Inteview with Danny

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Balance
Archmage - Connor - D'fence - ...
t8/94
added 2/98
Pixel worship of women

As a Dutch artist, many say that he groundless is in the shade of Facet
being in the groups Anarchy, Lemon., and now Spaceballs. But he doesn't
see any problem in that. In FOCUS....

·DANNY / SPACEBALLS
640640

By Mount

Name..................: Danny Geurtsen
Handle................: Danny 
Group.................: Spaceballs
Former groups.........: Anarchy, Lemon.
Function..............: Graphician and designer
Age...................: 20
Age in the Amiga scene: Probably half of that.
Profession/school.....: Studying esthetical arts. Somewhat like commercial art.
                        Not on computers but in real life.
Place of living.......: Nieuwegein near Utrecht, Holland.
Best known releases...: Forgotten (slideshow, 1992), Rink-a-Dink title picture
with Facet (1993), Winter Queen (The Party 3), Propaganda #4 title picture

Spaceballs  was  founded by Dark Helmet
back in the eigthies.  Quite some years
they  only  consisted  of  a  Norwegian
division.    That  was  until  December
1993.   At  The  Party  3 some troubled
Lemon.    members  collided  with  Lone
Starr.   Love  at first sight.  A Dutch
and an English division teamed up.
Danny  joined  Anarchy  in 1992 and has
since  then  been  following  the Dutch
"group  in the group", with e.g.  Dope,
Nao  and  Facet, that was a big part of
Lemon.  and lately joined Spaceballs.

It seems that Spaceballs consist of two
seperated  parts:   the  Norwegians and
the  remaining  ex.Lemon.   members  in
Holland and UK.  Some judge it as a new
Anarchy  syndrom,  a  too  big group of
high class members doing too little.
- It's true that Spaceballs is somewhat


split   up  but  not  in  the  negative
meaning  of  the  word.   We do keep as
much  contact  as  possible  with  each
other.
The real problem, I think, is that most
members  are a little inactive.  I mean
Lone-Starr,  Dan,  Spaceman,  Hein  and
TMB-design      are     working     for
game-companies.
Dope  was very busy with organizing the
SIH2-party.   Facet,  Nao  and  me  are
quite  busy  with studies.  Lord Helmet
just  got  out  of  the  army, Scott is
drunk  and  our  leader is working very
hard  to  get  rich.   I guess it's not
much different from other groups...
And  besides  I  don't  think  that  24
member is too much.

Danny  is  not  the person that praises
his  own  work  all  the  time  and  he


therefore  finds  it difficult to judge
which of his releases are best known by
the public.
-  It's a hard question because I don't
know how well my graphics are spreaded!
But  I guess it must be the picture for
Rink-a-Dink  which I drew together with
Facet in 2.5 days.
Besides  that  one I think that my most
recent  release  called In bloom (title
picture  for  Propaganda  #4  by  Razor
1911)  is  pretty well known within the
scene.  Personally I think, In Bloom is
also  my  best released picture so far.
The  reason  for  this  is  that I love
gracefulness and elegance, this picture
has that.
Other  might also say that Lovelocks is
one of my best.

Danny's  hardest  job  when  drawing  a


picture goes back to 1992.
-  "Kingdom  of  the Knights" has to be
the  hardest  picture  I've drawn.  For
those  who  don't  know,  check  out my
ancient  slideshow  (Yes,  it's  old, I
can't help it!) called Forgotten.
I mean just take a look at the size for
a  low-res  colour picture.  640x350x64
if  I  remember correctly.  Drawing the
characters  wasn't  so hard but filling
the   entire   background  was  a  real
challange.   Does it deserve a place in
Guiness-book?  Nooooooooo!!!!
But  anyway that's the one I still have
nightmares from.

The  scene means a lot to Danny when it
comes to being creative and having good
friendships  but  not  all  his time is
consumed by the Amiga.
-  I'm  not  the  kind  of  person that


spends  every  day  behind  the  screen
simply  because I don't always find the
time or fun.  There are ups and downs.
Good  contacts  are for me a big factor
for  being  in the scene.  It is always
nice  to  receive letters or phonecalls
from   people   that   have   the  same
interests as yourself.  It makes it all
worthwhile.
I only find the bigger and biggest demo
parties interesting to visit.  But they
are  a  great  opportunity to meet your
friends and compete in competitions.
My keywords for being in the scene are:
fun, challenges and creativity.  That's
it.

