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Fire (Artscene group)
Encyclopedia
Fire, later known as Fire Graphics, was an underground computer artscene group that released ANSI
, ASCII
, and high resolution
artwork from 1994 to 1998.
Fire was founded in July 1994 by ANSI artists Donut Hole and Vendetta as a parody of iCE
, one of the top art groups of the time. From the second pack onward, the group was ostensibly led by Halaster, who gradually elevated Fire by recruiting talented artists from regional art groups, and by becoming a competent ANSI artist himself. After releasing monthly collections
of their work, Fire planned a merger with Canadian
artscene group Mistigris
, in March 1995. The merger was unsuccessful and Fire collapsed shortly thereafter when Halaster quit the group to join ACiD
.
In August 1995, Halaster quit ACiD and re-formed Fire. After its rebirth, Fire became a popular and critically successful group, releasing artwork and applications such as the DOS
based ANSI editor, Pyrodraw. At various points in time, Fire was home to some of the most respected ANSI artists in the scene, including Iodine, Eerie and Prisoner #1.
Through most of its history, Fire was headquartered at The Regency BBS, located in Atlanta's 404 area code. The Regency was one of the few dial-up BBSs that transitioned to IP technology via use of the telnet protocol. This transition was short-lived and only marginally successful, but allowed Fire to retain its headquarters after most BBSs had closed. The Regency's geographic location contributed to the early history of the group, as most of its initial artistic roster hailed from Atlanta.
In February 1997, Halaster stepped down from his leadership position and chose hirez
artist God Among Lice, coordinator of the hirez section since April 1996, and ANSI artist Eerie to assume his duties of group leader and coordinator of the ANSI section respectively.
After just one pack Eerie unexpectedly left the group and German ANSI artist Nail took over coordination of the ANSI section in April 1997, subsequently recruiting more European artists into the group's ranks.
However, with the rising popularity of the Internet and dropping interest in ANSI art Fire found itself struggling to stay true to its roots with more and more of its ANSI artists quitting the medium altogether.
God Among Lice and Nail eventually decided to end the group after pack #33 rather than keep going and being forced to release packs that they deemed unfitting for Fire, which they ultimately still considered an ANSI art based group.
fire #33 - the final combustion was eventually released several month late in September 1998.
sub-group called Fire ASCII, but unlike the relationship between ACiD Productions
and Remorse ASCII
the art was, with just a few exceptions, released in the Fire packs instead of separate ASCII packs.
Fire also maintained a separate music/tracking entity called Radiance, and a small crew of coders, headed up by Wintermute aka Winmutt and Maxwell. Among their creations were Dialtone (a serial communications / terminal emulation program), System/75 BBS software, and Pyroview, which was among the first art-scene viewers to support JPEG images.
Fire released its members' artwork in monthly artpack
s.
ANSI art
ANSI art is a computer art form that was widely used at one time on BBSes. It is similar to ASCII art, but constructed from a larger set of 256 letters, numbers, and symbols — all codes found in IBM code page 437, often referred to as extended ASCII and used in MS-DOS and Unix environments...
, ASCII
ASCII art
ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable characters defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant character sets with proprietary extended characters...
, and high resolution
Image resolution
Image resolution is an umbrella term that describes the detail an image holds. The term applies to raster digital images, film images, and other types of images. Higher resolution means more image detail....
artwork from 1994 to 1998.
History
ICE Advertisements
iCE Advertisements is a digital art group formed in 1991. Although the expanded title is rarely ever used, iCE is an acronym for Insane Creators Enterprise...
, one of the top art groups of the time. From the second pack onward, the group was ostensibly led by Halaster, who gradually elevated Fire by recruiting talented artists from regional art groups, and by becoming a competent ANSI artist himself. After releasing monthly collections
Artpack
An artpack is an archive of computer artwork which is distributed in a compressed format such as ZIP or RAR.While most artpacks today contain either ANSI and ASCII art or hirez VGA, they may also include a combination of RIPscrip art, tracked or otherwise digital music, poetry and editorials, 3D...
of their work, Fire planned a merger with Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
artscene group Mistigris
Mistigris
Mistigris was an artscene group founded in late 1994 by Cthulu of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.The group primarily operated out of BBSes within the city's area code 604 joined across suburbs and provinces by the group's echomail network known as KiTSCHNet...
