talking with gunthar, ansi artist with fire

Session Start: Sun Jan 05 13:06:23 1997

gunthar: so what is this interview for?
dangermouse: (acheron) a scene web page that'll be opening up soonish..

dangermouse: gunthar of fire.. what other background info can ya fill us in on.. live? age? g/f? etcv etc..
gunthar: ugh..thats a lot of stuff to cover in one question..:) where to begin..
gunthar: well i havent always been known as gunthar.. i was sir lancelot for about two years when i first got into the scene..
dangermouse: i like to be difficult..
gunthar: oh thanks :)
dangermouse: yep.. go on
gunthar: one of the first groups i was in was with fellow 714 artists lordjazz and t-rex (now stone chapel).. Digital creators Productions (DcP) .. that group was elite :)
gunthar: that was way back in 93/94..
gunthar: since then i've been around in a few groups.. mostly cancer, rune and now fire..
dangermouse: live? age? etc..
gunthar: in feb of '95 me and undertaker started illness (which is still alive..kinda).. and i changed my handle after illness fell apart the first time..
gunthar: umm..right now i'm 19..sophomore in a local community college.. i run xc/track there and i have a g/f on the team..
gunthar: next year i'll be running for univeristy of arizona..w00
dangermouse: lucky you.. ;)
gunthar: yeh i think so :)
dangermouse: ehhe

dangermouse: i know your a pretty kickass artist and so forth, how did you evolve.. i mean you can't have always being drawing pics..
gunthar: actually i dont draw many pics..i wish i did more.. the very first ansi i ever did was a pic tho.. but i usually only find the time for logos now.. i used to imitate ld! a lot but now i've got my own style..

i buggered that question up big time ;)

dangermouse: yeah i take the pics bit back.. i just had a look at the latest fire pack.. two logos by you .. nice btw.. very nice.. i guess your a bit like me, i never, if rarely venture into pics.. if i do, there usually smileys, or something lame like that ;)
dangermouse: i concetrate on fonts..
gunthar: hehe..well i do like drawing pics.. mostly they're just 23-liners.. but i've done some pretty good ones. i should have a few big pics in the next fire pack including a bin..
dangermouse: ahh.. nice to see... do u find it hard to shape fonts? to find inspiration.. i usually overcome this by sketching a logo, and then shaping it from there.. how do you do find it?
gunthar: thats how i started..but now i think its faster for me to just start throwing down blocks on the screen and see what happens.. i usually have some kind of idea of how i want it to look in my head..but it never comes out that way..
dangermouse: i know.. ;) my logos rarely turn out like the original sketch.. the creative process is a mysterious thing ;)

now for the traditional stupid questions i always through in for good measure..

dangermouse: our web page is pretty laid back, so don't feel you have to conform to conventional answers.. hell, he's a wierd question..
dangermouse: so, do you have a dog or cat, if so what's its name?
gunthar: yeh i've got the most hyper little dog you've ever seen.. "butterscotch" (no i didnt name it).. he's afraid of everything tho..
dangermouse: hehe.. cool! my good friend rGT has a black dog and a white dog.. nothing but racial harmony at regurgitator's household!
gunthar: right on..racism sucks
dangermouse: too right... it was getting a bit tense down here in oz a while back.. don't know what it's like now though..
dangermouse: a bitch called pauline hanson got the aboriginies pissed off, and they had good cause to be
gunthar: ahh..i wouldnt know..i dont keep up much on the news..i only read the sports and the comics
dangermouse: hehe... same here..
dangermouse: so, yeah ya got any hobbies?
dangermouse: (besides ansi art man :> )
gunthar: umm..drawing? :)
gunthar: oh..wait..
dangermouse: ;)
gunthar: yeh i like to eat.. food is the greatest thing in the world..
dangermouse: it keeps us alive afterall :)

to some more serious questions again - just throwing em around..

dangermouse: hmm.. so how are you finding fire.. is it a good group to be involved in?
gunthar: hell yeh..fire is probably the best group to be in right now as far as ansi/hi-res goes..at least in my opinion..
gunthar: everybody keeps flocking to all the new groups.. as soon as a new group starts, ppl quit whatever one they're in and go join.. that sucks..
gunthar: no loyalty..
dangermouse: hmm.. ACiD seems to have lost most of their ansis within their latest packs..
dangermouse: i am loyal to fORCE.. (anubis suck up #1)
dangermouse: :>
gunthar: yeh i'm not worried about acid.. it used to be my goal to get there some day but not any more.. not after all the shit i've heard about radman..
gunthar: but we dont need to talk about that :)
dangermouse: let's not.. hehe... not with all that acid!ansi shit.. acheron's got the scoop on that controversy too btw.. interviewed cool_t..
dangermouse: and radman commented on it too ;)
gunthar: yeh well thats another group i have no respect for..