Also  his  group is of great importance
for Danny.
-  I  always feel close to my group.  I
try  to  get  as  much  information  on


fellow-groupmembers  as  possible.   In
that  way I know, what I'm dealing with
and  am  able  to  fullfill the group's
needs  as  much  as possible.  If there
are any...

 
Danny  needs some time of consideration
before  saying  what was the biggest or
best  thing  happening  to  him  in the
scene.
-  Hmmm....   I have been thinking know
for  about  three  minutes  and I still
can't think of anything.  Oh yes, now I
know.   When  I  was  at  The  Party  3
finishing    my    picture    for   the
gfx-competition    I   was   constantly
interrupted by game-producers trying to
make   me  a  bussiness  deal.   I  got
several business-cards and game-drawing
offers.  It really made me feel good.


°çççççççççççççççççççççççççççççççççççç®
×  A little Danny riddle.... Why do  ×
× Dutch people have such big heads?  ×
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The parents
-  They  do seem to know what I'm doing
but  if  they really understand?....  I
don't  think so.  I guess they are like
most  parents.  They like the idea that
I'm  able  to  earn  lots  of cash when
working  for a software company though.
They  try  to  support  me  as  much as
possible, which is a great help.

Favorite motives and style of graphics
-  My  style  of  drawing.  Well...  It
depends on what you mean with style....
I'd  have  to  break  down a picture in
several   categories   to   explain  my
"style".   First of all I don't do just


some   graphics.    When  I'm  doing  a
picture it has got to have some sort of
a  story behind it.  It has got to mean
something.   Only  when  I  know what I
want  to  do  I can start drawing.  Not
before.
Colour;  I  try  to give my pictures as
much   colour   as   possible   without
overdoing  it.  Monochrome graphics are
not  my favorite.  You can do much more
with colour.
Composition;  One of the most important
basics  of  doing  graphics.  A picture
without good composition can never look
as  good  and powerful as one that does
contain a well designed composition.
Smoothing;  Wonderful,  great to do.  I
try  to  get  my  work naturally smooth
thus not to much, but sufficient.
Highlighting/shading:   This  has to be
for  me  THE  most important thing when


talking  about  art.   Bad  H/S'ing can
absolutely  kill  a picture.  I like to
use  generally  bigger  contrasts.   It
makes the art more exciting.
Proportions;  Oh  dear,  I used to have
some problems with this.  I think I got
it   under  control  know  because  bad
proportions  makes a picture look silly
and  pathetic.   Adjusting  proportions
can be very interesting though...
To  make  a long story short, the words
that  describe  my style best would be,
colourful,   graceful  and  clean?   At
least  that's  what I'm aiming for!  My
favorite  motive,  what  can  I  say...
Women ofcourse.

Much  has  been  said  for  and against
redrawing.   Till  lately  all  Danny's
pictures where copied.  But now he only
wants  to  finish  a  couple of already


started  redraws  and after that try to
do all his stuff himself.
-  Redrawing  is  a  good teacher but a
lousy  way to keep being productive.  I
mean   you   can  learn  very  much  by
studying   and   redrawing   work  from
artists which are superior to yourself.
That's the way most (real-life) artists
learned how to develop there skills.
Some  graphicians  don't  seem  to have
there  sights  set  on learning though,
they  just want to be productive to get
famous.   I  hope  you people out there
don't  think  of me like this because I
want to learn, learn and learn!!!

Mixed  feelings about redrawing but not
about scanning pictures.
-  This  can't  be said enough.  I hate
everything   that   has   to   do  with
scanning.    I  mean  it's  so  unfair.


Scanning  is  Soooo  easy,  what's  the
challenge???   There is no challenge so
why  bother.  Scanners are only fooling
themselves in the end!
It  can  have  a  bad  influence on the
scene  because  this  cheat-thing  only
occurs   in  the  art-corner.   I  mean
coders  and  musicians still have to do
there  stuff  without some similar sort
of  'help'.   So why should graphicians
start scanning.  It just doesn't fit in
the scene we all know and love.

Danny five faves:
1  -  Suny/Movement:   Because he draws
things  I  like  in a style I like with
colours  I  like.   His Aztec is really
graceful   and   has   very   beautiful
colours.   The hair of Estelle is about
the  same as I would have drawn it if I
had to draw this pic!


2  - Cougar/Sanity:  Because his aim to
do  a  perfect  picture  is something I
admire  a  lot.   It's something I also
aim for.