, in March 1995. The merger was unsuccessful and Fire collapsed shortly thereafter when Halaster quit the group to join ACiD
ACiD Productions
ACiD Productions is a digital art group. Founded in 1990, the group originally specialized in ANSI artwork for BBSes. More recently, they have extended their reach into other graphical media and computer software development...
.
In August 1995, Halaster quit ACiD and re-formed Fire. After its rebirth, Fire became a popular and critically successful group, releasing artwork and applications such as the DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
based ANSI editor, Pyrodraw. At various points in time, Fire was home to some of the most respected ANSI artists in the scene, including Iodine, Eerie and Prisoner #1.
Through most of its history, Fire was headquartered at The Regency BBS, located in Atlanta's 404 area code. The Regency was one of the few dial-up BBSs that transitioned to IP technology via use of the telnet protocol. This transition was short-lived and only marginally successful, but allowed Fire to retain its headquarters after most BBSs had closed. The Regency's geographic location contributed to the early history of the group, as most of its initial artistic roster hailed from Atlanta.
In February 1997, Halaster stepped down from his leadership position and chose hirez
Image resolution
Image resolution is an umbrella term that describes the detail an image holds. The term applies to raster digital images, film images, and other types of images. Higher resolution means more image detail....
artist God Among Lice, coordinator of the hirez section since April 1996, and ANSI artist Eerie to assume his duties of group leader and coordinator of the ANSI section respectively.
After just one pack Eerie unexpectedly left the group and German ANSI artist Nail took over coordination of the ANSI section in April 1997, subsequently recruiting more European artists into the group's ranks.
However, with the rising popularity of the Internet and dropping interest in ANSI art Fire found itself struggling to stay true to its roots with more and more of its ANSI artists quitting the medium altogether.
God Among Lice and Nail eventually decided to end the group after pack #33 rather than keep going and being forced to release packs that they deemed unfitting for Fire, which they ultimately still considered an ANSI art based group.
fire #33 - the final combustion was eventually released several month late in September 1998.
Other projects
Fire had a separate ASCIIASCII art
ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable characters defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant character sets with proprietary extended characters...
sub-group called Fire ASCII, but unlike the relationship between ACiD Productions
ACiD Productions
ACiD Productions is a digital art group. Founded in 1990, the group originally specialized in ANSI artwork for BBSes. More recently, they have extended their reach into other graphical media and computer software development...
and Remorse ASCII
Remorse ASCII
Remorse ASCII, or Remorse 1981, is the official ASCII sub-label of ACiD Productions.-History:Remorse was established in late 1994 by two IBM-PC scene ASCII artists from San José, California who went by the pseudonyms Necromancer and Necronite....
the art was, with just a few exceptions, released in the Fire packs instead of separate ASCII packs.
Fire also maintained a separate music/tracking entity called Radiance, and a small crew of coders, headed up by Wintermute aka Winmutt and Maxwell. Among their creations were Dialtone (a serial communications / terminal emulation program), System/75 BBS software, and Pyroview, which was among the first art-scene viewers to support JPEG images.
Releases
Artpack
An artpack is an archive of computer artwork which is distributed in a compressed format such as ZIP or RAR.While most artpacks today contain either ANSI and ASCII art or hirez VGA, they may also include a combination of RIPscrip art, tracked or otherwise digital music, poetry and editorials, 3D...
s.
- Fire Pack #01 (First pack)
- Fire Pack #08 (Post-MistigrisMistigrisMistigris was an artscene group founded in late 1994 by Cthulu of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.The group primarily operated out of BBSes within the city's area code 604 joined across suburbs and provinces by the group's echomail network known as KiTSCHNet...
Merger) - Fire Pack #30
- Fire Pack #33 (Final pack)
External links
- Dark Domain The ACiD Artpacks Archive on DVD (ISBN 0-9746537-0-5), contains all available Fire Packs.