Dust rise right on over my time Empty fossil of the new scene -Alice in Chains It never ceases to amaze me all the people who bitch about there being too many new groups Or all the overnight experts who give unknown artists a hard time when they were begging for acceptance into any group that would take them There are those that say that ANSi is dying but there are probably more ANSi artists now than ever before Unfortunately a rookie artist s initiation in #ansi is all the discouragement some need to quit the scene before they have a chance to prove themselves I am not old school but I have been drawing since 1992 and things have changed drastically In the past two years look at the groups that have risen quickly and then died out Union Shiver Integrity and the mega-groups that have eclipsed the competition only to become more about reputation than art Acid Ice and the like Not that being in a big group is so bad if the reputation for quality is earned But a reputation that substandard artists derive from being in a group a reputation earned by someone else who was drawing for the fun of it That ain t right Yet these are the people who put down the new groups new artists and anyone who stays original A perfect example of this is none other than Rad Man He has every reason to be pleased with himself and his group But the ANSi art that made Acid what it is today is being set aside in favor of mediums like VGA and RIP That s fine nothing wrong with something new But being a Teklordz senior and artist I took notice when he starting ripping on Teklordz Why Because they draw original art based on their own ideas (not comics) and are willing to give new artists a chance to improve and be seen How the hell is any group supposed to start without new artists and original design concepts Then there are those who say There are too many new groups -- don t start another one! In reality a lot more groups die than are started Granted most of them are unknown local groups with no big-name artists to miss but they are still part of the scene and mattered to someone It s also funny what passes off as a new group might be months old But in the past two years it s come to the point where any group with no Internet presence might as well cease to exist Fortunately some groups that nobody gave a rat s ass about have found success Fuel and Septic are a couple which rose from obscurity to release some really nice work mostly with original material by artists nobody has ever heard of Halaster brought back Fire to become one of the best groups out there right now Other revival attempts haven t worked out as well and some established groups are dead or dying only three months into 1996 But that is the cycle the scene works on An influx of new will replace the old if given half a chance If not the scene will die a slow lingering death I think it s safe to say that the artists people consider the stars of the scene won t be doing this forever and if no new artists take their place -be they ANSi ASCii VGA or RIP- there won t be anyone to criticize What fun would that be O-Tron FoS Teklordz CiA xrist@primenet com