Only the introduction is from Ghandy: In this statement, the graphician Critikill responds to the accusations made by the C64 Scener CopAss. It’s still about artificial intelligence and how the demoscene should deal with it. We from the Diskmag would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his willingness to speak publicly on this issue.
by Critikill (CK) of Brainstorm, Haujobb, Rebels & SWEET16
Images (from CK)
BACKGROUND + HISTORY
In 2020, during Corona I used DPaint on Amiga 500 again for the first time since 1992 for nostalgic reasons and dedicated myself to try again on „Demoscene“ pixel art. I deliberately say “Demoscene“ pixel art because, ironically, it was historically created from the intros of game cracks and copies.
Traditional “demoscene“ pixel art was largely based on the use of references. Many of the best and most famous „demoscene“ pixel artists still use references as a basis today, whether they are illustrators, photographers, art directors etc. …
And yes, the conditions have changed from handmade scans to the internet to AI and fortunately also enable new possibilities. So every creativity expression has its time and for myself I loved the era Amiga OCS 1989-1993 the most.
Excuse me for nostalgy
If I have offended anyone by using references, and other new opportunities I am very sorry to go with the time and dive into the past at the same time. Making mistakes is human and I’ll have to be more transparent in the future and read the rules of compos more accurate. It was never my intention to deliberately break rules. I have absolutely no problem if the compo positions or prizes are revoked, because I don’t do it because of any placement or fame, I just enjoy the pixeling itself.
If I use references I always try to incorporate a lot of originality in the form of idea, composing, dither diversity and colour restrictions into the motifs. And if you look at the works in Dpaint or GrafX closer you can also see that they are not just simple conversions.
If you can’t see that, perhaps I should skip this and don’t need to spend any more time into retro “Demoscening”. Anyone who believes that pixel art is easy to do these days via AI or conversions is missing the big picture.
An example: I have created the motif “Plague Dr” by Christopher Lovell with his approval and communicated it as such. He loved the twist on the idea + and the pixel interpretation. People discussed this picture back in 2022 and still some people try to spread hate speech about it.
The setting and the bird on the picture (which was actually hanging on the chain) took on a different meaning. So it was a statement of the (corona) time “Freedom comes back”. But most people didn’t even recognise and understand that.
Speaking about the subject of plagiarism – by the way, some of my work has also been copied, which didn’t offend me by the way, but somehow even made me proud.
Real compo rules
As the rules differ quite much from event to event, a good experienced compo team of experts and clear general democratic rules would be best for everyone involved. It would be much better to have general rules for everyone and each place, rather than different compo rules depending for which party you’re going to create your picture. The present situation makes it quite difficult to take part at compos.
In my opinion 8 bit, 16 bit should still be enough. Also showing works for example on native hardware + zoom into the images is much more important to me than a video of the making of, which in the end doesn’t match the interest of the majority of viewers, but only the competitors who also contribute with pixel art.
Art vs. (demoscene) pixel art
Demoscene pixel art as such does not prohibit the use of references, just as in other art genres. If you draw with pencils or paint with oil-color, you are also allowed to use light tables, projections, etc. to copy/trace references. Copying/tracing references is also a common tool. Matte paintings are also largely based on references. So pixel skills are not just about classic drawing talent and know-how, but much more about the technique.
So it is of little value to sketch with a pencil, scan it and present it as a making-off video. In the end, it’s not pixelated by hand, it’s just converted.
The result matters! No other “art form” in the world works with such a moronic proof, because the viewers want to see a finished result. Or do you always watch „the making of“ from every Hollywood movie, video game or from other paintings etc. ? So the proof of concept and the making of is generally only interesting for a few other artists and die-hard nerds in my opinion – not for the crowd.
“Demoscene pixel art” is more of a technical art form, which in essence has always been about idea, composing, restrictions such as colours, format and especially the dither-technique.
Passion, not hate – please ban the haters!
In my opinion, witch-hunters and haters have absolutely no place in the demoscene. I’ve noticed that toxic sceners (I won’t mention any names) avoid talking privately via PM and just start a rant without knowing the person or the background or asking someone directly:
For me and many others a no-go.
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a peaceful person and can do it without that kind of rubbish. As I mentioned above, it was certainly not my intention to deceive others or fake things. So I will have to be more transparent and can only hope that most of you will put your energy into ‘making’ in the future – makers gonna make – haters gonna hate.
Toxic nostalgia:
This is the way that reminiscing prevents you from being happy. I really can’t listen to that sentence anymore. “Oh, in the past everything used to be better.”
Cheers CK
love. peace. demoscene.
What do you think? Please leave a comment below this article!
Related topics:
The no-copy debate now extended to artificial intelligence – an analysis
Graphic compos 2025: survey to party crews
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