothic, nor Tribe - We're better. Well then, what the hell does that leave? Why, naturally Empire.

Why would I have the nerve to expect you to worship us as a group, you ask? I don't. As a matter of fact, I don't care. The only thing I don't want is people hating us, so basically, as long as you don't hate us, I suppose I can let you get away with not loving us. What I'm getting at is this (the basis of the Empire Standard) : we never have, do not presently, and never will thrive on publicity - we don't desire it nor need it. We do not compete, we do not TRY to be a threat to other insecure groups - we merely try to be a decent and respectable alternative. We do not acquire artists that are already in other groups (unless their service to the other group is not of the same nature of our recruitment), however it seems that a good number of our artists are in demand - which I suppose large groups seem to take as a threat. I'm writing this article for two reasons: [ One -> I'm bored. [ Two -> It's another chance to help out the art world - and as anyone who knows me will tell you, I'm always eager to be helpful.

Now, at risk of seeming like a dick and promoting another magazine within the 'pages' of Iridium, I am going to suggest that anyone who expects an introduction to Empire refer to the article I wrote for Corruption, Issue #1 - released 12/93. If I write another intro I will not only be redundant, but also will be wasting alot of time.

Instead, it is my intention to relate the most recent breaking news - events that have come to pass since Corruption #1, and thus were not covered in that article. Let's start in the month of December:

After the release of Corruption magazine at the beginning of December '93, things started happening for Empire - more so than before, that is. It was during this month that Primordial Chowder worked toward becoming the talented artist he is today. He released an ansi for the Downtown Militarized Zone which saw a release in the January pack. In the same month, we acquired Mind Rape and Hros from the death of Max. Mind Rape has produced little since, but Hros has been VERY productive. With his contributions, Empire's New Year's Compilation not only followed our upward trend, but showed much more productivity. The pack size was 1 Meg, and we made jokes about it's size - figuring it'd never get any larger.

Soon after the January Release, Dreadloc had it's first release. Primordial Chowder's ansi got rave reviews from Alter Ego - DreadLoc's Former Ansi Reviewer. PC continued to work on his art, and eventually made a 300 liner for After Dark Club, and an ansi for Dark Sun World. He attracted the attention of the Acid Staff - including Rad Man and Corwin of Amber, and perhaps to the suprise of many, he declined to leave Empire for Acid. This display of loyalty glorifies the principles of Empire. It shows that this group can give an artist a reason not to feel the need to join a large group that doesn't NEED the artist (but WANTS the artist so others can't have him/her). I was proud, everyone in Empire considers the event a very important morale booster. In the same month, I discovered Prime Evil, who is a very promising VGA artist. Within the course of the month, I made him our VGA coordinator - he seems and excellent judge of art as well as an excellent artist. His contributions coupled with Replay, Somms, Primordial Chowder, and Cisco (and of course everyone else) made the next pack truly a step toward the top. In another interesting note, Cisco became upset with Acid, and quit to join Empire (I knew I'd get him back). We also talked Hooptie in to joining us, it seems our laid back way of life seems to fit his pace.

Well, we had thought that we reached our peak in the month of January, but this was not the case. The month of February brought some amazing new artists and impressive pieces by all artists. This is the current pack, our fourth release. I won't speculate on what I think of this month's pack . . . I'll let you do that, and perhaps respond on that a little later. All I can say is that it's worth it despite the fact that I once read someone write 'Empire has no right to produce a pack of that size' (is this a cry of fear from a group which fears upcoming competition? you decide . . . I'll keep the source anonymous - since that is not the focus of this article).

This month, we also are dissappointed at the loss of Somms to Acid. As many other artists, since his beginnings he saw Acid as the ultimate in art - the goal of a lifetime, the best. Therefore he felt the need to seek to be among the best - though the best he could have been among could eventually have been Empire someday in the future (and look where that would leave him . . .) that's not speculation, nor a prediction, nor a promise, nor anything else anyone could ever blow it out of proportion by saying.

We hope that with the loss of artists, and the acquisition of new ones, that this group will eventually grow to the state of the 'big two' - not to be the best, but to be an alternative to the best. We don't wish to compete, we wish to accomodate those who are tired of competing. With that said, you basically have my pitch for Empire; what I tell potential artists. Empire is an honest and hardworking, yet also funloving group... we are not run as a business or like a business. It's all very personal and spontaneous fun... we're friends, we're looking for friendly artists (not ego-mongers). If you fit the profile, and you have this stuff in common - no matter what group you are or are not in - and you are tired of competition, why not consider Empire?

-ShadowSorcerer [Empire Founder]

Questions? Comments? Contact: 512-267-9584 / Matt

Dissident Column

No Carrier [Dissident]

        _________________/\______/\_________________/\_________________ 
        \____.  \____ /     \ /     \____|___.  \__    \_ __.  \__  __/ 
    ___  |   |   |   |    __/|    __/|   |   |   |   --/|   |   |/  \   ___ 
   |___| |       |   |---   \|---   \|   |       |   _/\|   |   |    | |___| 
         |______/|   |\_____/\______/|   |______/_______\___:___/\__/ 
                 |___|NC             |___|

Well, Issue #3 is here. Dissident's first pack is still on hold. Funny, eh? First off, I'd like to shout out a major FUCK YOU to all the assholes who are getting their jollies from our group name. We're non-conformists; If you can't deal with it, then tough shit. Anyway, back on track, we'll probably be releasing our first pack on March 1st with any luck. It should be quite cool, so check it out.

Why the wait? Well, we were originally going to release this pack in the beginning of Febuary, but by the time we had our act together, a week had past and things weren't looking that hot. Then we were approached by CiA and CHAOS about a merger. As it looks, the merger will be taking place before the pack is released, so it should be quite a pack. There is still some ambiguity on what we'll call ourselves, but it looks like Dissident is going to stick. You will definitely know what's going on if we do change our name though, that's a promise. Anyway, since this merger proposition, we decided to postpone the pack rather than release a less that perfect one.

Of course, it can't end that easily. Right after we off the phone with the CiA guys, me and Boardmaster were approached by iCE. They wanted BM as a VGA artist, and me as a logo artist. Boardmaster accepted the position, and I wish him well with iCE. I on the other hand, didn't want to give up Dissident just when things were picking up, so for now I'm staying with the group. The Dissident WHQ is still /¥lternate Reality, despite BM's switch to iCE. And that's about it I think.. Dissident has a very prosperous net, AlterNet, which is open to any sysops who want to join. It is a very active net, but we keep the number of bases down to stay within reason. If you want to join, you can always contact me for information, or wait for the Dissident pack which will have all that you need to join us.

That's about it. As always, a pleasure. Later on. Ciao. Bye!

No Carrier [Dissident]
sujpatel@clam.rutgers.edu

Trial is Error

Asriel [Tribe]

Ok, I'm back. Again, I'm going to follow a format for my article, and actually bother to introduce myself before getting into the gist of my argument here.

My handle is Asriel. I run a BBS, I'm a Tribe artist, an Iridium Staff Writer (or whatever the hell Raist wants to call me now), a hacker, an adult, and an athiest (while we're getting into pointless information).

As I did in my last article, I'm going to make two disclaimers. First off, I'm not any more or less qualified to argue than anyone else. I'm a member of the computer underground, which is the only qualification I feel is needed to vocalize my opinions.

My second disclaimer is that my opinions are not necessarily those of the Iridium magazine, it's writers, or it's general reading populace. Raistlin has done me a great service in providing me a forum for my editorial comments, and I hope the quality of my article repays that service in full; but if you feel that my article is less than worthwhile, please keep in mind that it IS an editorial.

--- -- - - -

This month's editorial is about trial memberships, and exactly why it is I have less respect for the groups that utilize them... tread softly, thou walketh on uncertain terrain.

--- -- - - -

With the inception of 'SKiLL' (or SKILL, or SKiLL, dependant on who you ask and what form of capitalization is in style), I've given the concept of trial membership in art groups no small degree of thought. Basically, what I've come up with is this assertion: trial memberships don't exist to breed better artists. They're a cop out for groups that want to increase their production, but don't want to take a risk on a budding artist.

Every time I've heard someone referring to trial membership, in any form, they seem to extoll it's glories. I've heard more people than I can remember say that trial memberships are a service that established groups do to non-established artists. I've heard people say that many of the better artists we have on the scene would be nowhere without the trial system. I've even seen arguments about ACiD versus iCE based on the concept. However, I'd like to ask you to take a closer look at what the idea of a trial membership really entails.

Presumably, a trial membership in a group is initiated for an artist who shows promise, but who's work doesn't show a level of quality consistent with that of the group as a whole. Trial memberships are often thought of as a form of artistic apprenticeship... the trial member is expected to improve until his work shows enough quality to be admitted to the group as a whole.

However, I can't see how a trial membership is expected to improve an artist. Artists with the potential to make their work excel will do so if they give their work enough time and effort, and will not do so otherwise. All a trial membership does is recognize that fact. I've been told by a respected group member that 'the trial artist, once accepted into the group, can learn from the other members of the group'. I find this to be one of the more inane comments I've ever heard... an artist can improve by studying other artists' work regardless of his own status. Essentially, trial membership really doesn't do the artist any real service at all.

Has anyone ever thought of asking exactly what it is that a trial membership confers on an artist? Trial membership is first and foremost a negative comment on an artist's work. If someone is applying to a group specifically hoping to obtain trial membership, they obviously don't have the ability to function as a 'real' member of the group yet. If they are applying for a 'real' position in the group, the trial status is in effect a conditional rejection. The 'xxx-trial' label after an artist's name is a mark that an artist is decent, but 'not-quite-good-enough for us'. It occurs to me that trial members are essentially advertising the fact that they AREN'T good enough for a group.

However, my dislike and mistrust of trial membership goes deeper than just the meaning of the term. In my opinion, trial membership is a twofold cop-out for a group. First off, trial membership enables a group to claim an artist's good work as their own, without taking responsibility for their bad work. Secondly, the trial system allows groups to claim artists with real potential, without risking the negative image that they may receive from the artist's real work.

Trial members are artists in the same respect that a 'real' member of a group is an artist. Trial members are capable of work that rivals any other artist's work, and often produce such work. However, the trial label is also a recognition that 'this member produces work that is significantly below the level of quality apparent in our other members'. If a trial member does a phenomenal piece of work, he improves the image of the group as a whole. However, if a trial artist produces a piece of art that the group would in no circumstances wish to attach their name to, the 'trial' label serves as a disclaimer, allowing the group to separate themselves from the work.

It is my feeling that a group should have some loyalty towards it's members. Art groups as a whole exist to distribute their member's artwork, and channel requests for artwork to their members. However, if the administration of a group feels that an artist's presence in that group constitutes a risk to that group's image, and therefore a disservice to it's members, it should not accept the artist. Stringing an artist along through a system of trial membership only grants a person quasi-membership in a group... simply put, the artist takes on all the challenges and responsibilities of group membership, and reaps none of the benefits.

