CiA #61 - score: 6 out of 10

Atom:
First off I'll be blatant: CiA61 is mixed bag. In what seems to be an off month for the entire scene, CiA follows the leader.

The pack starts off with two pics by agent 42. The first one is a logo, but it looks like a TTF with a little modification, nothing spectacular. The second is a menu for Scrollz, which is a scanned hand, with some type that had a radial blur layed on. Funny thing is, the part my eye was drawn to was the six dots in the corner. What are they? =) [he uses them in his ansi/adf too, a signature maybe? -ed]

Following these are a couple of collages/photomanips from BlueDevil… The first one is a fish tank, and it's not too interesting. It's a fish tank. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee. Can you feel the jubilation. The colors don't mix to well either. His next one was a photo that he lowered the jpg quality on, to get a blocky effect. It would've been cool if he had done more with it, because it's a fun effect. But he didn't. Heh.

Then we get some photomanips by fire from heaven (who owes me naked pics of his girlfriend). I know all the photos were original, since that's what he does, takes his own photos. But they seem to be collaged haphazardly, and are very chaotic, with no focus. In both of them, the text doesn't fit well, and I find lit in foreign languages annoying. The Latin (?) in the first pic probably means something deep and moving, but I'll never know. His second pic is cooler, it reminds me of the Hindu gods with multiple arms.

Ghostface's pics seem to be the result of discovering the line tool in photoshop. The first one is alright, thanks to the fact he stuck solely with that and solid colors, which gave it a simple, minimalist feeling that works well. If the lines had been cleaner/connecting that would've been nice. The second one is not as good, with odd colors. The person has irregular edges, too.

Ikarus has three really nice collages in this pack. The first one, a purplish thing, is a bit empty, without focus though. The second one I like, but I wish there wasn't as much gray. The text at the top is nice, and the part on the right, with the mosaic is really good. Ik-forge is great, it remedies the problems with the first two, having a focus and crisp colors. The almost symmetry is nice, and the texture well done, too.

Millie's pic isn't that good. It's a couple of planets on a beach. It reminds me a bit of old Pov-Ray stuff. Maligore's font is boring, and there isn't much to say about it.

Pike's pic made me laugh. The Ikarus approved stamp is funny, and the pure honesty behind the picture makes me laugh. Why he likes chicks so muscular is beyond me, however. Also, the shading is a bit flat.

Raptor's renderings seem to suffer from the emptyness that plagues that medium. There really isn't much in them. The first pic is a CiA logo, but it's sort of hard to read. The second one is some flowers that aren't to well modeled, and the colors aren't great. Plus there's a lensflare.

Subsonic's renderings are pretty good, if he modeled the people (I'm proud to say, I can no longer recognize a poser model on site), I'm impressed. The proportions are right on. He has a good sense of how to use light and atmosphere, and alone is very haunting. The only one I have a gripe with is murder, because the light comes out the door wrong, which ruins the mood.

CiA 61 ends with a joint between BlueDevil and LK, which is alright, but not as good as their joint in acid 76. I like the atari characters, but the gradient font in the upper left doesn't fit. Plus, I just don't really like white/purple/blue as a color scheme.

This pack wasn't great. With some quality control, there would've been a much better (all though much MUCH smaller) pack.

score: 7

Root88:
CIA didn't live up to my expectations this month. After the tremendous improvement that they showed last month, I thought they might continue to improve, or least output at the same level.

4tee2's logo wasn't very impressive. It looks as is it was someone else's font that was distorted a bit and scribbled on. A bit more effort and thought could have been used. The same goes for his Scrollz page.

This month GhostFace's artwork seemed sloppy and rushed. I don't know if this what he was trying to achieve or not. Ghostface is a talented artist, but his images didn't really appeal to me.

I like the dimensions that Ikarus uses in his photomanips, his color choices and textures are excellent. Maybe I just missed them, but there doesn't seem to be many ideas coming across in his works. If he incorporated a common theme in his photomanips that made the viewer think for a bit, he could be one of the best out there.

Me_feb.jpg was just a bunch of filters and spheres. Uninspired and not thought out. Kids, don't try this at home.

Pike's Sex Sells picture was the highlight of the pack in my opinion. He did a much better job this month, than last month. If he continues to improve this way, you can expect some outstanding work next month.

Things CIA shouldn't do next month to have a better pack:
1. Use lensflares
2. Use Poser
3. Take a photograph, change the color and add a filter.
4. Use Poser
5. Try and impress people with a 3d program's effects in an unoriginal way. (i.e. volume lighting)
6. Use Poser
7. Make a logo with someone else's fonts
8. Did I mention use Poser?

If you can't model, don't try and fake us out.

score: 5