3  - Fairfax/Andromeda:  Because of the
way  he draws nature.  The covered with
snow  spruce-fir (that's a tree) in his
picture  Winter-courier  is  just  sooo
beautiful!   This guy knows how to draw
nature.  Strangely enough, clothing and
several  human  characteristics seem to
be more of a problem for him.

4   -  Facet/Spaceballs:   Because  his
logo's  and  design  are the best!  The
way   he   draws   fantasy-textures  is
unequalled.

5-...That   has  to  be  several  other
artists  like  Fade-One,  Peachy,  etc.


They  all  have  there  own exceptional
qualities.

Therefore it's no surprise that Danny's
favorite  slideshows are Seven Seas and
Never  Liked  Uno.  But he doesn't like
Prism.
It's not hard for him to explain why so
few slideshows are released.
-  Making  a  slideshow is probably the
most  time-consuming production of all.
Even  more  work  than  making a decent
trackmo.  That's my experience though.

The Forgotten slideshow?
-  It  doesn't mean much to me anymore,
although  I sometimes still get letters
from  people asking me for a copy.  Can
you  believe it, almost two years after
the release!  That's a great feeling.
I  sometimes  have  the  idea  that  it


wasn't  spread  too well because of the
relatively  unknown  groupname  it  was
spread under, Mirage!


Nobody   has   the   formula  for  "the
perfect"  competition  picture  but  at
least Danny tries to.
-  Ok, this is strictly the way I would
see  it.   A  picture  which has a very
good  motive, an excellent composition,
not  too  complicated  in design and is
very powerful when in comes to colours.
But  the  most  important  thing  for a
competition   picture  should  be  that
there's no name of the artist.  Reason?
Some  people  just  can't  vote  on the
picture  itself but only on the name of
the artist who drew it.

Ra  has in this issue been voted as the


best  artist  by his collegues.  But he
is not among Danny's favorites.
-  The  Sun-god,  eh?   Well to be very
honest  I  don't see why so many people
make  such a big thing out of him.  The
only  stuff  I  like  from  him are his
logos.   Those are really good yes, but
his     pictures?!?!?      Man,     his
ArglmEinstein sucked.  The colours were
clashing,  the hair was a dithered mess
and background...  well what's there to
say    about   the   background?    No,
absolutely not my kind of graphician.


Some  would  say  that  Danny  as Dutch
Spaceballs  (and  former Lemon.) member
always  will be in the shadow of Facet,
especially when it comes to assignments
for Spaceballs productions.
-  There  is a good point there.  Well,


first  of  all  Facet  is  a  very good
personal friend of mine.  We talk a lot
about   art  but  also  on  many  other
things.  That's probably the reason why
I  don't  really see him as a rival.  I
don't  have  my sights set on taking of
his   Eurochart-crown   or   something.
People  sometimes  say  to me "ooh your
much  better  than  Facet,  doesn't  it
bother  you  that  he's  so much higher
ranked  than you?" That's not the way I
feel it.  Yeah maybe I will stay in his
shadow,  but  he's a friend.  You don't
go aiming to kick your friend's butt.

Facet worked hard to top the charts and
because  Facet  is  topping  the charts
he's  popular.   Because  he's  popular
everybody wants to work with him, so he
gets lots of good graphics released.
Also  in  Spaceballs,  they always call
            Continues in next article ¦

Pixel worship of women

him  first,  but I don't mind too much.
It's  sort  of  like  a circle which is
very hard to break.  But that's the way
it  goes  in the charts.  I mean, there
are so many good artists around.
The  style  Facet  handles  is  so much
different    than   any   other   scene
graphician.   It  might not be the most
complicated  or  time-consuming  style,
but  that's the best of it.  He doesn't
spend  much  time  on  his work, but it
still  looks  great.   Apart  from some
pictures which were of a lower quality.
Now,  how  many artists can draw a cool
logo  within a phone-conversation of 45
minutes?  He can!  That's also a reason
why  he  can release so much.  He draws
fast  and  his style can be drawn fast.
The  quality  might  drop a little, but
hey,  nobody's  perfect.   Neither  are
drawing styles.


Trends   and    development   of  Amiga
graphics
Trends, I'll sum up a few:  Logo's with
the  letters  lying all over the place,
childish  "How  to  skin  a  Mack"...eh
"Cat"   big-brush-line-drawings,  Melon
?design?,  zoomed-in  Walt birdies crap
etc.   etc.   Mostly  the  stupid stuff
gets trendy.
Wow,   Amiga  graphics  certainly  have
developed.  Still remember the good ol'
J.O.E.   slideshows  or  the  ones from
Mithrandir?   They became legends after
releasing  those  slides.   Now  you'll
berely  enter  a  chart with stuff like
that.     Amiga-gfx    have   certainly
improved  don't  you  think?....  eh...
yes   ok   ok   I   know  you  ask  the
questions....  Grrr.

