When a scener mentions the words "Holland" and "Graphician" in the same sentence, the name Facet surely comes to mind... but that was more than a year ago now, since, in these last months, Facet had to make some place to a new hitting Dutch star; DANNY!


Danny does not have a scene history that spans 10 years back. At 22 years of age, he is more like a personage from the modern scene age. 
"My first real encounter with the Amiga scene had to be when I released my slideshow Forgotten, back in the summer of 1992. During that year I also visited my first party, The Prime, held by Mirage"
, he explains. In fact, unlike most of the other known graphicians before him, Danny has never been a member of some unknown and shadowed group. After the release of his first slideshow, and the understanding of what the scene was all about, he remained without a group for many months. 
"Then I was asked to join the now legendary group Anarchy"
, he tells us with his calmness. In fact, such an offer arose from Facet himself, who is said to have been quite impressed by Danny's artistic values.

The Unlucky One


Not everyone in the scene finds his luck in one day. And Danny's past experiences with groups is one such example. Before he could do anything useful for Anarchy, the same Facet broke up the group to form the infamous friendship TEAM, Lemon. That same year, during the SIH party, Danny was asked to team up with them - seeing no future with Anarchy, and practically no possibility to release his many artwork, he had nothing to loose but become a Lemonade. The demo RINK A DINK released at the end of 1993, was the first scene production (besides his earlier slideshow) to host his pixel work.

Things started to move for the Dutch artist, and motivation continued to rise, when at The Party 3, he ended as seventh in the main graphics contest. 
"At this particular party Lemon. split up and I ended up in Spaceballs. In here, I had my own wishes and hopes, but the group turned inactive from the same moment I joined"
, says Danny with a sad expression. Even though many might start to wonder if this man carries some kind of scene-curse on his back, ROM assures everyone that Danny has always been a hard working artist, wanting the best for his group. All the graphics he did for Spaceballs, were never used for one reason or another. His back luck had struck again! But for how long was it going to haunt him?

December 1995


The end of 1995 can be seen as Danny's biggest break through. On one day, he was just Danny, a Dutch graphician, who's face was not known by everyone; but after the announcement of the graphics competition winner, the bright side of his scene future, started to reveal itself, all in one go! Now, Danny had become a true winner - a virtual trophy that he had been awaiting since almost 3 years now. Danny agrees. 
"Somehow I have always ended up in groups where there was hardly any activity, or the coders never contacted me for any graphics or when I had done some graphics for a production, someone would screw up and the production would never get finished. I really had to fight to get my graphics released. That was until The Party 5, since now, everybody wants me to draw for his productions"

Kolorful Experience


Many wondered about Danny's decision to leave the inactive Spaceballs and join Nah Kolor - a new-coming group that in those days, was just a name amongst the masses, without even a single release. 
"Yes, in fact at The Party 5 I had briefly joined Nah Kolor only to find out that I had ended up in a second Spaceballs! Nothing was happening in this group"
, says Danny. Interlocutor Mop looks at the Dutch artist, as if waiting for the real factor that made Danny go for the Nah Kolor choice. 
"If I have to tell you the truth, at The Party 5 I was seriously believing that I was going to end up, ranked rather low in the graphics competition. So just to get rid of Magic, who had been constantly bugging me to join his group, I told him that if I would win the contest, I would join the minute after. It was more or less a joke, since I knew that my chances of winning were very minimal"


Since Danny is a man of honour and likes to keep his promises to the full, he decided to give a chance to Nah Kolor, just to see if all what Magic and the scene were narrating about the group's future was true. 
"I was simply curious"
, he smiles.

Danny and his girls


The Dutch artist's presentation card has surely become Space Tits, the picture that conducted him to The Party's tribune of winners, and put him down in the scene's history book as a character of big importance in the graphics scene of today. 
"I think that this picture has been my best achievement in the scene since today. Not because of the picture's quality, since personally, I think to have done better things on paper; But mainly because of it's huge success in the scene and it's winning at The Party 5"
 Danny reveals that the amount of positive response he received was simply enormous. 
"It's unbelievable"
, he shakes his head, showing us his sincere opinions.

When Mop asks Danny about Space Tits' birth, he is met by strange looks. 
"Actually the picture itself isn't called Space Tits. It's real name is; Celebration of the awakening of carnal desires for woman-hood, through sexual cultivation of physical ornaments!"
 Mop shrugs in astonishment, and in a moment of anguish, wonders about the title. 
"Since I understand that the original name was simply too complicated, my friend Facet suggested the name Space Tits! If it would have been for me, I would have called it either Tit-Tat-Too or simply Two-Ta-Too"
, seriously affirms Danny.

