ACiD #75 - score: 7.5 out of 10

Mongi:
ACiD has put out another splendid pack as usual. I don't have much comment about the pics this time, but I have some other things to say about the pack.

MadASScow's rendered pics looks kind of complex. The question is how much control he had when modeling this. Had he imagined these forms and shaped them thereafter. Or did he just twist them like mad until they looked good? Either way, this may be a new form of abstract sculpturing that isn't possible, or at least very difficult, with traditional sculpturing. I am sure this have been done before, but this is a good example.

Catbones's shading and coloring is amongst the best I've seen. I don't think many other artscene artists uses that many shades of different colors when shading. Very advanced shading indeed. I don't know why Cat bothers with making Poser pics still. Sure we criticize you, but it does nothing but give you worse reputation by doing this (no offence: as an egocentric, nonchalant twit). It isn't funny at all.

F7's acid promo pic is splendid. What he could have done is use some bumpmaps, so the "wires" and other details look less flat. The Poser pic really makes me wonder. F7 has shown he's really good with both rendering and painting, so why make such a pic? First of all the Poser model isn't even good looking, the hair is far from realistic. The background just looks generic, and it doesn't really make good contrast to the girl.

Lk's work is obviously inspired by Catbones with the small smeared details. He make good contrast with blurry and sharp parts, but it's slightly too blurry in some places to look really good.

Optik Nurv is almost copying Catbones's style. The shading of the woman and the font is a lot like Catbones would have done, only not as advanced. The lighting and smearing is typical of Catbones.

Remission is showing a slight change in style with his newest photomanip. It's more abstract, but still the layout and design is great. I guess I should thank Jason and MalcolmX for the hirez.org promos. Thanks guys!

Now, I've mentioned Catbones a lot, and now I'll mention him again. I really don't like his attitude towards the scene. There is no need at all to flame other artists for their opinions. Sure we are self-proclaimed critics, don't we have the right to criticize? We just happen to do it in a very organized way. And you just have to admit the Poser pics are bad. I can understand why Catbones is so upset (after the discussions on the board). Cat really cares about the scene, and some of the so called "hobbyists" have lower quality work than others. But after all, this is the UNDERGROUND artscene, you can't expect everyone to be 100 per cent dedicated and be professionals. Those who are "real" artists mostly seek out other areas to display their work. Cat and ACiD does not stand above everybody else as they seem to think. You guys have become too damn big headed. Just shut up and draw instead. My two cents.

score: 7.5

Root88:
I liked Cat-xmas_card_98.jpg a lot. Catbones always has a knack for using the proper colors to set a mood for the pic. The soft feathers of the wings and the strong hands were an appealing contrast to me.

Madasscow’s renderings turned out to be attractive looking, but it seems as if they were just a few shapes in a 3d program with the twist filter on them. I guess this is not the case because we know Madasscow has a lot more skill than that.

The textures in f7_acid-promo.jpg are wonderful. It appears that there are two figures in this pic (the viewpoint is between the second figures legs) don’t over look this! I like this one a lot, but if the lens flare was tossed and some hand painted a rays of light were added, I think it would look a bit better. I think Poser was used in this pic, but the textures are so incredible, I can’t hold it against the artist. That’s 2 pics using Poser this month that got excellent reviews, I must be getting soft in my old age. (24) I wish f7-_sharon turned out as well. This is the type of use for Poser that I don’t like to see. I also enjoyed F7’s Zoo York pic. A little happy gremlin instead of a blood covered demon. A novel idea in our scene. New ideas are exactly what the scene needs, I think there are lots more to come from F7 and the rest of the guys in ACiD.*

*I agree with the direction a few ACiD members would like to see the scene go, but not their methods. Discrediting the artists that brought us to where we are today is surely not the way. Flaming new comers and encouraging them to quit the scene won’t help either. We could be encouraging/coaching them do better. ACiD is the oldest group we have, and with age comes wisdom. Drop some knowledge.

score: 7.5