The   originality  of  Amiga  graphics,


among   that   especially  dragon/naked
ladies   pictures,   has  been  a  much
discussed topic.
-  Cool!   Let's face it.  Scene-freaks
are   something  different  than  other
people.   That's what makes us all cool
or  lame!  We're actually one big happy
scene  family.   And we all want to see
the  same thing over and over again.  I
mean  you  berely  stand  a chance at a
graphics  competition if you don't do a
naked  lady  or  something  Dungeons  &
Dragons-like.
No of course it's not original anymore,
but  deep  down  we  don't  seem to get
enough  of  these subjects.  So I don't
think  it's  fair  to  blame  only  the
graphicians for that.

Despite some lack of originality, Danny
still sees Amiga graphics as art.


-  Yes, very much.  As a matter of fact
I   think  Amiga  graphics  is  a  very
underrated   and  unfortunately  unkown
form  of art.  Perhaps a gallery of the
best  Amiga-art  would  do  it justice.
Maybe  at  the Party 4!  WoW that .....
be ....!  Fill in the missing words.

Danny   has   tried  cooperating  on  a
picture  with  Facet.   But he finds it
hard   to  choose  another  artist  (no
matter   personality  and  nationality)
with  whom  he  was to make a competion
picture   together  with,  where  their
abilities  should  be  combined  in the
best way.
-  Waauw,  now that's a question.  Few,
very  difficult  to answer.  If you had
asked  what kind of group, then I would
have  said Fairlight/Virtual Dreams.  I
think my graphics fits their demo-style


best.  But another graphician...  After
doing  the  Rink-a-Dink  title  picture
together   with   Facet   I   know  how
difficult  it  is  to  combine graphics
styles.   Because  people who know both
Facet  and  my  style  can  exactly see
which  parts  I did and which Facet had
done.
I  think  I would choose Suny.  Reason?
We both seem to have the same interests
when  it  comes to colours, motives and
elegancy.    I   think  we  could  both
benefit  from eachother.  His dithering
(look  at  Estelle's arms) still leaves
room  for  improvement  and  I guess he
could have some advice on my work also.

The   relationship   to   real  art  is
important   for  Danny,  also  when  he
switches off the Amiga.
-  In  the  beginning  of September '94


I'll  enter  the  last  year  of my art
study  which  is  mainly focused on art
and  drawings  techniques.   This  also
includes  a  field-trip  to Paris to go
and do major artwork there.
I'm  also  working  on several big-size
colour-paper drawings.  I'm thinking of
also doing a scene version.  But anyway
real  art  takes a very big place in my
life.

Commercials and surroundnings sometimes
affect his Amiga work as inspiration.
-  I  sort  of see them as two seperate
things  which interrelate perfectly.  I
get  many  good  ideas  for scene-stuff
from my surroundings.  For example:
In my class there's this very beautiful
girl.    She   has   one  of  the  most
beautiful  butts I have ever seen.  One
day  she  was  wearing some really cool


¢8jeans.   She had her back faced towards
me   and   her   jeans  rippled  in  an
astonishing  way  over  her  butt.  The
ripples  sort  of  had a Y shape, and I
got  this brilliant idea for a picture.
I  could  see  the entire picture in my
mind,  so perhaps one day I'll actually
do  that  picture.   So  if  you  see a
picture of a woman's butt in jeans from
me, you'll know where I got the idea.

130900











°ççççççççççççççççççççççççççççççççççççç®
× Riddle answer: There's no other way ×
× their big mouths   would   fit  in! ×
× HAHAhaha... not funny eh? Well damn ×
× it, at  least  I'm  trying to amuse ×
× you!!                               ×
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Danny  has  been  involved  in  a  game
project but not with much succes.
-  Long before I was in the scene I did
some  graphics for a shoot 'em up!  The
best  at  that time.  But the coder was
too lazzzzzzzyyyyyyy.
I don't think working at a game-company
would  be  my ideal future.  It doesn't
give me enough satisfaction drawing for
games.   Strange  but  true.  I have my
sights set on something more difficult!

So  Danny  won't  get his future income


from pixel entertainment but it will be
something with drawing and creativity.
- As a matter of fact, I can't even see
me   doing  something  else  than  art.
That's the only thing I wish to do as a
career.   I just want to become a great
artist.   And  besides I've already got
several  opportunities to make a career
out of this hobby.