Additionally, rejection from a group is not rejection from the scene in general. If an artist doesn't have the ability to operate at the same level of the members of a group, the administration of that group should at least have the courage and respect for that artist to tell him that. Trial membership is a derision targeted at that artist, but it is also asking something of that artist in return for that mockery. In essence, a trial membership asks the trial membership to do the group the courtesy of not joining another group until he's good enough to become a full-fledged member.

Several extremely well known and highly talented groups exist that don't take trial members. In addition, there are more small art groups in the USA than there are former Soviet republics. An artist always has a choice of groups to gain real membership in... which is why it baffles me as to why an artist would subject himself to the difficulties of a trial membership.

Trial membership exists only to further the image of well known groups. They are, at their core, a display of insecurity and self consciousness on the part of the groups that sponsor them, for they allow a group to take all the good parts of an artist without accepting and dealing with the problems and difficulties that an artist faces. The trial system is a mockery of artistic expression, and a theft of talent. Groups that maintain this anachronism as a paradigm for their operations are shaming themselves and the scene; this practise needs to stop.

--- -- - - -

Yes, this article IS shorter than my previous one... however, assuming that nothing occurs to end my contributions to this magazine, I'd like to make a request of those individuals who read my column and have an opinion they'd like to express.

Starting next issue, dependant on the amount of response I get from this idea, I'm going to start printing letters I receive from readers at the end of my articles, or in a separate article appearing in the magazine. I'd like to use this or some other article in the magazine as a forum for the exchange of ideas.

I can be contacted on the following boards as 'Asriel'.

The Spawning Ground / Hard Wired / The Web / South of Hell Lost Destiny / Psychosis / The Prodigal Sun / The Power Grid The Whammy Bar / The Shadowlands

And am active on the following FIDO networks:

FatalNet / Crime In Progress Net / Cybercrime International The Federation Network / Quantum Network

My internet email address is:

lblack@genesis.mcs.com / lblack@mercury.mcs.com

Let's get something rolling with this magazine. I'd really like to hear what you think about rating ANSIs, the role of literature in the art scene, and how distribution sites should be handed out. In addition, feedback to my writing is always appreciated.

--- -- - - -

Finally, I'd like to end this with a quick comment / request. After surviving Tribe's 'The Power Grid Month', I've really come to the conclusion that no bulletin board needs 10 100+ line ANSIs. You could make a pack that would rival ACiD's monthly production out of the work released for Bodily Harm alone. Do your own work and another sysop a favor; make your next ANSI for a less known board.

--- -- - - -

In any case, that's it until next month. Thanks for bearing with me through this article; I look forward to hearing your comments about it. Even simply reading these words and hating them is a courtesy to me and this magazine.

'Biased Against Bias'

By Raistlin [iCE/Iridium]

Through my readings of Federation Network and my discussions with those in the 'scene,' it has come to my attention that the subject of bias is one of the hottest topics of discussion right now. Many publications and individuals are claiming they are 'void of bias,' their opponents (such as me) support the idea that the concept of being 'unbiased' is totally unrealistic, and more importantly, totally idealistic. I'd like to express why.

To begin, let me clear up the DEFINITION of bias, because many out there seem to be unclear on exactly what it is. Bias is defined by Webster's Seventeeth New Collegiate Dictionary as follows:

bias [n] - 1. (Non-related) 2. (a) : an inclination of temperance or outlook; esp: PREJUDICE (b) : BENT, TENDENCY (c) : a tendency of a statistical estimate to deviate in one direction from a true value.

There are two ways to look at the proclamation of being "unbiased." When reading that statement, one must assume the author either considers themselves to have no preferences, or considers himself void of human qualities. In relation to the scene, one is including bias in their 'reviews' of other works when they: (a) intentionally or unintentionally rate the works of on person a certain way because of their group or position in the scene, or (b) rate the works of one person a certain way because they like or dislike certain methods of ansi drawing. The second cannot be avoided.

Considering the first type of bias, any magazine that claims that none of its members are partial towards members of their group, are only fooling themselves. Loyalty towards a group is an inherent quality in any one that resides in a group. No matter how hard one tries to avoid bias, unintentionally, it will -- in my opinion -- emerge. This is not a fault, it is only admitting one is limited by human traits.

Denying the second relation of bias in the scene is plain ignorant. When rating work of art, the basis for one's scores or opinion is based on what he/she prefers in technique. Whether it be a certain type of shading, a neat style, a sloppy/loose style, bright colors, light colors, comic ansis, original ansis, etc.. etc.. The preferences that each individual 'rater' has is reflected in their written opinions. Therefore -- these preferences create a tendency to speak one way or another concerning certain pieces of artwork.

In most cases, the publishers of certain magazine defend their magazine by claiming that since it has been/when it will be released that it will be void of bias. As far as I can see, this is childish and ridiculous. Personally this claim is far-fetched, but claiming that every individual which expressed an opinion in the publication was not affected by some sort of preference or loyalty is flatly stupid.

-- A suggestion to those who refuse to admit their mortality:

If you wish to claim that your membership in whatever group you reside in does not make you partial or bent towards that group in any way (regardless that doing so makes you severely egotistical and very idealistic) please either use that same phrase, or select another word than bias. Simply because whether you feel you are partial to your group or not, you are 'biased' in some way . . . you have preferences.

- Raistlin [iCE/Iridium]

'The Federation: A New Type Of Network'

By Spyder Man [Independent]

In a time where huge networks with large echolists seemed to be taking over the scene, and some of the older networks were dying, I felt it was the right time for a new network to enter the scene, so The Federation was created.

When I first began to contact sysops about the network, I wanted it to eventually become a small, friendly artwork oriented network, where it would be easy to reach anyone over the network quickly. Around this time, the two major networks were CyberCrime International Network, run by Midnight Sorrow, and ToXiCNet, run by FusioN. Both of these networks had well over 100+ nodes, lots of bases, and many messages. I had always noticed during my message scans, that the networks had grow so huge that there was an enormous message delay and that it was hard for the moderators to effectively control the posts coming from every single board. I also noticed that the majority of quality posts did not come from all 100+ boards, but a few individual boards with high message activity. Therefore, when I started selecting boards for the network, I decided to limit the network to 30 boards, and to remove those boards that weren't contributing their share.

The Federation, as it exists today, is based on a few principles that I feel makes it superior to other networks, even though it is much smaller in size. As a rule, all boards in the network must poll either the World HQ, the Western Hub, or the Canadian Hub, so that the message turnover is much quicker than the average network. Since the network is small, my mailer is set to pack the messages every single time that a board polls, so that there are always new messages. If the network were any larger, it would be impractical to do this, since the mailer would be continually busy packing mail. As an average, I would say that a normal message would receive a reply and return to the originating board in 2-3 days, as opposed to the 6-7 days you see on larger networks with complicated routing. Sometimes, it's even possible to receive a reply the next day, depending on where you're reading messages from, and the time that the board happens to poll. Another advantage that the network has is that all the bases have general topics, as opposed to being geared for specific groups. For example, instead of having an Iridium base, a Psychosis base, and other specific magazine bases, there is one Electronic Magazine base, where all the discussion belongs. By having a general base like this, there isn't any need for constant echolist changes, as the groups come and go. Whichever group happens to be active at the time can use that base for discussion. Because, however, I had expected a lot of activity in the general artwork discussion base, I initially created an ACiD Base as well. A few weeks ago, an iCE Base was added as well, since the General Artwork Discussion base had started to get very active.

One of the newer aspects I have began to look at when examining potential nodes on the network is the amount of networks that the board already has. Many people, I'm sure have heard of Shihear Kallizad's (giving credit where it's due) "Pick a network, support it" attitude towards picking up networks for a board. What this means, for people who haven't heard of it before, is that a board should pick up one network, and support it with messages as much as it can, instead of picking up tons of networks, and not contributing equally or fully to all of them. I've found this to be a very good idea, even though I think that two or three networks is still reasonable, since the users of a board can pick one of the networks and support it. Besides the fact that it's hard to fully support more than 1 or 2 networks at a time, it's also a good idea for another reason, since it's pointless to see the same users, same discussion, and same boards on two different networks.

For information on The Federation, contact Spyder Man on The Web. There is no generic application form, since I deal with each board that wishes to apply separately.

"Politics In The Scene - Have We Had Enough Yet?"

by Kronos of ACiD Productions


As many of you know, most by experience, the scene has degraded. Slowly, but surely the fun that we had in the scene a year, two years, three years ago just seems like a thing of the past. These days the scene just seems like a couple of big political parties fighting over who's corrupt, who's this, who's that... point is, people are getting sick of it!

The scene since I have been in it (over two years now) has always been a tad political, but nowhere near as bad as today. My earlier days were spent more in the wares aspect of cyberspace. These days I divert my energy to something that I see more entertaining: art. The art scene as I have found it is almost equivalent as far as the political aspect of it goes, however it's more immature than the wares scene ever was. Combine political nonsense + immaturity and you get FUBAR!

I couldn't exactly figure out why the scene has gotten so political these days, but the only reason I could come up with is that people are really bored, and really egocentric. The old scene wasn't as involved. Now, though there are people, like Shithead Kallimazoo, who spend their whole life clicking away at the keyboard. This "hobby" or that's what it was once called, dominates some people's lives. It's pretty pitiful if you ask me. Because the scene is so important to some people they want to be the "best", or they want their group to be #1, however, at the same time, they sacrifice the fun of the scene to become #1. Because of this, there is member stealing, sabotage (if people remember what happened to Valiant, there's a great example of somebody being so bored they have to try and fuck up other people's fun), and all out ragging. Yes, I, even, have sinned that deadly sin.. I have ragged, but I repent! I've realized recently that ragging is a waste of time and energy. It's what makes modeming just plain annoying. Well, the ragging, the stealing, the sabotage wraps into a ball and becomes something called grudges. There are plenty of them out there; anybody on a net could figure that one out.

There's a new fad going around lately. So many people are claiming not to be involved politically in the scene when they really are. This is the worst of the worst. It's as bad as someone committing a crime in front of you, and then lying about it! If you are going to get involved with the competing, member stealing and ragging, then admit it! There are people who insist that they or their group (you know who you are) are not politically involved. Then they go and rag other groups in their group nfo file, try to steal members and rag.

So, have we had enough yet? Is it time to just start having fun again? We should all try not acting as if the scene is our entire lives. I hope at least one person will take this article to heart and just try to have some fun again.


Greets n' Shit:

  • Metal Head: Can I have 2nds?:)
  • Ronin: No more 0?? Oh well, I'll give you a buz soon.
  • Aphex Twin: Thanks again for the ansi bro.
  • Shihear Kallizad: To have %80 of your greets in an info file be rags is pitiful, so I won't bother.
  • Quasar: Do a CP ansi already!!!:)
  • JED: Happy Happy Joy Joy:)

"Ansi Rippers"

by Kronos of ACiD Productions

Ansi stealing is one of the lowest things that a person in the scene could do. At one time ansi ripping wasn't such a problem, but it's progressively gotten worse.