dangermouse: tehhehe.. what do you think of our web page name then? acheron?
gunthar: pretty cool name.. sounds familiar.. i dunno i read a lot of fantasy/sci-fi stuff..
dangermouse: it's in the fantasy stuff.. but there's big bbs in usa that we just heard that has the same name.. :( we've had the acheron name for almost a year if not more..
dangermouse: apparantly it's a warez board run by boboboey or someone like that
gunthar: ahh too bad..i just found out that the (i) symbol i use for istar isnt original either..and i've had that for 1 1/2 years..
dangermouse: yeah well.. there's nothing much we can do about it.. who cares.. i mean, we're a web page, he's a bbs..

dangermouse: did ya get the ansis i sent ya?
gunthar: yeh they're pretty good..i like the colors and the shading style.. shows a lot of potential..

dangermouse: all we can do is put on the page - " officially not affilliated in any way or sense with acheron bbs, nor any other sites/bbs' with similar names "
dangermouse: i dunno
gunthar: i dont think it'll matter much considering its an art page..no warez..

dangermouse: hmm.. it doesn't... it's good to that binosausrsass (or however yuo spell it) has decided to join fire after the collapse of Tiny Toons, (she) is one of my fav artists..
gunthar: umm..i have no idea who you are talking about :) i have never looked at a tiny toons pack..not much of a toon guy..
dangermouse: bisounours.. that's it.. have a gander at the latest fire pack..
gunthar: oh yeh..bis has been in fire for a long time..
dangermouse: hmmm.. must have been in both.. oh well, shoows how much i'm up on the scene.. ;)

dangermouse: well, a question i've been asking of late is that how do you feel about the ansi scene in general, do you think it has much longer to live?
gunthar: i dont think the art scene will ever truly die.. as long as there are teenagers with computers who like to draw, it'll be around.. i think that the quality of art in the scene has never been better..
gunthar: of course there are a lot of idiots who dont belong in the "scene" because all they do is post messages about how they're lame or they're gay or other stupid crap..
gunthar: but i try not to pay much attention to that and just focus on the art :)

dangermouse: hmm.. yeah i;ve noticed that a lot of artists are finally breaking out of the "comic book" style and are experimenting quite a bit.. this is something i hope to explore..
gunthar: i've never been one to draw comic pics.. i've only ever done one and it was only a 15-liner file config of the maxx
dangermouse: hmm.. yeah, i know comic book styles are copied out of (obviously) comics, but one can't deny the skill involved... but i believe the more skillful amoung can make-up" the pic, so to speak.. perhaps seek inspiration somewhere else..
gunthar: i think a lot of not-so-talented artists use the excuse of drawing original pics to try and cover up their lack of skill.. but generally when a good artist draws an og pic, its just more powerful than a good comic rip..
dangermouse: yeah, i agree..

dislogic: who is in here/!@#!@#312@# im bored. (ok then..)

dangermouse: yeah, but the emergence of more web-based sites my hinder the progress of ansi art, many artists may have to dabble in hi-rez
gunthar: yeh but i think telnet boards will be around for a while..especially now with that vcom proggy..
dangermouse: hmm.. yeah i spose.. but nothing lasts forever.. the net is the future.. gunthar: of course ansi wont be around forever but i dont see anything drastic happening in the next 5-10 years..
dangermouse: i reackon the 2-3 years, many bbs' are already shutting down.. especially over here in oz..
gunthar: its true that the bbs scene isnt as huge as it used to be but its still pretty big..
dangermouse: yeah.. if it was 2-3 years ago, we couldn't have done this so easily either (this interview)

gunthar: speaking of which..i think its getting time to cut the interview to an end :)
dangermouse: ahh.. see what you mean, didn't know we'd been going this long ;)
dangermouse: well, it been good talking with ya, and thanks for the tips..
dangermouse: ?
gunthar: alright mang.. i just want to say 'supp to all the cool artists out there who still give a damn..hal is my hero..and fire will rule the world..
dangermouse: i want to get an interview with him too ;) .. and yes, halaster.. you are the best ;)
gunthar: no doubt..
gunthar: lateron then..
dangermouse: cya

Session Close: Sun Jan 05 14:06:42 1997