Since every artist worth his name, knows that ideas are the heart of his artwork, ROM wonders about Danny's state of mind, when he was in the proximations of putting the first pixels to his carnal masterpiece. 
"Most of the ideas for my pictures come from the investigation of things in life. Very simple things can set a big flow of visions in motion. I start to see all kinds of probabilities for pictures. It can even be as simple as a cloud pattern in the sky. Inspiration is extremely important. Drawing without inspiration results in nothing. Even if a graphician might like to just sit down and draw a weird texture, one is always inspired by something, even if at the time it is usually not realisable. I can be inspired by the simplest things, a flash, or very far away images, or blurs. My mind takes over and creates something interesting from that vision. In this case, the idea came to me when I saw a photo of a girl looking down at her chest, with the emphasis put on her breasts. I started to think about all the kind of possibilities, and I came to the point where I really wanted to combine this breast-emphasis with a more erotic cling. In the end I came up with a sketch where two women were pressing their chests against each other. The whole picture became more fantasy-like when the tattoos were added"
 Danny explains that this idea of the tattoos had already been grazing in his thoughts since a number of months.

With Space Tits, Danny wanted the make up the ultimate picture composition, and according to some of his fellow scene companions, he has fully succeeded. 
"I have been shifting quite a lot of models, combining the positions of the tattoos at different positions"
, he says. Danny tells us that he wanted to take his own share of time with this particular creation, even though he knew that he could spend less time with the composition in itself, and still do a good looking picture. 
"But it would have looked more dead and meaningless than it ended up, since I know that a good composition can work in a very positive way"


Not many scene-pictures have a history like Space Tits; in fact, just after The Party 5 was over, a heavy discussion on this particular collection of pixels was even started on one newsgroup on Internet. In the end, a rather nasty barrier had grown between the several parties that had dared to express an own opinion. The general atmosphere was that, of computer users in general, accusing each other of prudence or liberal thoughts! Danny himself, did not entail in such discussion and limited himself to watch! But ROM reporter Mop, was not content, and wanted to know about the dubious look of the two female characters. After some hesitation, Danny tries to explain his feelings and thoughts. 
"If ones reads such a dubious expression from the picture, then I can only be pleased! In actual fact, the two females are hot for each other. They are sisters. The one on the right is the older one of the two, thus physically she's the bigger. She looks more mature and has a more settled look. The younger sister (the one on the left) is still more buoyant and rebellish. The tattoos form the connection between them - the Dragon showing the wilder youngster, while the fish, the more seasoned sister. At the same time, the two tattoos seem to be willing to fight each other, which creates the contrast between the way the two sisters press up in a manner to reveal more than just sisterly love"
 Mop, not understanding much, jokes around and asks for the address of their mother - and Danny starts to laugh wildly!

Even though a part of the scene has affirmed that a picture like Space Tits is not art, but totally porno, Danny is not discouraged to continue painting women in the way he has always done. 
"Everybody has the right to have an own opinion, as long as it's honest criticism. If anyone wants to call it porno, I can only add that it was never meant as such. I tried to look at the characteristics with different eyes. I've tried to put beauty, defiance, love and contrast in the same picture. Unfortunately not everybody can see it in the way that I meant it to be"


Danny tells ROM that his love for women and drawing is so big and expansive that he can't but combine the two things together. In fact, In Bloom, his earlier picture of a female, was the cause of much scene chit chat. 
"In Bloom was a very nice picture to work on. The difference between In Bloom and Space Tits is very big though - the first was a copy in low resolution, whilst the last is a more original artwork of mine, done in high res"
, says Danny when asked about his two classics. He assures us that even though both pictures had their own share of enjoyment, when they were being composed, they are actually worlds apart. Still ROM's suspects were quite right: Space Tits is the one which Danny is more proud of.

The New Times


With his triumphant success at The Party 5, a new scene era started for the Dutch hero. Fed up with the inactivities of all his part groups, he came to the conclusion to look around himself, and join the most active group in these times. The Black Lotus, was his only choice; 
"It has been the best decision I've made so far in my scene life"
, proudly announces Danny. For him, TBL has been the best and most fun group up to now, and we can't but agree with Danny. 
"It really is like a big happy family, and most importantly we work together to get the job done. From the same moment that I joined, I was able to release my graphics in the wonderful TINT"

Danny, the person


Danny is an enthusiastic person by nature. His love to draw is incredible and his main aim in the scene is to make his ideas, or visions - as he sometimes calls them - become visible to the crowd. Born in 1974, in Utrecht, a town considered as the heart of Holland, he has grew up to a 1.84 metre tall male, with sparkling green/brown eyes, a dark ash blonde hair and a strong posture. His character is optimistic, realistic and passionate; as he himself put it, those three words would describe him at his best. Danny is one of those persons who have a strong interest in everything that life has to offer, from the normal to the extreme, and everything that falls in between. Just like every scener, there are of course some facets of life that he enjoys more then others. Contrasts, art, music and life itself make up Danny's typical day.