What exactly is ansi ripping? Ansi ripping or ansi stealing, whichever you prefer to call it, is when somebody digs up an ansi, loads it into TheDraw and puts their name on it. Usually they change the font or something, but rip it nonetheless. Also, people who might alter ansis. This has gotten common recently. People instead of just plain ripping an ansi, they will alter it in some minor ways, color or background etc... Ansi ripping was usually contained within the type of modemers who hung out on WWiV net. The lamers would rip an ansi from someone in ACiD or iCE, and write their bbs name on it. This wasn't such a big problem, because nobody really cared what those people did. However, lately it seems that ansi ripping has moved out of WWiV net and moved into everyday bbsing.

The first real example that comes to mind when I think of ansi rippers who have entered the "art scene" is Primal Energy. Talk about pathetic, the moron rips off an awesome TT ansi, fucks up the arm on it, uses someone else's fonts, changes the background and it makes it into the ACiD acquisition. That was pretty shocking to see a blatant rip get past everybody (well, at least it did at first).

There have been others since then. No Carrier is another big rip off guy (the one in LTD, not UNiON). He doesn't only rip ansis.. he rips pitiful ansis! He will take some of the worst shit ever drawn and slap his name on it. That's not only dishonest, but that's plain stupid! I guess if you're going to rip, at least rip from the best. Recently I discovered a rip off guy in a small crappy group called AXE. Don't remember his name, but he was a moron too. He ripped an old Pyro ansi for the Dwelling Of Nothingness. Just a couple of days ago, I found ANOTHER rip. This one was from GRiP/AD. The guy's name was Circuit Breaker. The funny thing is he ripped a Pyro ansi too. The ansi he ripped was originally for Psychotic Overload, made in 1992. Circuit Breaker rips it, changes the colors and makes it for Hackers Horizon. He's as plain stupid as No Carrier, because it was a shitty ansi. There are plenty of other ansi stealers, but I don't want to name 20 people.

People rip ansis because one of several reasons. Some people just rip because they're dumb. They think that nobody will ever notice it. Well people, here's a tip for you, the veteran members of the "art scene" pick it up real quick. You're not going to get away with it, so don't bother trying. Other people rip because they aren't good enough to get into a group with their own talent. These people are the ones like Primal Energy. They're stupid too because they have the same assumption: nobody will notice. Once again, nice try guys, but we pick up everything. Others rip because they don't realize it's wrong. These are the people on WWiV net who take someone else's picture, put a new font on it and add their name. This is just because they are naive. This type of ansi stealing doesn't pose much of a problem.

Unfortunately we can't do much about ansi ripping. Any ansi could be broken down into pieces and a new name added to it. Even if someone doesn't have the file it's as easy as doing a screen capture. All someone needs is a basic knowledge of TheDraw and a text editor. We should however try to be more careful where art packs are uploaded, and where we post our ansis. Posting them on WWiV net or Fido net will almost definitely get it ripped off. We just have to keep our eyes open and make sure we're not too hasty when we look at some art packs.


Greets n' Shit:

  • No greets here, all of them were in the other article:)

What's Happened Lately

Iridium Staff


------

Sand, one of iCE's most budding prospects left iCE Advertisements to join ACiD. Only a short time later (minutes, hours, a day -- we can't be sure) he left ACiD, to rejoin iCE.

------

Eternity, one of the up and coming art groups in the scene, has been disolved. Former bandleader, Maestro, has left for ACiD. We will inform you of any information we have concerning the Eternity breakup.

------

Somms, a former member of the up-and-coming group called Empire, has left Empire for ACiD. According to the staff of Empire, his reason for joining ACiD was that joining a large group such as ACiD had been his personal goal for a long time.

------

Israfel and Jabberwocky, creators of Psychosis Magazine, have begun work on a new project -- SUN Magazine. SUN will be a collection of hand drawn artistic work, scanned, and printed in VGA mode in the magazine. Best of luck to Jabberwocky and Israfel in their new project.

------

RIOT, another group of up and comers, has also been dissolved. The circumstances resulting in this are completely unknown.

------

Glenn Danzig, formerly of ACiD Productions, has left the group to join iCE Advertisements. Reasons for the switch are reportedly amongst lack of communications, and a general dislike by other ACiD Members.

------

Crewl Blade, formerly of ACiD Productions, has also left to join iCE. Just one day after Glenn Danzig's movement, ACiD has lost another valuable member.

------

Kronos, former ACiD reactionary, has for unknown reasons; left ACiD to pursue a career in Gothic.

------

Quasar, another for ACiD player, has for the same unknown reasons; left ACiD to pursue a career in Gothic.

Iridium Issue #4 Info

Iridium Staff


We at Iridium would like to provide you with some information on the up and coming issue of Iridium -- Issue #4. We plan to have many changes, to make the magazine more interesting to read, and more attractive.

Rather than make this a long drawn out article, I'll put it in a list fashion.

* Note: All elements listed are PLANNED changes for Iridium #4, not actual (at this time).

  1. Iridium Magazine Issue #4 will have many new effects. By doing this we hope to break the monotonous train of magazine usage that other magazines, and Iridium, have been following for too long. Nothing as serious as changing the total idea, but merely enhancing it.
  2. Iridium Magazine Issue #4 will have VGA pictures included in the magazine, and hopefully as soon as possible, Iridium Magazine will be able to provide the user with a mix of VGA and ansi interfaces.
  3. Iridium Magazine Issue #4 will include VGA Reviews, a VGA Top 5, and discussions and articles concerning VGA Art.
  4. Iridium Magazine Issue #4 will also include RIP Reviews, pictures, discussions, and a Top 5 (providing group production of RIP pictures is great enough to justify a RIP Top Five).
  5. Iridium Magazine will from this time forth include discussions on the demo scene.
  6. As you may have noticed, Iridium's "Poem/Lit" section has been removed for this issue. This change IS permanent. The decline of support for the Literature scene has prompted us to replace it. Replacing it is the "Interviews" section. We hope to fill each issue of Iridium with interesting interviews with personalities from the ansi, VGA, RIP, and demo scenes.

In essence, these changes have transformed Iridium Magazine from 'THE Ansi Magazine' to 'THE Art Magazine.' We are aware that many will not be pleased with these changes, and that many will - yet we feel it is beneficial to Iridium Magazine, and the scene, to make these changes.

Look forward to Issue #4, it should be great!

Guide to Making Ansis

White Devil [iCE]

White Devil's Guide to Making ANSi *ART*


ii. Notes on my name change - of no relevance to ANSIs

First of all, I will address the subject of my name change. This past month (January), I changed my name from Danzig to White Devil. In the so-called art scene, and the BBS scene in general, it is considered taboo to change one's alias ever. A change of the psuedonym can prove confusing to many people, so it is quite obvious why this standard has evolved. [in the past, I have in fact changed my alias on a whim, but when one is a "lamer" such changes go un-noticed.] This time, however, I changed my alias to avoid confusion. When I switched to "Danzig" about a year ago [from "DRi iCE"], it seemed like a fine alias derived from the name of a popular [now to the point of nausea] band. However, over time, I found that there was a slew of people named Danzig (on and off the scene, so now I go by White Devil.


i. Comments and preface to the article

There have been many articles in the past published in many magazines written by many authors of varying skill and experience addressing the topic of ANSI drawing, but nevertheless, I will make an attempt at writing one of my own.

As you probably know, I am somewhat of a veteran, despite my unusually low age, in the field of ANSI "art". I started ANSI at about the age of 10 or 11, inspired by a contest at a local pseudo-scene pirate board. I got a copy of TheDraw (probably in the 1.xx or 2.xx's at the time) and went to work, eventually churning out a decent ANSI that won the file points awarded for 1st place.

Now, I am a member of iCE (for about a year now), which has been the last step in my ANSI group ladder of achievement. Before that, I have been in Legacy, STRiKE ][, and a plethora of ANSI art groups before that.

At this point, I have completely switched over to VGA, having drawn my last ANSI ever last Saturday afternoon (a 25-liner for a local PD board). Many have said that this last few months has shown a swift decline in the quality of my work, so this is probably a good time to find a new niche.

This article will discuss the conception, creation, and perfection of original ANSI screens. I will not waste your time with the mention of comic books or Dungeons and Dragons covers. This is a tutor on all-original art, and _not_ plaigorism 101 - let some fool with 3 months ANSI experience write that.


1. Part 1 - Conception

Obviously, the first step to making a good, original ANSI picture is having a good, original visual concept. The inspiration can easily be found from movies, television, or advertisements, but I find the best source of *good* pictures comes from music. Ad nauseam Popular Music bands will generally get you nowhere. Try some thrash or industrial (I find _old_ White Zombie esp. useful; La Sexorcisto can provide mildly good ideas too, but not nearly as well as their older albums. Ministry is a decent source too, esp. for very violent art). Since most BBSes have gothic themes about them, moody or angry music will produce the best results. Obviously, the Blood Death Gore BBS doesn't have any use for some peice of shit inspired by Blind Melon or the Beatles.

Once you get an idea, it can be anywhere from completely elusive to a little vague. On very rare occasions one will get a fully-formed concept. The best thing to do at this point is draw it and redraw it. (Note that only 1/10 of the ideas you get will be good enough to survive it past the drawing board.) Sleep on it - the subconscious mind will perfect and critique your idea to the point of near perfection if you give it enough time. To use a cliche, Rome was not built in a day. The alternative to letting Chronos take care of your picture is to copy it from somewhere. This won't happen much, because you will get dozens of ideas at a time using the music method (unless you are some depressed freak, in which case you can just get your inspiration from Prozac.)

The picture should be in Technicolor, unless you plan to draw it in black and white. Color can mean a lot in the visual appeal of an ANSI.

Take angle, light, and hue into consideration at this point, just like you would with any physical-medium picture.

Try to think of a font that matches the picture while you are in this stage of the process. One of the traps I often fell prey to was making the font an afterthought - I would have a finished picture a week before I thought of a font, which usually did not match the picture.


2. Creation

This is the hardest part of the ANSI making process; hard work with little gratification. Do not let yourself lose sleep because it doesn't look good yet; just let it flow.

The first thing you should draw should be the main shapes (why bother with the fingernails when you have yet to start the face or body?). Use the colors you intend for the final copy - it is a waste of time to go through the whole thing in grey and go back to do the detail in color. Go from top to bottom, as that is the order the ANSI will appear. Do not procrastinate by drawing your initial-logos or statistics; these things come last.

