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Wrap

Text File | 1997-07-06 | 15.8 KB | 489 lines

»CL9:»SML:-------------------------------------- »CL8:Interview with »BIG:Danny and Louie »SML:»CL9:-------------------------------------- »CL4: by Sprocket »CL0:In the last couple of years, »CL1:The Black Lotus» has more or less dominated the »CL1:Amiga» scene. For some strange reason, this group has managed to gather some of the scene's best coders, musicians and graphicians. This is an interview with two of the latter, namely »CL1:Danny» and »CL1:Louie». These two guys have topped the charts for quite a while now, and it all climaxed when they released a fantastic co-op picture at »CL1:The Gathering 1997». What's their story? How did they manage to come this far? In this interview, the famous couple will try to answer to some of the questions, accusations and rumours about themselves. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Hello! I see you both have arrived safely, so I guess we can start the interview, then? »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Sure.. I'm ready »CL2:Louie:»CL0: Well, I have to fix my hair!!! :) »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Oh.. Yeah, me too. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Hehe.. :) »CL4:Q:»CL0: Ok, can you like.. Tell me about how you started? When did you enter the scene? »CL2:Louie:»CL0: You can start, Danny boy. »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Well, it started a while ago.. I think I became a member of the amiga scene back in 1992, at the Prime '92 party. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Oh? Did you release anything at the party? »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Yes. I drew a bunch of pictures, and we made a slideshow out of it. »CL2:Louie:»CL0: I released my first picture at The Party 3. »CL4:Q:»CL0: A lot of the scene's graphicians are also very talented real-life artists. Have you always been interested in drawing, or could you just as well have ended up coding or making music? »CL2:Louie:»CL0: Hehe.. Well let Danny speak first! »CL3:Danny:»CL0: No, after you my friend.. :) »CL2:Louie:»CL0: No, you start! :) »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Well.. No, I wasn't very good at drawing when I was a little kid. When I was about 6, I got sent back from kindergarten one day, to show my awful stuff at home! :) »CL4:Q:»CL0: Well, you've come a long way since then, that's for sure.. »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Yes, but it was a humiliating experience.. I've been wanting revenge ever since! ;) I actually wanted to be a musician when I was younger, because my father is one. I didn't have what it takes to become one, though, I couldn't play a note. A long time ago I even did some simple c64 basic programming. Assembly proved to be over my head, though... As the years passed, my drawing skills improved, and then I decided to start practising my favorite non-computer hobby on the computer aswell. »CL4:Q:»CL0: How about you, Louie? You seem like you've always been good at drawing? »CL2:Louie:»CL0: Well, I started when I was 12, so I've been drawing for a while now. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Oh.. How old are you both, by the way? »CL2:Louie:»CL0: I am 19... :) »CL3:Danny:»CL0: I am 23. »CL2:Louie:»CL0: Danny is an old man.. :) »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Louie is a young unexperienced lad.. ;) »CL2:Louie:»CL0: OLD MAN!!! :D »CL4:Q:»CL0: :D »PIC:Mno1» »CL4:Q:»CL0: Who inspired you in the beginning? :) You must have stolen some ideas, techniques etc? »CL2:Louie:»CL0: Well, I've always liked Rob Ruppel.. »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Fantasy art inspired me most. Then later along came the works of Disney and some famous older painters like Renoir, Monet, etc. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Oh.. So, who's Rob Ruppel? »CL3:Danny:»CL0: He's a painter from TSR, an American novel company. »CL2:Louie:»CL0: Yep, a fantasy-realistic type of artist. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Oh, I've never heard about him, but I've seen some pictures from Jeff Easley and Larry Elmore, for example.. I think they work for the same company? »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Yes, it's the same company. »CL3:Danny:»CL0: And there's Clyde Caldwell and Fred Fields. »CL2:Louie:»CL0: And Burt Reynolds! »CL4:Q:»CL0: BURT? :D »CL2:Louie:»CL0: You know, "Smokey and the bandit", Black TransAm :D »CL4:Q:»CL0: Oh, him.. :) »CL4:Q:»CL0: Any scene graphicians you admired too? »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Hmm.. At the time I thought Cougar was good.. and some others.. but I mostly liked non-scene art more. »CL2:Louie:»CL0: Cougar's trainpic in Interference made me shit my pants full when I saw it for the first time! »CL4:Q:»CL0: Hehe.. And Facet, for example, was really poplular back then, wasn't he? »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Yes. Facet and I used to have frequent telephone conversations on gfx those days, talking about ideas and techniques. