Interview with Rotox/Art!
Publication: The Ascii Charts 10/03
Publication: The Ascii Charts 10/03
Dipswitch: Introduce yourself a bit!
Rotox: Hi, My name is
Dipswitch: You are one of those about whom one can say that they "invented" ascii art as we know it. What was the motive force behind this developement? Why and how people started to draw logos using shashes, underscores and stuff? What was the main purpose behind ascii art back then?
Rotox: I wouldn't really say "invented", I was just one of many at the time that helped improve logos made out of ascii characters. I would say the main reason that I started doing ascii was to pass the time while trading releases to boards because at the time you didn't really have much else to do other than watch a ZModem progress bar.. 2400/9600 baud modems did take a while
Logo done by Rotox for the console group "Capital"
Dipswitch: Would you have thought back then that the thing that you do could be considered as "art", or was is pure craft for you?
Rotox: Art... Craft... It was just something that was needed at the time to improve how a bbs looked, and also to make the major releases stand out from the rest.
Dipswitch: You are especially known for your file_id.diz art. Many of your early file_id's, for example the one for TRSI, are still in use after over a decade. Is drawing logos in 12x44 something special for you, and why?
Rotox: Doing description logos is something that I improved at rapidly compared to full size logos used in NFO files so I mainly stuck with that type/size logo because it was something that I used most.
Dipswitch: Ascii collections are THE media for presenting Amiga ascii art since quite a long time untill today. How was the developement on this factor? When first ascii collections popped up, and was the motivation behind them an other than today?
Rotox: I think the reasons behind Ascii collections are quite different today than when I started doing them. I'd have a number of logos that had been used on boards, logon screens, adverts etc and just paste them into a text file, do a greets list and that was mainly it. This isn't the case today, people ask others if they have any requests because they're wanting enough to fill a collection, they spend time designing the layout, adding poems and such stuff.
Dipswitch: Perhaps it's time to clean up a big misunderstanding. There was another guy naming himself "Rotox" in the early 90s, and as your and his collections are usually held in one directory in ascii archives, people often think it's one and the same person. What's the story behind it?
Rotox: All I really know about him was that he came from Holland, did music of some sort and was a member of a few not very well-known Demo groups. He also decided to start doing ascii logos and tagging them with "RTX" which is of course what I use.
Dipswitch: Bulletin board systems were essential for the birth and developement of Amiga ascii art, as places designed with ascii art as well as transportation channels for it. Do you think that Amiga ascii art is strong enough to survive and develop with a highly decreased number of BBS's? How important are BBSs for you, or do you rather not care about them anymore?
Rotox: It is sad to say but I think Bulletin Boards are really a thing of the past. The Internet, FTP sites, Forums, IRC are all major factors to why boards aren't really needed or wanted anymore. I did like boards at the time but I'm not that sad to see them go, I'm glad that I don't have to watch ZModem progress bars anymore, have big phone bills or getting busted because of using Calling cards or Blue boxing to call boards.
Dipswitch: How important is the platform factor for you? You're known as console activist since long time, and you're also known for drawing amazing Amiga-style ascii pieces using a PC editor. Do you think that the artform we are talking about doesn't need to be bound anymore to the Amiga platform?
Rotox: Ascii's definitely look much better on an Amiga, doing them using CED was much nicer but things move on. Today, using Editplus2 on a PC with Lucida & Topaz fonts work very well for me so the platform isn't so important.
Dipswitch: I don't know if you followed the rise and fall of PC textmode art... If so, what do you think made PC ansi&ascii art decrease quality- as well as quantity-wise, while Amiga ascii art still develops and is doing quite fine? It's a funny thing since Amiga is the platform that went down and
PC went up... How to explain it?
Rotox: Never followed it myself. What PC guys can do, Amiga guys can do it better
Better Coders, Crackers, Trainer Makers, GFX Artists, Musicians and of course Ascii Artists. They all worked with limitations which of course requires more skill in the end.Dipswitch: Although you rarely released an ascii collection during all those years, you have been drawing steadily, several ascii works for the console scene prove it. But have you followed the work of those who came after you? If so, who pops up in your mind when it comes to artists of the "generations"
after you?
Rotox: I don't really look at ascii collections, but I do at file_id.diz and NFO files. To be honest the newer style ascii isn't something I like because I'm an old timer so my eyes struggle to read it. Readable, Simple and Neat is my sort of taste and very few people actually do it that way anymore. The only names that really come to mind (which I can't really call "generations" after) are people like mAZ/ART, Poyz!, Mogue/ARCLITE &
nup/PRO^ARTS.
Dipswitch: Coming to the "art vs. craft" topic again, how do you see the trend of many artists to draw rather for themselves than for scene "customers"? Does the decreasing way of seeking requests kill the artform, or is it rather a natural developement that should be tolerated?
Rotox: Well, there are less people wanting or using logos in the Amiga style (Oldschool that others seem to love saying) so I guess people doing ascii mostly for the fun of it is OK, but personally I don't see the point unless the logos are actually going to be used on a BBS, FTP site or by a Group.
Dipswitch: Considering the recent happenings of Sal-One pulling up the forum and old ascii people crawling out of all dark corners and drawing again, what do you think how long that new ascii "revival" will last? And, does the presence of old ascii artists make it a revival of old-time ascii drawing
in full glory, or do you rather feel that something is missing?
Rotox:] Whatever is done today will never bring the old times back, the reasons behind doing ascii logos are quite different now, attitudes are different, the people are different, the scene is different so I don't actually think it'll last to be honest.
Dipswitch: Although, as I already said, you've been drawing steadily all the years, it's been a long time that you actually kept in touch with other ascii artists and the "ascii scene". What aspects are new to you, whether positive or negative?
Rotox: Well, the reasons for doing logos seems to have completely changed, there are definitely more people doing ascii logos now and the styles have completely changed.
Dipswitch: You're known as a perfectionist, who does several versions of logos and works on them untill they seem perfect. Was it always this way, even when you had far more requests to fulfill than today? How much time you spent on a single logo back in the early 90s, and how much time to you spend on
it today?
Rotox: When I was trading a new release I used the time it would take to upload/download to create the file description logo, so the times would
vary but usually around 10 minutes. Today, things are much different because of the lack of inspiration, motivation etc so it could be between 10 minutes or days depending on how I feel.
Dipswitch: What are your plans ascii-wise for the near future? Anything to reveal us?
Rotox: Nothing will change really, I'll still be lazy like I've been for years now but you'll see a few logos by me from time to time.
I am working on a co-op collection with another well-known ascii artist which you should hopefully see quite soon.
Dipswitch: Any final statement?
Rotox: Give respect to those who deserve it........ rAt, Enforcer, RiP!, rEDSKIN, mAZ, Splatt!, Red Devil, FCKW, Metalbasher, Desert, Metallikat, Skin, Amblin, OEP!, Masterbard, Kamenski, Cardinal, Kaoz, Mascot and not forgetting Poyz who never seems to get much recognition for doing ascii work. Without them, there wouldn't even be an Ascii scene.
Dipswitch: Thanky you for the interview!