At this point, it is a matter of hard-earned technique. When I go to do this, I just let my fingers do their work without even thinking about the keys. Sadly, this kind of spontaneity can only be reached through years of practice. You should be using the arrow keys (do not weigh yourself down with a rodent, as they have no place in ANSI making), the F1-F8 keys and the Alt-A and number keys like they were a part of you. Once you have to start thinking about the technical aspect instead of the design, your quality will quickly disappear. [If you want proof of this, I lost the use of my left arrow key, so subsequently, my latest 2 ansis have not been up to par].

Avoid straight up-down or right-left lines as well as the 90-degree line (whole blocks with the next one to the immediate southeast of the first). These systems make for bad form and show poor craftsmanship. Try to use more organic, natural-looking shapes, even if the look blocky.

To eliminate this blockiness usually faced by the ANSI artist practicing good shape, simply use the age-old Anti Aliasing technique. In case you do not know what this is, it is providing a median to tow contrasting colors. For instance, if your object is white on a black background, use a block of grey in between to soften the edges. You can use any of my cartoon-style or shaded ANSIs for reference on using this technique.

Another thing to keep in mind concerning shape is scale; keep everything well-proportioned, as nowadays, people tend to view ANSIs in a VGA mode before they bother looking at them in DOS Ascii mode.

I will now try to explain some basic techniques in the area of good shading usage for the artistically impaired.

Shading and light source should always be in the back of your mind, as you are probably either drawing from a mental picture or a line drawing on paper. This is where your artistic eye really gets tested, as you have no stupid Steve Oliff shading for you.

Try to avoid shading a foreground object into the background (unless the object you are trying to draw is going into the distance). To eliminate this problem, simply use a bright color to outline (this gives the appearance of a strong light source being blocked by your subject), or use a subtle color and do the same thing (this gives the appearance of a dim light somewhere in the distance). Either way, it keeps the image defined and clear.

Keep your shading consistant. Do not have a huge light on the subject's forehead and the rest of its face in darkness (unless this thing has got abnormally large brows or is not a humanoid). You can, however, use multiple light sources of varying strength and hue, but be warned, this is a severe undertaking, so do not get yourself bogged down with erraneous tasks.

Do not use a blocky shading scheme or an arbitrary placement of shaded blocks, you must try to find a happy median. Make use of the same techniques you learned about shape: use organic patterns. Look at what *real* things shade like for reference.

Try to use a nice color-scheme. Do not be limited to reality; if you want a blue sun, so be it.


3. Perfection

At this point, I assume that you have the bulk of the picture finished and in near-final form.

The fist thing for you to concern yourself with is the font. Many people foolishly think that a font is the finishing touch to the picture; as I said, these people are the fools who copy everything from Todd McFarlane or Sam Keith. As far as I care, these degenerates can go fuck themselves, as you an artist, not a copyist. Your font should, however be 1) good- looking, and 2) readable. It does you no good to make something that has an intricate design but cannot be read unless the observer knows what it says. Some of the best fonts I have seen are done by Eternal Darkness and Amroth, so consult their ANSIs for ideas. Avoid overused fonts (like the classic Hard Core folded paper font). Make your font fit your picture, and if the BBS has a long name, shorten it to a few initials so as not to overwhelm yourself.

As for statistics, make sure they are the last thing that the user sees. Try to avoid putting anything more than your one-line-maximum ASCII CHARACTER signature below the statistics. A well done stat screen is 23-24 (not 25) lines and is easily read.

Avoid obnoxious signature unless it is really cool and your picture is 200 or so lines. (the ONLY example of this that I can think of Amroth's latest masterpeice.) Just because the copyists fo it does not mean you should. If your customer pays for the ANSI, NEVER do greets or big group signatures, as such practices are obnoxious. Everyone will know who drew your ANSI as long as you make a nice signature in Ascii at the bottom of the stats.

If you feel your pic is still a little dry at this point, try to add a nice background for the picture or the stats (only do this in the stats if you are good at small, detailed pics that are distinguishable.)

4. Notes on Specific Effects With Shading and Form

As anyone who has tried drawing ANSI knows, there are some effects that can be difficult in the extreme to communicate with high-Ascii and 15 colors.

One of these is fire. Fire is very hard to draw even if one is presented with a Truecolor pallette and 1024x768 screen. The two main problems with drawing fire are color and shape. Fire is very hard to draw, so for the form, either get yourself a picture of fire or try to ad lib with it. As for color, the best way is to use the yellow (14) to read (4) color transistion scheme, but even this doesn't look perfect. Experiment and see what looks good with your particular picture. Note that anything that is engulfed in flames will appear grey and blackened (color 8 to color 0), or, if the thing has just now caught on fire, waves of fire will swirl around on the surface. The latter is very hard to draw, so I advise you to either avoid it on consult a real drawing of it.

Another problem-child for the ANSI artist is hair, especially when one is confined to a small space. If you are making a very long, large scale pic, then you can afford to draw individual stands of hair, so this is no problem. If you are not using such a large canvas, just try to get the basic shape and use that. Pubic hair (armpit/beard-not genitals hair, you pervert) is much harder to draw, as it has no long, wavy strands but rather twisted shapes. If you are trying to draw this, I bid you good luck - you will definitely need it.

For color, do not confine yourself to the synoptic color shaders. You do not have any obligation to use a pink (13) to purple (5) shading scheme to show violet. Use your brain. If you really feel limited by the DOS ANSI pallette, load up a program like iCEColor to make things easier on yourself, but be sure you make a note that you did so somewhere at the top of your ANSI.


5. Final Notes

Hopefully this brief guide has proven itself helpful to you. If not, then either you knew everything I said or I didn't make myself clear. Hopefully, neither of these two are the case.

-White Devil / Insane Creators Enterprises

[I do not have a permanent Internet mail address as of yet, but will have one within a few weeks. For now, I can often be found in #ice as WhiteDev in IRC]

'The Edge on Blade'

By Darkman [Blade]


The Birth Of An Art Group

Well, this is a last minute thing so I'll try to give you as much information as possible. Chad wanted me to do an article for Iridium on a newly formed group called BL/¥DE. I obviously agreed.


It was about six months ago when I heard of this group called RANCiD. It only had a few members and from what I know, a mainly local based group. After logging on to DoomsDay and seeing several group ads, I decided to apply. I was new to the elite scene and thought this would be an opportunity for me to 'spread' myself around.

After a few months of producing little art and only two packs, the group began to die. No one had even heard about us, and we were going nowhere. Another member, Sub Zero was determined to keep the group alive. He called me up and asked if I was staying in or not. At the time I was unsure what I was going to do, so I said why not! Dark Star turned the group over to Sub Zero who became the President and I was moved up to Senior Staff.

With a very small group and few members we began to gather up some distro sites and artists. One night while talking to my Remote Sysop and a RANCiD Member, JaGUAR, he informed me the group was changing its name. With this thought in mind, BL/¥DE was formed.

BL/¥DE is the type of art group who makes sure packs are released on time, and artists aren't left hanging out to dry. We try to keep in touch with every member as often as possible. Hopefully, we won't fizzle out in two months like every other small art group that is formed.

BL/¥DE is now accepting Ansi/VGA Artists, and Coders and Couriers. If you're looking to become a site, fill out an application and wait in line. As of now, all site and Head Quarter positions are filled (I think). We may still need a Western or Canadian HQ if I'm not mistaken. If you are unable to find an application generator, call Eternal Insanity - WHQ - 908.224.8780. If you would like the most recent generator, call The Dark Side - 609.358.1324 where the programmer himself resides. Again, I thank all the people who have helped make this group a success. For more information on BL/¥DE, contact me (Darkman) or Sub Zero and we'll fill you in on the latest.

- Darkman [BLADE SS] -

Submission Information

Iridium Staff


Here are a few notes, rules, and regulations to all those that wish to make submissions to Iridium Magazine.

Art Groups: All high ranking members that wish to write an article concerning their group -- please do so. Regardless of the size, talent, or success of your group, your article (if well written) will be included in the magazine. We do NOT discriminate against smaller groups.

Artists: Each month, Iridium Magazine chooses the best of the art we receive to be UTILIZED in the magazine. However, if your art is not chosen to be used in the magazine, it will be displayed in the Artwork section. If you would like to submit a piece of art (Ansi, VGA, or RIP) to Iridium Magazine -- please do!

Individuals: If you would like to author an article for Iridium, then by all means get to it! All editorials that are well written will be included in the magazine (providing the number of submissions we recieve art not phenomenal).

Also, Iridium Magazine did plan to include a 'Letters to the Editor' section in this issue, but we did not receive enough. If you have something to say about, ask about, or suggest to Iridium Magazine -- please address a letter to our Editor, Raistlin, and submit it to the magazine. You will get a DIRECT, SPECIFIC, and HONEST answer, rather than posting your comments on a network and getting mixed replies.


Regulations for ARTICLES submitted to Iridium:

  1. Articles must be more than 60 lines long.
  2. Articles must be formatted using column 76 as your right column.

** Please try to proofread your articles for spelling mistakes, typos and avoid using "..." (the correct usage is " . . . "), ";), :), :D, etc..), profanity, and any other ridiculous language.

All of these 'errors' will be edited out by Iridium, but following these guidelines simply makes our job easier.


A closing note:

Because of the new subject matter to be included in Iridium Magazine Issue #4 (VGA, RIP, and Demos) we would appreciate any submissions that you could make. We would like to make Issue #4 prolific and interesting, and we need your help to do it!

Thank you.

-- Any submissions to Iridium Magazine should be uploaded to The Shadowlands.

Interview Section Info

Iridium Staff


Iridium's Interview Section will contain:

For this issue:

  • ONE INTERVIEW! Sorry, but that's all we had time to get.

For future issues:

  • Interviews with personalities from the ansi scene.
  • Interviews with personalities from the VGA scene.
  • Interviews with personalities from the demo scene.
  • Interviews with personalities from the RIP scene.

Inside info:

For next month: Gore of Future Crew, RedMan of ACiD, and MORE!

A side note:

Iridium, in doing interviews, will provide you with interviews with some of the less seen personalities out there. We will not do interviews with people you see everyday, and know enough about from reading their posts on the networks. We will try to do either 'shy' people, or those who have been removed from the 'scene' for some time. We hope you will learn from, and find the interviews interesting as a result of this criteria.

Interview with Force Ten

Xerobe [ACiD]


Interviewer: The Lord God Xerobe [ACiD]

-- Short Profile of Personality Interviewed --

  • Handle: Force Ten [iCE Senior Staff/Author of Revelation]
  • Real Name: Rick
  • Place of Residence: Northern New Jersey (201)
  • Age: 18

---

Xerobe: Hello is Rick there.

Force Ten: Yea, who is this?

Xerobe: Hey, this is Dan, Xerobe(zeerobe) calling on behalf of Iridium Magazine. Would you mind doing a brief interview?

Force Ten: Yea, okay.

Xerobe: What would you say is going on in iCE currently?

