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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this is by far the most stupid pile of crap I’ve read this decade.
Thank you for your comment, which you have not substantiated at all.
If all kinds of tools are banned, like CopAss demands, why shouldn’t the creation of a demo be banned? But they would have to, if you follow CopAss’s logic! Even with the old Amiga classics “State of the Art”, “Hardwired”, nobody wrote which tools they’ve used.
And if you’re going to criticise me, at least have the balls to use your pseudonym, which you usually use in the demo scene. Or am I asking too much?
Or why is what Critikill wrote so bad in your opinion? I find his text very conciliatory. I don’t understand why people react so aggressively.
Read this article two times now. I’m having a bit of hard time to understand where Critikill stands on the use of AI, still. Wasn’t that the main topic?
The mention of references is also a bit vague and unclear.
I think we can all agree on that everyone uses references in some form or way. As life goes on you mental library grows bigger and bigger and maybe if fortunate you can rely to a great extent on you skill to memorise how things looks. Everything from how the proportions of a face, hands, how feet looks, etc. Kim Jung Gi being a good example being able to use his mental library not even having the need to sketch before hand. He just started with the inking.
But most of us needs a bit of external tools to remember how a hand looks for an example so what most of us do is use image libraries with poses of hands trying to understand how the hand looks in certain angles and poses. After doing this for several years you start to remember how the hand looks and works so maybe you don’t need those image libraries anymore, for hands. But then you want to draw a dog and need that image library again. And so on. This has been the tools for artists for ages, as long as artists and painters has walked on this earth. That is how references are used.
Most often the image reference is a study which you recreate to fit your own art piece. Sometimes, very rarely, you trace it. You should really learn how to recreate the hand just by looking at it and making your own version of it. Tracing should be avoided if possible. After all we all want to be better at creating art in the complete process relying only on yourself to bring out your best work.
Now this new shiny AI thing has entered the scene and turned everything upside down. It empowers the artist and make us free, they say. While it’s quite the opposite. Freedom is being able to use your own mind coming up with ideas, draw with something as simple as a pen and a piece of paper. Having to rely on expensive hardware with subscriptions that does the work for you is not freedom. It’s also hampering the mind, you don’t evolve being a better artist, you devolve. You have stopped learning the trade, outsourced the creativity to a machine and paying to do art.
For competitions there has to be rules so everyone competes on the same terms. I see many compos says no AI is allowed which is a good thing. I think most of us wants to see pure art from the creators mind. I prefer to see an honest effort looking really crappy and not an awesome looking AI based image which means nothing.
So I don’t think it’s hard to compete in several competitions. Just do honest art and you will qualify in all. Pretty easy.
There is an easy solution to this.
Follow the rules of each compo. If your image does not meet the compo requirements, do not enter.
The “haters” are people who have been cheated out of a win where you participated with a piece that did not follow the rules. If you entered a bicycle race and got cheated out of a win because someone used an electric bike against the rules. Would you not get pissed off?
You can do AI pixelart on your own time and no one will question it, but if you feel like you want to publish it, just say who did the original art. AI, a friend etc.
It´s not that hard.
Simple:
. strip them from every prize they won
. redo the charts for every democompo
. suspention for 5 years from the democompos
This for him, Facet (another one good one to be put in the same pot!) and everyone else that did the same.
Plain and clean justice for whoever tried with the sweat, and time of their life, to compete against this loosers.
Winners don’t use AI! They follow rules and respect others with honesty!.
Quote:
I really can’t listen to that sentence anymore. “Oh, in the past everything used to be better.”
Reply:
I really can’t listen to THIS sentence anymore. “Oh, in the past everybody copied Vallejo.”