The Party 2000 Graphics
grudgingly reviewed by Wade
It's that time of year again, an eminent date in every scener's calendar.
It's a time of year when games players and porn traders from across the globe
unite in a single building, to indulge in their favourite pastime with
like-minded souls. It's a time of honour and prestige, when mortals are
transformed into heroes and heroes into legends...oh, and there's a few
scene competitions thrown in there too.
Yes, believe it or not, somewhere amid this mob of retarded porn addicts
and Quake players, there exists a remnant of an ancient culture once known as
"the demo scene". Myth has it that such people were the original dwellers
of The Party halls - long before they were driven from their native homeland
by RPG toting nerds, greedy profiteers and greasy perverts.
I managed to probe beyond the masses, into this furtive society, seek out
the survivors and observe their endeavours to sustain their degenerating
heritage. Here are my findings...
5th Place - Realeyes by DJ Larry
A bright and colourful depiction, showing a silhouetted child riding a
winged unicorn. Realeyes has what could be described as an early 90's look,
with a Vallejo-esque motif and a rather grainy and restricted quality about it.
It's not a particularly abominable composition - the proportion cannot be
faulted - but frankly, it's far too stale and banal to maintain the
viewers attention, lacking technique, originality, and any distinguishing
features. Such an image has very limited appeal and will inevitably be
forgotten in days to come.
4th Place - It's Time by Visualize
It's time? Time for what - another bland and imitative airbrushed collage?
Here we see a oddly proportioned girl, heedlessly outlined in front of an
incomplete clock face. She gazes down at a pocket watch...and that's the
general essence of this rather basic motif. Surrounding this girl, there
are swirls of colour, blended together to create a misty effect - which
happens to be an effortless feat with a 24 bit palette and auto-anti-aliasing
tools at hand. And while the picture contains a trace of style, it neglects
definition and detail, appearing like the inattentive and spiritless work of a
semi-apt Photoshop user.
3rd Place - Eye by Noogman
And now we have yet another 24 bit collage, this time by Noogman. It's so
tragic to see another Amiga-scene celebrity sacrificing his potential and
falling into today's modern effortless trends. The page is made up of five
fundamental scenes: the head of an eagle, the face of a woman, an enlarged
eye, a flying eagle and a shark in water, blended together with transparent
airbrushing and faint clouds. This image is not a demonstration of Noogman's
skills, with which we, as Amiga sceners, are familiar. Its superficial
qualities are generally perfect - save for a few conspicuous outlines - but
there are few factors which give this picture an identity. To summarise, Eye
is a well constructed image, but is merely an imitation of a thousand others
like it.
2nd Place - All Alone by TMK
Why do I get the impression that nobody is trying anymore? TMK is another
artist I once admired, yet he too, it seems, has suffered a lapse in
motivation this year. All Alone is a picture of an Asian girl crouching in
front of a murky brown background. It's not as melancholic or as moody as
the title (or the accompanying text) would suggest. The lack of sharpness
and detail makes the girl look lifeless and stoic, and the background offers
no depth or feeling. While the girl by herself would have made a sufficient
piece of clipart, it fails to constitute a complete image, and so the result
appears unfinished and abandoned.
1st Place - Snakefighting by Peachy
The legend returns! But as with most comebacks, Peachy has failed to
sustain the quality that initially earned his status in the Amiga scene.
This is a perfect example of what can be achieved with synthetic airbrush
tools and insufficient dedication. Peachy's experience with tone and colour
has given him an advantage over the less successful entries at this year's
party, and it's on account of this factor that he owes his 1st place. For
this is another trite motif, lacking technique and detail (two traits
synonymous with Peachy's previous works), redeemed by the effective hues
and representation of light. The girl in this picture is well shaded, though
quite insipid and flat, save for her intensely lifelike eyes. The quaint
lizard-like creature behind her however, is quite derisory and proves to
undermine the sensitive subtlety of the piece. A very disappointing effort
in my opinion.
And so that concludes another predictable Party, and another uninspired
graphics review. Admitedly, I never expected to be impressed by this year's
entries, nor did I expect any pixelled entries to make it into the top five,
but still, I can't help feeling disenchanted by the direction the scene is
taking. Every year, the quality of graphics grow increasingly dull and simple.
It's no longer possible to study the technique and learn from our superiors.
Furthermore, downloading these entries becomes ever more time consuming and
expensive. And while scene artists are striving to produce images of a
commercial quality, they are failing to express their unique skills and
acquired techniques that once set them apart from the average computer user.
It has reached a stage where we no longer look to scene artists for graphical
breakthroughs, but to the likes of Adobe, Intel and even Microsoft.