Force Ten: Well iCE right now has equal or better talent than it ever has and its ability, the great status it has, has been building for the last year. iCE is on the top of the scene.

Xerobe: What do you see so for iCE for the future?

Force Ten: iCE will be around for a long time, as long as everthing continues the way it has been for so long, iCE can continue to be on top of the scene. The only problem, people lately are often breaking the brotherhood iCE achieved.

Xerobe: What is the truth about Rivendell going down?

Force Ten: The board went down for number of reasons. 1) I did not want to deal with the phone bill. 2) Time restraints. 3) It was simply time. I had been running board for 8 years straight, it was just time for it to go down.

Xerobe: Bias, who do you think is the best ansi group out there.

Force Ten: I think iCE is on top, I do not think anyone else is up there.

Xerobe: What has been happening with you lately, both in and out of the computer world?

Force Ten: I just posted a message like this on Sanctuary a couple months ago. I just started college at Seton Hall, I am taking 7 courses (*20* credits). I also recently started a multi-line PD board with two of my friends, something we always wanted to do.

Xerobe: What is the future of Revelation?

Force Ten: <After a long sigh> Right now revelation is being worked on by a few guys in Canada. Theres a real possibly of a Revelation/2 project in the future.

Xerobe: Have you dropped the scene completly?

Force Ten: No. But I have slowed myself down to iCE only, mainly. My influence in iCE right now is mostly that of advising the staff on the important issues in the scene, letting other members take care of day-to-day jobs.

Xerobe: How do you respond to all the infamous 'tributes' to you from ACiD?

Force Ten: At first I was suprised by Sonic's first effort because I had only called him twice. However, when he decided to join ACiD the number was blown out of proposion. Yet, I liked it. It became one of the inside jokes of the iCE Senior Staff. Infact, we loved it so much we called Sonic and requested a second one. After much convinicing Sonic finally believed it was me and honored our strange request.


Xerobe: What is been the biggest change in the 'ansi groups' in the last year?

Force Ten: Biggest change? I would say the biggest change would have to recent influx of people with huge egos. Groups used to be for enjoyment of drawing ansis and complementing the pirate scene. Today for ego boosting anybody can quit a group because they are offeneded or simply want a change.

Xerobe: Anyone to Greet?

Force Ten: The Eel - the old friend who has vanished, Black Spyrit who got me started writing elite articles, all young artists keepit up, Rad Man - no hard feelings . . . thats all.

Xerobe: Anything to Share?

Force Ten: I may be quiet but I am still here. And do not rule out me coming back with a vengence sometime.

Interviewers Comments:

For a good 40 minutes afterwards Force Ten and I spoke, from what I understood, Rick has done so much for the 'scene' no matter what some people may say, Both TCS and CCi would not have reached the level the had w/o him. iCE most likely would not have existed without Force Ten. From what I had heard about him previous to our LONG conversation I expected an arrogant opinionated Rick but what I found was someone who quite quietly today helps runs one of the major groups, while in the past starting groups/concepts that we, the newer bbsers consider legendary. Overall I have the utmost respect for Force Ten, and wish him all of luck both computer-wise and otherwise.

Top 5 Information

Iridium Staff

Iridium's Top Five is compiled as follows:

Several artists or outstanding members of the 'art scene' are interviewed and asked which ansis they thought were the Top Five of this month. These lists are recorded, and point values are rewarded to the ansis as follows.

(Example)

   John Doe's Picks:       ANSIONE.ANS        50 pts 
                           ANSITWO.ANS        40 pts 
                           ANSITHR.ANS        30 pts 
                           ANSIFOU.ANS        20 pts 
                           ANSIFIV.ANS        10 pts

Once the picks of all the artists/members have been tallied, a final list of the Top Five ansis is compiled.

* A list of contributors to the 'Top Five' can be found in the member listing.

Review Information

Iridium Review Staff

Iridium Magazine's reviews are based on a 1 to 10 scoring basis. Each of three reviewers rates the ansi, and includes a 1-5 line description -- The ansi is then averaged, and a final score is devised for that particular ansi. These scores are not only used for that individual ansi, but for computing the 'Pack of the Month' also.

Pack of the Month -- The final scores of all ansis for their respective pack are totalled, and an average per ansi is obtained for each pack. The pack of the month is the pack with the highest average.

However, the 'Artist of the Month' is not obtained using the reviewer's ansi scores. It is obtained by adding the total points of voters in the 'Top Five' voting for each artist. So, not only does quality count -- But level of production is also a factor (and no, artists who produce 20 lousy ansis will not be awarded 'Artist of the Month').

This month's reviewers are:

  • Raistlin [iCE]
  • Spyder Man [Independent]
  • Village Idiot [Empire]
  • Elminster [Gothic]
  • Bad Karma <ACiD>

NOTE: The Empire 01-94 pack was not able to be reviewed because of time restraints.

