Introduction by Mindcrime

The debate over which of two popular artistic mediums, High Resolution VGA and Low Resolution ANSI, is the better has been brought into the spotlight recently by the gradual shifting of scene art groups from ANSI to VGA as their primary art form. ACiD Productions has recruited two artists, one prefering high resolution and one prefering low, to debate this topic for the information and entertainment of our audience. We're hoping this may open the eyes of both sides and help bring this debate to a healthy closure.

The VGA Point of View: Written by Wildcat/ACiD!VGA ANSI is dying, VGA is king. A lot of people in the scene have tried to fight this; I've heard endless complaints about the lack of ansi in packs, the fading of the BBS scene, and the ballooning of pack sizes. However, all of this amounts to the petty complaints of the people who are being left behind. VGA is a far superior medium where almost anything can be achieved - you dream it up and you can put it on the screen. There are countless programs, from freeware to professional graphics suites, that can help you create magnificent pieces of art. So while the whole scene, as well as the rest of the world, is moving to high-rez, high color graphics, why is a large portion of the scene still sitting in front of ACiDdraw trying to make a coherent comic-rip in 80 by 25? One reason may be nostalgia. True, ANSI had it's day, but that day has passed. VGA is by far superior in every aspect: higher resolution, more colors, better tools, and a broader following of artists. If we can't improve ourselves as new technologies present themselves then we are destined to remain a group of immature 14 year olds hanging out in #ANSI saying "eYE DReW mUH FIRst ANSI t0D4y." Perhaps another reason for this is just plain stupidity. There are several obvious advantages to VGA that people seem to have overlooked. First, real money can be made from it. I'm not talking about the 10$ you picked up for doing a little logo for some sucker, I'm talking serious commercial projects. Many freelance artists in the scene are making anywhere from 25-50$ an hour - not bad for a kid with a hobby. Also there is a strong artistic advantage. You can do so much more with VGA. I'm not saying that all ANSI artists are 13 year olds with no originality, but how many ANSIs have you seen lately that have not been ripped out of Spawn #15 or X-men #112? It is rare that you will find a VGA that has been ripped; the fact is that as a whole the High-Rez scene is trying ALOT harder to be original and change the scene for the better. Each VGA artist has his own distinct style. When a VGA artist does a logo, he doesn't do a lord-jazz style (in my opinion, doing a logo in "this-or-that style" is just come cheap way of saying I'm ripping someone). A true artist would do it in HIS OWN style. His style would be influenced by other artists, of course, but as a whole it would be his and clearly distinguishable from others. Many ANSI logos tend to run together; often it is hard to say if someone did this, or if someone did this in imitation of another person's style, or if it's just a plain rip. With a VGA, I can immediately identify the artist by their distinct style. Clearly the VGA scene is trying harder to improve themselves and develop unique works of art. Even artists who use only filters (which has become a bad word in the art scene, even though they are valuable tools) must start with a blank page and create a picture that is pleasing and interesting. I have tremendous respect for anyone who can start with nothing and create a pleasing picture solely by relying on their tools and talent. Style imitation and comic ripping have long been used as crutches of the ANSI community. If we are ever to make the scene a place where serious artists can meet and improve themselves and others, we must not allow ourselves to be ruled by the people that depend on these crutches. In order to meet our bright future, we must cast aside our past limitations. Can you see yourself drawing ANSI in 2 years? 3 years? 10 years? ANSI WILL die out, just like RIP has died. Not because it is a bad standard, not because the people who draw it are not good enough. But because it is outdated and outmatched. The future is upon us, but how many of us are even in the present? Note: The views expressed in this debate are that of the individual author and have no relation to that of ACiD Productions. ACiD is an ART group, first and foremost, and supports all artistic mediums.

The ANSI Point of View: Written by Akairo/ACiD!Press High resolution graphic art, commonly called "hi-rez", is becoming an extremely popular computer art form. Many excellent arguments as to how and why high resolution graphics should replace ANSI (American National Standard Institute) have been presented to us. However, the pros of ANSI and the cons of hi-rez are frequently overlooked. Many people believe that hi-rez is always associated with quality art and artists. Obviously it is much easier to create a pleasing work of art when you can scan in freehand drawings or simply render three dimensional objects. There are very few pixel-by-pixel hi-rez artists, while EVERY ANSI artist is required to plot pixel-by-pixel. Veteran pixel-by-pixel ANSI artists are obviously capable of creating fresher, more moving pieces than a novice mouse/scanner artist. Just because you can do simple commands with Photoshop or figure out how to use a color scanner doesn't make you an experienced artist capable of creating works with elements such as strong value, contrast, spacing or principles like gradation, proportion, or balance. Just because you can make drawings with better resolution and more colors doesn't mean that the layout and composition will automatically be superior to that of an ANSI artist. Alot more goes into creating art than just the medium. Are oils so much better than acrylics? Do pastels far surpass charcoal? Of course not. It's not the medium, it's the artist. It is a common misconception that all or most ANSI artist only draw fonts or rip comic books. Well I beg to differ. ANSI as an art form may have had it's roots in comic rips and cheap fonts, but it is obvious that original art has become more common in the ansi scene now than ever. Just because you are a hi-rez artist doesn't automatically mean that you have a creative imagination or you know how to layout a piece of art without copying someone else's style or influence. In addition to the artistic elements and principles, which are vastly more important than resolution or amount of colors, there are the file size and hardware differences. Any average Joe can tell you that he would rather be in possession of a pack filled with ANSI screens displaying wonderful movement, correct proportion, and striking contrast over poorly composed or laid out hi-rez pictures with no movement, no pleasing balance, and just three dimensional rendered fonts with boring backgrounds. It's true that there are artists that create MIND BLOWING high resolution graphics,but how many are there in comparison to amateur/novice artists? And is it worth downloading an extra two megs just to see these mediocre works of art? For only a quarter of the size you can view pictures done by veteran ANSI artists, which are obviously drawn with better craftsmanship. In order to run most high resolution paint programs you need a pretty fast computer with alot of memory. Typical ANSI drawing utilities such as TheDraw or ACiDDraw require a little under a megabyte of memory and work on a common 386 processor. Perhaps with all the money that you might get as a freelance high resolution artist you might be able to pay for the extra speed and memory, but if you are like me you can't. ANSI allows you to create art, with as much chance as being wonderful, vibrant, and moving as high resolution graphics, with extremely cheap and barebones systems. So high resolution graphics, when done correctly by a veteran or professional, can surpass an ansi graphic done by a veteran. But what is the ratio of veterans to amateurs in the hi-rez scene? High resolution is still very young. ANSI was developed in the late seventies. High Resolution peaked into super vga in the early nineties. Because it is fairly new it tends to excite us and make us look at possible careers and fame. But only a very small percentage of us in any of the scenes (demo, tracking, hi-rez, or ansi) will ever go onto a regular job using the skills we developed in our youth in this scene. Is ANSI a dying medium? No, it's impossible. Just because there aren't any bulletin board systems around anymore to draw for doesn't mean we can't enjoy the art form for what it has become. It started as a basic character set for early communications terminals and has exploded into a whole art form. As long as there are more quality artists in the ANSI scene than the hi-rez scene,wonderful ansi art will be produced. No novice hi-rez artist can truly surpass a veteran ansi artist's correct display of art elements and principles, no matter how hi-tech his medium might be. Charcoal was one of the first art forms, drawn on cave walls by our primitive ancestors. Charcoal, today, is still a major medium. ANSI has a solid foundation beneath it, so let's not be so hasty to throw it out.