When  watching the amount of scene guys
working   for   game  companies,  Danny
thinks  that the scene can be seen as a
kind  ef education.  But you don't need
an education to start drawing.
-  For Amiga graphics on a lower level,
I  don't think so.  When you redraw you
need     some     sort     of     Amiga
drawing-theories,  but only when you do
your  own  stuff you need to understand
the  true  facts  of  drawing-theories.


And  now  I  don't mean the low-quality
self-designed  graphics  the  scene  is
facing  today,  but  pure  HIGH-quality
stuff.

Predicting  the  future can be hard but
how  far  could  Danny be in five years
time?
-  I  hope to be a grandfather by then,
my  daughter  is 5 months pregnant, you
see.  Erm...  I don't think so Tim.
Well I hope that by then I've found the
woman  that wanders through my fantasy.
By  than  I  also hope to have found my
ideal art job.  Can you guess what that
would be?  If not, try contacting me in
five years time.

Is  the  scene  life  something that in
10-15  years  time is so acceptet, cult
etc.   that  Danny  would tell his kids


about, he doesn't doubt.
-  Ooooh my god, I'm really old already
aren't  I?  Well, Ofcourse I would tell
them.   I  mean the scene has been (and
still  is) a big part of my life.  Kids
allways  want  to  know  everything  so
telling them would only be natural.
I  would  say:   "Kids, your father was
once     a     long    time    ago    a
scene-graphician."
Kids  go:   "AAAAAAHHH!!!",  the  start
crying  and  I  ask:   "heeeey,  what's
wrong?"
Kids   say:    "Daddy,   what  kind  of
horrible monster is a scene-graphician?
Snif sniff"
Noooo,  that will go fine.  I think I'd
tell   them   about   the   things  the
demo-scene  did  and  what my part was.
But  I'm  not  God,  can't  predict the
future.    Perhaps  it  will  turn  out


differently.

In   the   end   a  piece  of  abstract
Danny-art made by words....

A diamond in the rough.
The  true  beauty of this diamond could
only  be  Seen  by the (Angel)dawn of a
bright  and Suny day.  It's many Facets
could  only  then  be  observed in it's
full glory.
Once  the  ancient sungod RA has thrown
his long beams of light past the
(Devil)stars  towards  the inner beauty
of   the  wonderful  stone,  the  R.eal
W.onders   O.f  RANKflection  has  done
justice.   The  Brilliance  within this
miRACKle lies beneath caves of the last
Bavarian MOUNTainlion called Cougar.
"It  is  only  FAIR"  said  FAX  to the
gatekeeper  "that  we  get to know this


wisdom  we seek.  (U)No, was the answer
(H)of the old man who's live would soon
FADE.   ONE century after that memorial
day, which caused a great HAVOK at that
time,   a   new  gate  was  MADE.   The
Blizzart who had destroyed the previous
one  had  regrets  of  his  actions and
appologised.          The         magic
(Mithran)directly  returned.   And they
all lived happily ever after....
We are all IN BLOOM!!!

































Next page for "Contrast"              

·CONTRAST


Devilstar / VD & PolkaB:
He  is  a  good graphician like so many
others....
I  really  like  hearing  that he would
stop  redrawing.   Not  before  I see a
self-produced  picture from him, I will
judge his skills.

Ra / Sanity:
I  don't  like  his models, colours and
his lack of style.
"I  don't like the taste of a lemon" he
said, I'm happy for him.

Dope / Spaceballs:
Danny could be described best as always
happy,  friendly, enthusiastic and more
of that.





He's the typical famous guy (after all,
his  work  hasn't  been used much but a
lot  of  guys  still  do know him) that
hasn't  changed a bit.  He even doesn't
talk   about   his   famousness.    His
ultimate  group  is  one in which every
member  knows  every other one, and not
just by name.
He  loves to paint, but in his eager to
draw  more  and  more,  he  forgets  to
finish  old  pictures under the name of
'I   don't   like  it  anymore'.   Many
half-coloured  faces  of  women without
legs  face  the  inside  of a dusty old
disk  every  day.   Unfortunately  it's
wasted energy if you are persuading him
to finish an old picture.
Danny is a big fan of Lizardking.


He's  very  reliable  when  it comes to
sending   something   over.   The  disk
transfer doesn't stop when you lay down
the  hook  of the phone.  In 90% of the
cases you can expect your package to be
delivered within days.