ACiD February Update

Iridium Review Staff


ACiD February 1994 Update

---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
AE-VUDU  | ACiD Long Logo - Alter Ego                                  | 9.4 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Wow, longest ANSI I've seen from Alter Ego in a while.      | 9.0 
         | Especially unusual considering the fact that it's for ACiD  | 
         | and not a board advertisement for money.  The eyes were nice| 
Elminster| I must say, I am speechless.  This was amazing.  Wow, wow,  |10.0 
         | wow.  Homina, homina, homina.                               | 
Bad Karma| Great ansi! shading was excellent all the way through, but  | 9.5 
         | the pink and green at the end over did it.                  | 
Raistlin | Excellent! Great style, AE's best ever.. But, the green     | 
         | shtuff at the end ruined the chances of a 10!               | 9.5 
V. Idiot | Very nice ansi, although sloppy in some areas, he pulls it  | 
         | off at the end. Better font needed.                         | 9.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
AN-CAESR | Caesar's Palace - Andrew Nice                               | 4.8 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | I didn't like this ANSI too much.  Too much black and brown | 5.0 
         | space, and the actual picture wasn't that hot either.       | 
Elminster| Blah.  Boring.  Basic.  The 3 B's.                          | 4.5 
Bad Karma| The brown background didn't help, but the pic was nicley    | 6.0 
         | done.                                                       | 
Raistlin | Ewww. This ansi lacked detail, and overall poorly done.     | 2.5 
V. Idiot | Well shaded, but wasn't meant to be an ansi.                | 6.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
BK-CH02  | Channel Zer0 - Bad Karma                                    | 6.8 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Effective usage of black lines on the guy's face to create  | 8.0 
         | a nice effect.  Good example of how quality is what counts  | 
         | not just quantity.                                          | 
Elminster| Pretty good, though a bit disproportioned in places.        | 6.5 
Bad Karma| OWN ANSI - NOT REVIEWED.                                    | 
Raistlin | Nice ansi, a little vauge in some spots, disproportioned.   | 6.5 
V. Idiot | Some areas could have been shaded more efficiently.         | 6.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
BK-CP1   | Corrosive Poison - Bad Karma                                | 7.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | The slime covering the guy was drawn very well.  It was     | 8.0 
         | integrated into the ANSI, rather than superimposed on top   | 
         | of the guy.                                                 | 
Elminster| I think it's Forge.  Anyway, it's cool.                     | 7.0 
Bad Karma| OWN ANSI - NOT REVIEWED.                                    | 
Raistlin | The slime is done VERY well, the face needs a LITTLE work.  | 8.0 
V. Idiot | Good look, and fits well w/ board name. Nicely done.        | 7.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
BK-DD1   | Digital Disturbance - Bad Karma                             | 7.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Another nice ANSI from Bad Karma, of a very different type. | 7.5 
         | He shows his range of talent in being able to draw three    | 
         | very different types of ANSI nicely.                        | 
Elminster| Not too great.  The hand looked manly and gross.            | 5.0 
Bad Karma| OWN ANSI - NOT REVIEWED.                                    | 
Raistlin | This ansi is the best Japanimation I have seen in a long    | 
         | time, the best ansi I have seen BK do yet. Shading and pro- | 
         | portions were excellent.                                    | 9.0 
V. Idiot | Great! Well put together, curves well defined and shaded.   | 8.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
DR-BAUD  | Baudville - Duster                                          | 6.3 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Best Euro ANSI I've ever seen (I've usually only seen the   | 7.0 
         | ones from the iCEPack).  Not quite as good as Bad Karma's.  | 
Elminster| This guy is good at Japanimation's, but could use practice. | 6.0 
Bad Karma| Face was nicely done, the body could've been better...      | 6.0 
Raistlin | Nice japanimation, and from what we know of Euro-guys, great| 6.0 
V. Idiot | Liked it, but some areas seemed mis-shaded.                 | 6.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
DT-DOD2  | Domain of Destruction - Dr.Tongue                           | 6.1 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | It started off very nicely at the top, but the quality      | 7.5 
         | tapered a little as the ANSI went down.  The bottom was too | 
         | red and illegible, but it started off on the right foot.    | 
Elminster| Cool skull and Mortal Kombat like logo, but the face was    | 7.0 
         | blah!                                                       | 
Bad Karma| I was impressed with the background and skull, but the face | 5.0 
         | killed it.                                                  | 
Raistlin | The skull was nice, but the face was totally out of propor- | 
         | tion. More work, and this ansi could have been something.   | 5.5 
V. Idiot | Started off well, but the face was distorted.               | 5.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
IM-AMBER | Amber - Iron Man                                            | 7.8 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | I would have picked this as one of the top ANSI's as the    | 8.5 
         | month, except it seems as if Iron Man was rushed to reach   | 
         | a deadline, so the stats and font weren't that impressive.  | 
Elminster| Very confusing.  Are you sure that's Thor Greggie-Boy?      | 7.0 
Bad Karma| Very nice!  Shading was well done, but after the face, I    | 9.0 
         | needed VGA to figure the picture out.                       | 
Raistlin | Nice, but IM is still drawing to large for ansi. IM: In the | 
         | future, please try to scale things down so 320x200 isn't    | 
         | necessary!                                                  | 6.5 
V. Idiot | Captured the look of the face perfectly, nice use of shading| 8.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈----- 
KP-ALPHA | Alpha 2010 - Kingpin                                        | 2.7 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | I think it shows that Kingpin hasn't been drawing ANSI for  | 4.0 
         | a while.  It wasn't clean, and the shading was messy. He    | 
         | needs to catch up to the quality level of current artists.  | 
Elminster| Yuck!  Don't like this one bit.  Get with the times.        | 2.5 
Bad Karma| I didn't like this one at all...  Why re-release it?        | 2.0 
Raistlin | Can you say 'vomit' boys and girls? Wasn't this already     | 
         | released, also?                                             | 1.5 
V. Idiot | Ugh. Not made for ansi.                                     | 2.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
KS-IC1   | Insane Creation - Kronos                                    | 7.7 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | I don't know what kind of guys these are that everyone      | 8.0 
         | seems to be drawing this month, but I liked this one the    | 
         | best.  It wasn't as detailed as some of the others, but I   | 
         | liked the fade of the aquamarine in the background; it was  | 
         | simple, but effective, and led right into the font.         | 
Elminster| Cool Japanim.!  But the font was basic.                     | 8.0 
Bad Karma| Very nice Japanamation, the eyes seemed strange.            | 7.5 
Raistlin | Very nice, good use of colors. However, for some reason the | 
         | way the eyes were done didn't fair well w/ me.              | 8.0 
V. Idiot | Although it was overshaded, nice... One of his better pics. | 7.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
SD-DIST1 | Digital Disturbance - Sand                                  | XX 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | See comments in iCE Review.                                 | 
Elminster| See comments in iCE Review.                                 | 
Bad Karma| See Comments in iCE Review.                                 | 
Raistlin | See comments in iCE Review.                                 | 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
SN-PAL1  | Palladium - Spawn                                           | 5.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | This ANSI definitely could have benefitted from additional  | 6.0 
         | use of shading, but since Spawn's a newer artist, he'll     | 
         | develop the talent over time.                               | 
Elminster| A bit dissapointing this one was.  It needed alot more      | 6.0 
         | shading!                                                    | 
Bad Karma| Rushed?  Definately needed some more shading.               | 5.0 
Raistlin | Disproportioned, shading is very badly needed.              | 4.0 
V. Idiot | Too much free space in areas of face and head, work on      | 
         | curves and more shading needed.                             | 6.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
SO-CH01  | Channel Zer0 - Somms                                        | 7.7 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Pretty nice for his first ACiD ANSI.  This was another      | 7.0 
         | example of effective usage of black space with the guy's    | 
         | face and hair.                                              | 
Elminster| Cool!  Amazing!  Wicked Cool!  This ANSI should possibly    | 9.0 
         | get a little award for realism and also for the experience  | 
         | the artist has had.  Very little.  New talent, amazing      | 
         | talent.                                                     | 
Bad Karma| This one was awesome!  Somms has made an extreme improvement| 8.5 
Raistlin | Way to start off Mr. Somms, well done w/ a unique style.    | 7.0 
V. Idiot | Well shaded w/ well established curves.                     | 7.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
T2-ADC1  | After Dark Club - Terminator2                               | 7.8 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | I loved this ANSI, excellent usage of shading, and the font | 9.0 
         | at the end was nice too.  He could have put the guy's head  | 
         | closer to his sig in the beginning though, instead of having| 
         | that much blank space.                                      | 
Elminster| Blah, this was not worthy of that 9 Spydey!  More like this>| 6.5 
Bad Karma| My favorite of his in the pack, great shading.  Nicely Done.| 8.0 
Raistlin | T2's best of the pack by far, excellent detail and propor-  | 
         | tions. Nice stubble effect on the chin.                     | 8.5 
V. Idiot | Well shaded w/ nice font, fins needed to be bigger.         | 7.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
T2-CTDL1 | The Citadel - Terminator2                                   | 6.9 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Another nice ANSI from Terminator2.  It was a little simple | 7.5 
         | though, considering that he has much more talent than this. | 
Elminster| This one was a bit better.  Good use of highlighting.       | 7.0 
Bad Karma| I liked this one, simple and good shading.                  | 7.5 
Raistlin | Not too bad, but the previous was much more impressive.     | 6.5 
V. Idiot | A little too plain, the neck just wasn't there.             | 6.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
T2-DIST1 | Distorted Reality - Terminator2                             | 5.2 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | A waste of his talent.  He can do so much more than simple  | 6.5 
         | Spawn ANSI's, especially when he doesn't even draw much of  | 
         | him.                                                        | 
Elminster| Ugh!  What was that?  Was that supposed to be Spawn?!?      | 4.5 
Bad Karma| Porportions seemed off.  Just wasn't much to it.            | 5.0 
Raistlin | Well, incredibly short, and lack of detail. Not much to it. | 5.5 
V. Idiot | Anyone can draw a Spawn mask.                               | 4.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
T2-DNTOX | Deadly Intoxication - Terminator2                           | 5.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Nice head, but I'd like to see Terminator2 begin to make    | 7.5 
         | some longer ANSI's, rather than just do heads with fonts    | 
         | underneath.                                                 | 
Elminster| Ewwwwww!  Stop rushing and take some time!  It's definately | 4.0 
         | not Scottish!  So what does that make it SNL fans?          | 
Bad Karma| This, like the last one, lacks T2's usual quallity.         | 5.5 
Raistlin | This is again short, out of proportion, and NO BODY! :)     | 4.5 
V. Idiot | Too spotty on the top, but excellent job on the mouth.      | 6.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
T2-FUN1  | Funderbird - Terminator2                                    | 4.4 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | This ANSI wasn't as strong as some of his others, but that's| 6.5 
         | probably because of weaker subject choice.                  | 
Elminster| A little better, but not by much.  I think you burnt your-  | 4.5 
         | self out there guy, eh?                                     | 
Bad Karma| Shading wasn't that bad, but the jaw seemed dislocated.     | 4.0 
Raistlin | Ack! Horrible PITT! (It is PITT, right?) Bleck! Slow down!  | 2.5 
V. Idiot | You needed to view it in VGA to see any fade effects.       | 4.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
T2-TEH1  | The Eleventh Hour - Terminator2                             | 6.2 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Not bad, but the guy's head is kinda long, and it's really  | 7.5 
         | obvious when viewed in 640x480.                             | 
Elminster| Spydey my boy, you are truly over-rating.  This one was not | 5.5 
         | that great.                                                 | 
Bad Karma| Alot Better than the last few.  Couldn't the eyes be a      | 6.5 
         | different color though?                                     | 
Raistlin | Not too bad this time, eyes were hard to make out.          | 5.5 
V. Idiot | Looks like his head is coming off, good shading, no propor! | 6.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
TC-BV2   | Beyond Vision - The Clone                                   | 7.1 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Nice ANSI of Spawn, good color selection (from a non-comic  | 8.0 
         | reader's point of view, I don't know how accurate it is     | 
         | compared to the original, but it looks nice)                | 
Elminster| It was ok, a few proportion problems.                       | 6.0 
Bad Karma| Strange, but it looks good.  Go figure...                   | 7.0 
Raistlin | Oh, I liked this one, quite nice. A great Danzig-like style.| 7.0 
V. Idiot | Nicely done Spawn.                                          | 7.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
TC-GOD   | Generations of Doom - The Clone                             | 5.8 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | The ANSI was okay, but the guy's nose was kinda ugly looking| 7.0 
         | I won't comment on the font, since I've heard that it wasn't| 
         | his original work.                                          | 
Elminster| Generally well done, though the nose was odd.  I too won't  | 6.5 
         | mention the font.  Grr...                                   | 
Bad Karma| This was ok.  Could have used alittle less shading for      | 6.5 
         | outlines.                                                   | 
Raistlin | What happened? This is very odd. Font and shading are bad.  | 3.5 
V. Idiot | This simply didn't work.                                    | 5.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈----