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Oh, do you know him IRL? »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Well.. I haven't spoken to him since The Party 5, but some years ago I knew him quite well, yes. »CL4:Q:»CL0: You two, then? Danny and Louie, I mean.. Are you good friends? Do you meet a lot in real life? »CL2:Louie:»CL0: I don't have a real life! :) I work to damn hard.. trying to find TPKs.. and pornos! :) »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Hahaha! Yes... Louie has a nose for finding porn! :) Well, Louie spent some days at my place in London a while back.. sleeping on the floor, next to a noisy fridge! :) And we meet at parties of course.. Plus he promised that I could visit him in Sweden any time. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Ok.. Good thing you mentioned the floor, or else we'd have ourselves another Tip/Mantronix scandal! :D »CL4:Q:»CL0: But you obviously are so good friends that you co-operate well. Your tg97 pic.. Who made what? And how did you do it? »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Well.. I'll let Louie answer that one. »CL2:Louie:»CL0: Oh.. thanks, but no thanks! :) »CL4:Q:»CL0: We all heard rumours about scanning and Photoshop..? »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Well.. Louie and I will be publishing a nice little article about people who accuse us of using scanners.. since we both are quite fed up of being falsely accused.. I started on the picture in Brilliance on the Amiga a long time ago, and left it half finished for months. Then about a week before the Gathering I knew I had to do a picture.. but I also knew that I couldn't finish it on my own. I mentioned it to Rodney, and he said that Louie had the same problem, so Louie and I decided to finish the picture together. I told him what "look" I wanted (I even phoned him in sweden :) First we decided that we'd make it a 256 color pic, using only the Amiga, but since time pressured us and the thought of 24bit colors was so tempting, we later decided to make it an 800x600x24bit Photoshop picture. I had already begun working on the lady on the Amiga and sent a preview to Louie. We decided that I would finish the woman and that Louie would do the wings plus the background. After some tweaking with the wing shape/size in sketches done by Louie we came to a final look. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Ok.. But I've been told that Louie drew it by hand, scanned it, and you co-oped in Photoshop? And you used drawing boards to make it? Is that not true? »CL2:Louie:»CL0: That is not true! I drew the wings and background in Photoshop, from scratch. »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Well.. We both use a Wacom Ultrapad A4 tablet, which is basically a pressure sensitive replacement for a mouse. It works more natural, because you draw the same way as you do on paper, and thus it's faster, too. »CL2:Louie:»CL0: A pad is more artistic in some strange way, I guess..? »CL4:Q:»CL0: So, what do you think will be the future of the Amiga scene? It seems like you're moving to PC (800*600, Photoshop, 24bit pictures) »CL2:Louie:»CL0: Bridges are made to cross, that's my theory. »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Well.. I'm personally not too keen on keep doing 256 pictures.. The 24bit aspect has finally freed us as artists. No more hardware limitations concerning colors. Now we can almost paint like we both used to on paper. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Well, yes. But don't you feel attached to the Amiga scene? Or do you both think it's ok to convert to the PC scene? A 24 bit Amiga scene will probably never exist.. »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Well.. The Amiga was great a few years ago, but it has been lagging behind ever since! »CL3:Danny:»CL0: But as far as our computer work goes, NO, we do NOT scan. It's simply not interesting! There's no challenge what so ever. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Oh? Don't you even scan sketches made by hand? Which YOU have made? »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Well, since I also draw on paper it would be tempting to scan my own stuff and use that for computer work. But the worlds in which I draw simply lie too far apart to even think of doing so. I'll rather try to do my best on both seperately.. »CL2:Louie:»CL0: Hmm.. I scan some of the pictures I make by hand. It's quicker sometimes. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Talented graphicians, for example Made, have admitted that they use the scanner quite a lot.. What do you think about that? »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Did Made admit he uses a scanner? When and where?? »CL4:Q:»CL0: Yes, he admitted it in an interview with No Sense. »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Oh, that's really odd, since he (not too long ago) accused me of scanning my stuff. I got REALLY furious! He had a jpg of a photo I had used as reference for my TP6 picture. So he said my pictures are copies. It's so incredibly frustrating and disrespectfull to hear someone comment on your work by saying it is scanned when you've worked so many hours to do it the fair way! »CL4:Q:»CL0: I know! But I don't see how YOU can be accused of that? People must surely have seen that you have been talented a long time? I mean.. Quite Unusual, Lovelocks, etc. »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Well.. The long time sceners may see that, but there's new people coming to the scene every day. It's those people who seem to be ignorant of the truth. »CL4:Q:»CL0: But Made's not a newbie. I think it's strange. »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Yes.. I couldn't believe he accused me. We spoke a long time on IRC. I was trying to open his eyes.. I guess I convinced him a bit. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Anyway.. you both do quite a lot of commercial work? Danny works at Domark, etc? »CL3:Danny:»CL0: Yes. But it's Eidos Interactive btw.. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Ok. Do you get many offers from game companies etc? »CL3:Danny:»CL0: During the Party 3 I got quite some. Nowadays not as much though, but I didn't have any difficulties with getting the job I have now. There's a lot of companies who'd like to see me come I guess. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Yes, I know. :) »CL2:Louie:»CL0: Right now I'm working for Digital Illusions. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Oh, any secret projects? »CL2:Louie:»CL0: We're developing a 3D game for PSX and PC. »CL4:Q:»CL0: That's sounds nice! A pity it isn't released on Amiga, though.. (At this moment, Danny had to go, but Louie stayed to finish the interview) »CL4:Q:»CL0: Well, the time is running, you must go, don't you? I think I've gotten enough answers to make a nice interview.. :) »CL3:Danny:»CL0: okay.. :) »CL4:Q:»CL0: Thank you VERY MUCH! I REALLY appreciate it! :D »CL3:Danny:»CL0: well. you're welcome dude! anytime.. »CL4:Q:»CL0: So, Louie, then it's just the two of us. :) »CL2:Louie:»CL0: Guess so.. »CL4:Q:»CL0: I noticed that you were treated very much like a VIP person at The Gathering. You got a separate room where you could smoke, drink and all sorts of stuff.. :) So, I wonder.. If you were a totally unknown graphician, would you still be on the scene? Does the prize-money mean much to you, or are you just doing it for the fun? »CL2:Louie:»CL0: Hmm.. Well.. It gives me a very good feeling to walk up to the stage and receive my prize. At that moment, I think I feel more or less like an athlete who has just won a championship. Perhaps that's what keeps me going, I don't know, really. Prizes are nice, that's not the main issue, though. I do it for the fun. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Ok! I have been wondering about a thing. Perhaps the readers don't care, but I do! There has been a lot of rumours about your relatively old picture "Me and my little sis". People say all sorts of stuff.. Like you've scanned it from a Swedish magazine. Is this true? »CL2:Louie:»CL0: No, that's not true. I first drew it on paper, and then I scanned my sketch in black and white. I used Brilliance's tint function to colorize the picture. Not much to say about it, really, as it's really old. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Well, it seems like both of you have more or less stopped using your Amiga... Will you ONLY make 24-bit pictures in the future, even though great art packages like Brilliance and PPaint exist on the Amiga? »CL2:Louie:»CL0: As you know, both Offa and Eq have totally quit the Amiga scene, for example. I think that will be more or less the case for me too. »CL4:Q:»CL0: So, are you going to quit the scene in the near future, or will you keep making pictures for the various parties? »CL2:Louie:»CL0: That's a nice question. I haven't really given it too much thought yet. But I have been thinking about making a 24-bit slideshow for a while now... I am still going to go to parties, I think. Not only for the compos, but just aswell for meeting friends. That's what's fun. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Finally, I have always wondered.. When you start drawing your pictures.. What goes through your head? Do you just want to make a nice pic, or are you trying to say something with it? »CL2:Louie:»CL0: I think a whole lot about the pictures before I start drawing. It all started when I whas making "Wishes". Wishes has a rather deep story to it.. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Oh, tell me? »CL2:Louie:»CL0: I thought about a little girl, about 12 years old, who is a drug abuser. She wants to stop. She wants to get them. The picture shows a little girl who wants to be free. Like the water.. Like the clouds. She wants to be free in both body and soul. »CL4:Q:»CL0: Whoa! You should start attaching text files to the pictures. ;) »CL2:Louie:»CL0: :) »CL4:Q:»CL0: Well, no matter how interesting I think it is talking to you, we must end this interview before it gets too long! :) Thank you very much for answering my questions, I really appreciate it! »CL2:Louie:»CL0: No problem! Cya around! :)