iCE January 1994 ANSI Pack

---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
CC-FSTAT | File Stat Menu - CybeR ChrisT                               | 2.9 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | A step below everything else in the iCEPack, I guess I now  | 2.5 
         | see the reason for an iCE Trial pack, but CC does improve   | 
         | as the pack goes along                                      | 
Elminster| Nothing special here.                                       | 2.0 
Bad Karma| Decent toon...                                              | 3.0 
Raistlin | Nice, but way too short...                                  | 3.5 
V. Idiot | Eyes were too close together, and beak didn't curve right.  | 3.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
CC-IRID2 | Iridium Ad - CybeR ChrisT                                   | 3.4 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Not very impressive, but I don't understand why a work done | 2.5 
         | by an iCE Trial artist done in September appears in the     | 
         | January update                                              | 
Elminster| Better, yet still not great.  I see why he is Trial.        | 3.0 
Bad Karma| Not impressed, I like his cartoons better...                | 3.0 
Raistlin | This is nice, the pic is very good, w/ a nice style..       | 5.5 
V. Idiot | Weird mix of shaded and unshaded areas.                     | 3.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
CC-MSTAT | Message Stat Menu - CybeR ChrisT                            | 4.2 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Still hasn't reached the level of quality I'd expect from   | 2.5 
         | an iCEPack                                                  | 
Elminster| I liked this one much better.  A bit of proportion problems | 4.0 
         | yet still an improvement.                                   | 
Bad Karma| Improved from the first stat screen...                      | 4.0 
Raistlin | This is very nice, improving w/ each.                       | 5.5 
V. Idiot | Real nice, this artist has great quality and potential      | 5.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
CC-SOP2  | Seige of Power - CybeR ChrisT                               | 2.3 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Same stuff as the rest of his earlier works, just a little  | 3.0 
         | longer.                                                     | 
Elminster| Ack!  Learn proportions.  Quick!                            | 1.5 
Bad Karma| I'd prefer to look at the stat screen then this.            | 2.0 
Raistlin | Ahh! The pic is out of proportion, and the font is horrible!| 2.5 
V. Idiot | Freaky.                                                     | 2.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
CC-TAZ1  | Pic of Tazmanian Devil - CybeR ChrisT                       | 3.2 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Nothing special still, but nice subject choice..            | 3.5 
Elminster| Hrmm.  Why is he purple?!  Taz don't like!  Spletsplittle!  | 2.5 
Bad Karma| To solid, even for a cartoon.                               | 2.5 
Raistlin | He wants to be purple! This is nice, why not for a board?   | 5.0 
V. Idiot | Some parts of this weren't defined enough.                  | 2.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
CC-TSL   | The Shadowlands - CybeR ChrisT                              | 4.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | CC's started to add stats and fonts to his ANSI's...        | 3.5 
Elminster| That nose!  Where did he get the banana?  Proportion        | 3.0 
         | yet again.                                                  | 
Bad Karma| Liked this one, done well with a nice font.                 | 6.0 
Raistlin | A little out of proportion, nice font.                      | 4.5 
V. Idiot | No complaints to make on this one.                          | 6.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
CC-U4IA3 | Euphoria - CybeR ChrisT                                     | 6.4 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | This was the first pic from CC that I appreciated, nice     | 6.0 
         | usage of blocks to create curves...nice legs...nice font    | 
Elminster| This one had a great deal of improvement.  Still a little   | 5.5 
         | disproportioned.                                            | 
Bad Karma| Curves were nice, but also out of proportion.               | 5.0 
Raistlin | This is great! Good use of iCEColor, and the hair looks     | 
         | awesome. This is definately CC's best of the pack!          | 7.5 
V. Idiot | This is one of the best shaded cartoon characters that I    | 
         | have seen in a long time.                                   | 8.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
CC-USTAT | User Stat Menu - CybeR ChrisT                               | 5.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Bugs with an attitude...better than his earlier pictures,   | 5.0 
         | probably because of more colors, and an added background    | 
Elminster| It's... ok I guess.  Still, it's got that CC charm!         | 4.5 
Bad Karma| His best stat screen.  Liked this one alot                  | 5.5 
Raistlin | This is one of the best stat screens I have seen in a while.| 6.5 
V. Idiot | Good. Good. Good. Good. Good.                               | 6.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
DSM-ELEU | Eleutheria - da Salmon Moose                                | 5.9 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Calvin & Hobbes...probably ressembles the original comic    | 5.5 
         | but it's hard to do anything really special with cartoons.  | 
         | I didn't like the stats much either..                       | 
Elminster| What's with the toons this month?  Ah well, it's ok.        | 5.0 
Bad Karma| Well done, but nothing special.                             | 5.0 
Raistlin | Pretty nice, very good resemblance to the actual characters.| 7.5 
V. Idiot | Aww.. Isn't that sweet? Good detail on this small scale.    | 6.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
DSM-PG   | The Power Grid - da Salmon Moose                            | 5.4 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | I've seen this pic before, from Tempus maybe, but the       | 5.0 
         | shading looked kinda funny on this one..                    | 
Elminster| TRW/TT did it better.  But at least we know it's original!  | 5.0 
Bad Karma| Nice job, especially for a new artist. Whats with the frame?| 6.0 
Raistlin | Nice job, w/ original shading.. But I don't like that line! | 6.0 
V. Idiot | I don't understand why so many people have drawn this.      | 5.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
DSM-SANC | Sanctuary - da Salmon Moose                                 | 5.1 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | I like Garfield.  The ANSI was nice, but still nothing      | 6.0 
         | special.                                                    | 
Elminster| Yuckie!  Crusty!  Garfield sure put on the hip weight!      | 3.5 
Bad Karma| Pale compared to the last one. OK, but again nothing special| 4.0 
Raistlin | Decent pic of Garfield, nothing stellar.                    | 6.0 
V. Idiot | I liked this one, funny. Although he looked a bit tubby.    | 6.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
IN-GRID1 | The Power Grid - Incubus                                    | 5.7 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Not bad, but the actual face of the guy didn't take up much | 6.0 
         | of the picture...the stats and the stuff in the beginning   | 
         | made up the majority of the pic.                            | 
Elminster| Oooie shading job.  Use more shade blocks.                  | 5.0 
Bad Karma| OK pic, but the shading needed help.                        | 6.0 
Raistlin | I think we're trying a BIT to hard to have a unique style.  | 6.0 
V. Idiot | Spottiness on the fact detracted from the picture.          | 5.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
IN-ZERO  | Channel Zer0 - Incubus                                      | 6.4 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | He should have used a bit more effective shading on the     | 5.5 
         | woman's face to make the ANSI better                        | 
Elminster| Cut down on the sig.  Put more time in the ANSI.  Still, it | 6.5 
         | was decent.                                                 | 
Bad Karma| Great ANSI, but did it need all the stuff on top?           | 7.5 
Raistlin | Fairly well done, but drawn on far too large of a scale.    | 7.0 
V. Idiot | Some curves off, and the shading did not seem to work right.| 6.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
LM-TSL   | The Shadowlands - Lord Mischief                             | 3.3 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Not much shading or anything, but I guess Lord Mischief     | 5.5 
         | hasn't done many ANSI's in a while, so he'll just have to   | 
         | get used to it again.                                       | 
Elminster| Wasn't LM was a Vga god!  Is that Pitt?  Sorry to say, but  | 1.5 
         | I did not like it at all.  Stick to Vga's.                  | 
Bad Karma| Not bad for an original.  Could use some more shading.      | 4.0 
Raistlin | I know its original, but it stillneeds some work.           | 3.0 
V. Idiot | Ouch.                                                       | 2.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
LS-DATAC | Data Connection - Lord Soth                                 | 8.6 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Looked kinda like LS drew a whole bunch of heads and stacked| 8.0 
         | them on top of each other.  Looks kinda like a totem pole   | 
         | because of that, but the heads were drawn well, and I liked | 
         | the font too.                                               | 
Elminster| G-reat!  I like it!  I like it alot!  I like it much-0 taco!| 9.0 
Bad Karma| Excellent job on the first 3 heads, the last one was decent.| 9.0 
Raistlin | Sloppy, but on the whole: Lenghty, and very nice.           | 8.0 
V. Idiot | Very good, but much better w/ a nicer font.                 | 9.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
LS-GOD   | Gates of Destiny - Lord Soth                                | 6.4 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | I didn't like the beginning of the ANSI, but the head in the| 7.0 
         | middle was drawn fairly well.  The font at the end wasn't   | 
         | that good though.                                           | 
Elminster| Ouch.  What happened here?                                  | 4.0 
Bad Karma| Pretty good, alittle misproportioned.                       | 7.5 
Raistlin | Nice, short.. But decent detail.                            | 7.5 
V. Idiot | Didn't curve right on the left, too much random shading.    | 6.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
LS-WALL2 | The Wall - Lord Soth                                        | 5.6 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | The ANSI was just a head with a font underneath, but the    | 7.5 
         | head was well drawn, and the quickie font by Metal Head     | 
         | on the bottom was simple, but nice.                         | 
Elminster| A bit better, but what happened to your quality.  Shading   | 5.0 
         | was WAY below average.                                      | 
Bad Karma| I agree with Elminster.  Lacks his usual quality.           | 5.5 
Raistlin | This is plain horrible for LS.                              | 5.0 
V. Idiot | The shading under the nose threw off the whole pic.         | 5.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
MH-CP    | Corrosive Poison - Metal Head                               | 6.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Decent drawing, but there were others from the same month   | 6.5 
         | that I liked better that were basically the same.  Putting  | 
         | stat boxes at the end was kinda lazy                        | 
Elminster| Ummm, errr.... Stick to Maxx MH! :)... this face was, well, | 6.0 
         | you decide.                                                 | 
Bad Karma| Hair and eyes were nice, mouth and nose looked strange.     | 7.5 
Raistlin | Overall it was ok, but the mouth looked ridiculous.         | 6.5 
V. Idiot | Definately not one of his greatest.                         | 6.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
MH-RR1   | Road Runner - Metal Head                                    | 7.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | I really liked this cartoon ANSI, the font in the end went  | 7.5 
         | very well with the picture.                                 | 
Elminster| Pretty good.  Much better than the last.                    | 7.0 
Bad Karma| Great cartoon.  Everything fits together well.              | 7.5 
Raistlin | This is a great Calvin cartoon! I love it!                  | 8.5 
V. Idiot | Captured the look of his face, everything declined after..  | 7.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
MH-SONIC | Sonic Boom - Metal Head                                     | 6.6 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Another Calvin & Hobbes ANSI...the original pic for this one| 6.5 
         | wasn't as good as the other one, therefore, the ANSI wasn't | 
         | as good either.  Calvin kinda looks like Elmer Fudd with his| 
         | scrunched up face.                                          | 
Elminster| Teehee.  Funny quote there.  Brrr, it shore is cold up here | 6.5 
         | in the tundra pa, eh?  Pass me a cold one Nanook!  Throw    | 
         | some whale blubber on the barby!                            | 
Bad Karma| Could be alittle better for the scale, but still nice.      | 7.0 
Raistlin | The whole idea was great, but everything looks out of whack.| 6.0 
V. Idiot | Looks good and feels good.                                  | 7.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
MH-TSP   | Side Pocket - Metal Head                                    | 8.2 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | I couldn't tell what it was at all, even in 640x480, but I  | 8.0 
         | liked it anyway.                                            | 
Elminster| I see it, but I dunno what it is.  It's darn purrty though! | 8.0 
Bad Karma| Great shading, but I never would've figured it out without  | 8.5 
         | a copy of Cybernary 1.                                      | 
Raistlin | Its the cover of Cybernary I, its a great job, nice colors. | 8.5 
V. Idiot | Hey, the cover of Cybernary.                                | 8.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
RT-PARA1 | Paradise Lost - RipTide                                     | 5.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | He probably should have used more colors in this ANSI.  I   | 7.0 
         | had problems telling what it was in 80x25.                  | 
Elminster| Ack!  Ooo!  Ugh!  Blech!  How many more words of disgust are| 4.0 
         | in existence?                                               | 
Bad Karma| The pic was to basic.                                       | 5.0 
Raistlin | Proportional problems, a little basic, but decent.          | 6.0 
V. Idiot | View in VGA to fix your proportions.                        | 5.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
SD-DIST1 | Distorted Reality - Sand                                    | 7.3 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Well, I guess there was a little controversy over whether   | 7.5 
         | this pic belonged to iCE or ACiD, but I'll review it here.  | 
         | It was hard to tell in 80x25 what the guy was, but it's     | 
         | much better in 640x480.  It's also got the unique Sand-style| 
         | of shading.                                                 | 
Elminster| See comments in ACiD Review.                                | 6.0 
Bad Karma| This is my favorit "Sand" ANSI.  Good job all around.       | 7.5 
Raistlin | I liked this alot, better in 320X200, but still has that    | 
         | beloved Sand style -- Your Spawn-Knight was still your best!| 8.0 
V. Idiot | He has his own method of shading, and free space, although  | 
         | I am sick of seeing this guy.                               | 7.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
SE-DAMAG | Damage Inc. - Special Ed                                    | 8.8 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | In my opinion, definitely the best ANSI of the pack.  I     | 9.0 
         | knew it was going to be good after seeing that cool little  | 
         | eye thing leading up to the ANSI.                           | 
Elminster| Gnome!  I like it!  I like it!  Lot's of improvement from   | 7.5 
         | last month!                                                 | 
Bad Karma| Definately the best in the pack. Excellent work!            |10.0 
Raistlin | Very nice, for 4+ months of work, it better be!             | 8.5 
V. Idiot | Great picture, but it needed a more detailed font.          | 9.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
SR-ELEU  | Eleutheria - Soul Rebel                                     | 6.2 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | First ANSI I've seen from him.  It looked like it was going | 7.0 
         | to be a long scroller, but he cut it off by sticking in the | 
         | board name and stats.                                       | 
Elminster| Improvising a bit on the colours there SR?  Couldn't you    | 6.5 
         | have used a better combo? :)                                | 
Bad Karma| Not bad, looks cut off...                                   | 6.0 
Raistlin | Nice style, a little short though, impressive font.         | 7.5 
V. Idiot | The head look too fat and scrunched.                        | 6.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈----

GOTHIC January 1994 Pack

---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
AT-CP    | Corrosive Poison - Aphex Twin                               | 6.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | I don't like Maxx too much, but it was only his shadow on   | 5.5 
         | the pic.  The ANSI was long, but didn't have much substance | 
Elminster| Great use of format IMHO.  A sort of abstract form not seen | 7.5 
         | much in ANSI.  The girl's face was done great, but the feet | 
         | -- oi!                                                      | 
Bad Karma| I really liked this one.  The girl was very well done.      | 8.5 
Raistlin | Didn't like it, looks rushed, and even though it is, it     | 
         | emits a 2-dimensional look. No depth effects found here.    | 5.5 
V. Idiot | Its Maxx, not much more to say.                             | 5.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
AT-PL    | Paradise Lost - Aphex Twin                                  | 6.7 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | I really couldn't tell what this ANSI was, but I'll assume  | 5.5 
         | that it was Maxx from the purple color.  Bad subject choice | 
         | not referring to Maxx himself, but his unusual position.    | 
Elminster| Another Maxx!  Argh!  Ah well, it was still cool.  Should   | 7.5 
         | have put the iz(sp?) in though. <SPLAT!>                    | 
Bad Karma| Another good one.                                           | 7.5 
Raistlin | Its kind of simple, along the same lines as the CP one.     | 6.5 
V. Idiot | Good job, but his teeth look a little out of whack.         | 6.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
AT-PZ    | Phantom Zone - Aphex Twin                                   | 8.6 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | This ANSI was much better than Aphex Twin's previous two    | 8.5 
         | efforts.  It didn't taper off noticably as the ANSI scrolled| 
         | even though there wasn't much detail in the second half.    | 
Elminster| Finally, no Maxx!  But another fad-man!  Spawn!  But what an| 9.0 
         | amazing pic it is!  His best yet by far!                    | 
Bad Karma| Real nice pic, a full view with great shading and depth.    | 9.5 
Raistlin | This is AT's best. Awesome effects done to show depth, this | 
         | ansi has a great style, and well done.                      | 8.5 
V. Idiot | I really liked the style this Spawn was done in.            | 8.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
CX-LANCE | Lancelot 2 - Cyber X                                        | 3.4 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Ouch, I'm not sure this logo belongs in the Gothic pack.    | 2.0 
         | It didn't look too good at all, no shading either.          | 
Elminster| Well, not one of his best.  Pretty basic, and the colours.. | 4.0 
Bad Karma| Font wasn't to bad, could've been better.                   | 4.0 
Raistlin | Too simple.                                                 | 3.0 
V. Idiot | I liked the cartoon style.                                  | 4.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
FE-RAM   | RAM - Forlorn Extender                                      | 7.1 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | It looked like it was going to be a really long scroller    | 7.5 
         | except it got cut off.  It was nice though.                 | 
Elminster| I agree.  Could have continued.  And perhaps a better job   | 7.0 
         | with the shading to.                                        | 
Bad Karma| Pic and shading was nice.  Simple for the scale.            | 6.5 
Raistlin | Overall it was well done, but looked interrupted.           | 6.5 
V. Idiot | Great, but his melon look way oversized! Proportion!        | 8.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
FI-EE    | Eternal Enigma - Forbidden Image                            | 6.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Not bad, but it should have been better proportioned.  The  | 7.0 
         | nose was too big, and the eyes were too close, and the face | 
         | was generally too thin.                                     | 
Elminster| Nose sort of off-set the pic, but it has a style all it's   | 7.5 
         | own.  And I like it!                                        | 
Bad Karma| This pic looks off, looks like he's saying "duh..."         | 6.0 
Raistlin | The nose ruined the whole the whole picture.                | 5.5 
V. Idiot | The proportions make him look kind of high.                 | 6.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
FN-PMTRX | Login Matrix - FusioN                                       | 3.4 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Not one of his better works, but I guess it's only a matrix | 2.5 
Elminster| The jaw looked really cheesy!  I was dissapointed when I saw| 4.5 
         | it.                                                         | 
Bad Karma| Sorry, this really dissapointed me.                         | 2.0 
Raistlin | FusioN has definately done better, the shading made no sense| 3.5 
V. Idiot | Another skull?                                              | 4.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
GL-GOT   | Gothic Logo - Golgotha                                      | 6.1 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Nice logo, nothing fancy.                                   | 6.5 
Elminster| Nifty!  The font was a real doozy!                          | 6.5 
Bad Karma| Nice neat font, sword was a good idea.                      | 7.0 
Raistlin | Fair. Just a nice, basic logo.                              | 5.5 
V. Idiot | This font is well done, but your basic logo.                | 5.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
GL-TTT66 | The Twisted Tower - Golgotha                                | 8.1 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | An original ANSI, nicely shaded, but something about the    | 8.0 
         | ANSI doesn't look right. It looks like the guy's head is    | 
         | hiding behind his cloak, instead of inside it.              | 
Elminster| Great ANSI!  I loved the face, but the hand was a little    | 8.0 
         | messed up.                                                  | 
Bad Karma| Very nice work, even more impressive as an original.        | 8.5 
Raistlin | This is great, effect done w/ shading is amazing, high      | 
         | quality, carefully done work.                               | 8.0 
V. Idiot | This ansi is originally done, and clean. Nice job!          | 8.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
KN-MH    | Mass Hysteria - Kinayda                                     | 7.3 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Not bad for a former courier, the guy's hood was a bit long | 7.5 
         | though, and the colors of the font didn't fit in too well.  | 
Elminster| I thought this was very well done.  Only complaint was that | 8.0 
         | the hair made the head look flat.                           | 
Bad Karma| This pic was well done, no complaints...                    | 8.0 
Raistlin | Well done and clean, but the curves looked choppy.          | 7.0 
V. Idiot | Too much run of the mill shading technique.                 | 6.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
KN-UKF   | Urban Killing Fields - Kinayda                              | 5.6 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Not bad, but the guy's visor was too close to his nose, and | 7.0 
         | the font was a bit too spread out.                          | 
Elminster| Another good one, though not as good. The stomach muscles   | 7.0 
         | were just a mass of globs.                                  | 
Bad Karma| Stomach looked strange, and the face seemed alittle squished| 6.5 
Raistlin | Again, clean, but the curves looked choppy.                 | 6.0 
V. Idiot | The stomach looked much too lumpy.                          | 5.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
STR-COR2 | Corruption Logo - Stranger                                  | 6.9 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | I like the fade, even though the color choice was a bit ugly| 7.0 
Elminster| Interesting colours.  Original Looking font.                | 6.5 
Bad Karma| Original choice of colors, nicely done.                     | 7.0 
Raistlin | Nice choice of colors, nicely faded. Good font.             | 6.5 
V. Idiot | This is an awesome font!                                    | 7.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
STR-CPOI | Corrosive Poison - Stranger                                 | 8.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Nice usage of black spaces. The Canadian flag in the sig    | 8.0 
         | was nice.  The stomach area took up too much space though.  | 
Elminster| Great!  I loved it! It made me go, "Hey, cool!".  The face  | 9.5 
         | made me hear a scream!  And that skull, how original! (RMn!)| 
Bad Karma| Excellent job!  The face/skull was awesome.                 | 8.5 
Raistlin | Nice work, the skull was well detailed and shaded. However, | 
         | the body was vague, needs more detail and definition.       | 8.0 
V. Idiot | I loved this one! Excellently done.                         | 8.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
STR-GOT  | Gothic Logo - Stranger                                      | 5.6 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Just your ordinary logo.  Unusual color choice.             | 6.0 
Elminster| Basic font, but he deserves a break. :)                     | 6.0 
Bad Karma| Basic font, nice effect, but nothing special                | 5.0 
Raistlin | Simple, basic, nothing to brag about.                       | 5.5 
V. Idiot | Pretty cool font, not much more to say.                     | 5.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
TRW-ELEU | Eleutheria - The Retarded Warrior                           | 5.7 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Kinda looks like Batman, after being hit in the face with a | 3.5 
         | frying pan.  Could have used shading on his face.           | 
Elminster| No, it's not Batman.  It's the tick!  And it looks like him | 7.0 
         | exactly!  Could have used more shading.                     | 
Bad Karma| I agree with Elminster... again...                          | 6.5 
Raistlin | Fairly well done, nice look, but more shading needed.       | 7.0 
V. Idiot | I wasn't wild about this, the font needed work too.         | 4.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
TRW-LUCD | LUCID - The Retarded Warrior                                | 6.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | This is one of those pictures that probably would have      | 4.5 
         | looked better, if done as a longer scroller, instead of as  | 
         | a single screen, where you can't add much detail.           | 
Elminster| For a small pic meant to be an interface, it is great!      | 7.5 
Bad Karma| Great detail for such a small pic.                          | 7.5 
Raistlin | Fairly well done again, needed more detail.                 | 5.5 
V. Idiot | Well done for such a small scale.                           | 7.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
VT-PL1   | Paradise Lost - Veritech                                    | 4.9 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | It looked like a whole bunch of Simpson heads stacked on    | 5.0 
         | top of each other, rather than a complete ANSI pic.         | 
Elminster| Probably his best yet.  The only problem would be a few     | 6.5 
         | cases of bad proportion.                                    | 
Bad Karma| The only thing I liked was the font, rest of the pic needed | 3.5 
         | some form of shading.                                       | 
Raistlin | Bad proportion all over, but font was fairly well done.     | 4.5 
V. Idiot | Gigantic cartoon of the simpsons, some bad proportions.     | 5.0 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
VT-QR3   | Quantum Reality - Veritech                                  | 4.7 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈---- 
Spyder M | Well, it looks like an original picture at least. Nice font | 4.5 
Elminster| I liked this one as well, though not as much.               | 6.0 
Bad Karma| Alot of things could improve on this ANSI, but atleast there| 
         | was something to the pic this time.                         | 4.0 
Raistlin | A little better, but simply needs more time put into it.    | 5.0 
V. Idiot | I didn't like the mix of shaded and unshaded.               | 4.5 
---------≈-------------------------------------------------------------≈----

Pack of the Month

Iridium Review Staff


This month's 'Pack of the Month' is the ACiD February 1994 Aquisition Update. With an average score per ansi of 6.435 it safely beat the Gothic Revival which scored an average of 6.27. The iCE pack came in with an average of 5.65 per ansi.

Artist of the Month

Iridium Review Staff


This month's 'Artist of the Month' is Alter Ego from ACiD Productions. With his Vodoo ansi for ACiD, he more than doubled the score of his nearest contender in the Top Five voting.

Honorable Mention: Metal Head [iCE], Special Ed [iCE], and Sand [iCE].

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10 Dec 2024
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@guest
9 Dec 2024
Is there a way to play on the Dreamcast an iso file? How to do it?
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Lost Civilizations (@lostcivilizations)
8 Dec 2024
Just found this image online
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Lost Civilizations (@lostcivilizations)
8 Dec 2024
The Dogon are a population living near Mandiagara, 300 km south of Timbuktu, in Mali. Two anthropologists, Marcel Griaule and Germaine Diet ...
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eZine lover (@eZine)
8 Dec 2024
Yes, it's an excellent article. Unfortunately, not many people write such pieces anymore. Instead, it seems like everyone is focused on ...
a Francesco Arca production 2016 - 2024
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