His optimism for the future could be clearly seen in the way he describes his friends, family and the place where he resides; 
"I love Nieuwegein, a medium sized suburb of the wonderful city Utrecht - I praise it even more than Amsterdam, even though it's just a growing city with about 56,000 inhabitants"
 Recently Danny, who still lives with his parents, has moved to a new part of his land, which lies on the edge of the town. When asked, that at the age of 22, it's not very normal for a Dutch youth, to still live with his family, Danny eagerly replies; 
"I don't have any intentions of moving out, since I've got all the comforts of a home"


Girls are Danny's favourite subject when it comes to art. But what does he think of non pixelled females, the ones in flesh and blood? 
"I tend to have this compulsion for perfection"
 In fact, he continues to add that the woman that will carry his own children has to be perfect. Although he has come close on several occasions in finding this ideal partner, he still has to walk a lot in the path of life. 
"But the planet is so big"
, he smiles with his full optimism.

Daily Life


With this wave of commercialism, one might wonder why a natural-talent like Danny is still so active in the scene. 
"I sometimes wonder that myself, why I spend so many hours on a picture without ever getting a dime for it. I could get paid major bucks if I went commercial. But then I remember that the scene is just a break from real life. I do it for fun. I draw for fun. The things that come out of that are mostly never useable for commercial ends. So I just present them to the scene"


At the moment Danny has a full time job as a computer salesman! When asked about the reason for such an art-less work, he comments; 
"I just need money. For the time being, I don't find the commercial graphics industry interesting enough, so I wanted to do something else in which I am good at: talking!"
 As many might have guessed, this is NOT his real call in life, so Danny assures us that he seriously intends do work with art, maybe games or movies; 
"I don't know yet"
, he smiles again!

When talking about commercialism and real artwork, ROM comes across a unique story in Danny's colourful life. 
"In the end of 1994, at the start of my final year in my art education school, I was given an assignment like all the other students in my class. We had to come up with a design for a magazine advertisement for an orange-juice company called Jaffa. It had to be done in a more or less surrealistic way. The orange juice had to be the main subject, placed in a weird situation, with some eye-catching slogan"
, says a rather stimulated Danny. Much sketches later, our Dutch man was still a bit unsatisfied. 
"Then it hit me like a rock! An amazing idea. I did a quick sketch to check it with my teacher before I could execute the final drawing in colour pencils"
 And here is where his years of experience in the scene showed their fruition. His instructor was amazed by Danny's ingenious idea, and immediately gave him thumbs-up, so he could proceed with his work. 
"I worked on the idea like a maniac because I liked it myself so much. Fortunately I managed to finish it before the deadline"
, he says in an enthusiastic accent. As with all Danny originals, the main motive of his assignment was a half-naked woman, this time leaning against a high wooden pole. The conjunction with the orange juice? Her nakedness reveals her being pregnant; where her belly starts to expand, her skin turns into the familiar orange-skin texture. So actually, she has an orange as a belly! 
"Jaffa - the best of Mother Nature"
, proudly shouts Danny, whilst showing us a copy of his most liked picture. 
"I got the highest possible grades, so it's also my personal favourite"
, he says.

Scene History - An interview


When did you buy your first computer?


"My very first computer was a Commodore 64, with one of those old data recorders. It's also the computer that made me start to draw digitally. In 1989-90 I was pushed further, and bought an Amiga, but I didn't start in the scene until 1992. In 1993 I got my A1200 and a year later my first hard drive and a turbo board. And this is my current setup of today"


Did you ever release your first graphics?


"I started to paint on Amiga as soon as I switched it on. My first project was that of drawing some spaceships for a shoot-em up game. I did very much graphics, drawing almost every day. Most of my first drawings must be still stored somewhere on old disks. I didn't start to draw for groups until I came in contact with the Dutch team Mirage. I did some pictures for their Chit Chat message box"


How did you come to know of the scene?


"On the C64, looking at some demos, I was sold immediately. That was what I wanted to do. Gradually, I learned more and more of how this thing called scene used to work. But for me there was no real first time like in sex"


What has been the most hard to draw picture for you, and which one do you think is the most advanced when it comes to pixel by pixel precision?


"The most difficult picture has to be the Jaffa assignment. But that's not a digital one, since it was done on paper. The most hard to draw picture on computer must be Kingdom Of The Knights, featured in my old slideshow. It was a challenge to get so much colours out of the extra half-bright mode. The most time-consuming picture must be Wild Impressions, the naked lady in Tint"


In these last months, you seem to be gaining much more fame than your friend Facet. Do you think that we'll be seeing some exchange of places in the charts?


"To know that my work is enjoyed on such a scale is a huge stimulation. Facet is still adored by many sceners for his work. Nothing's changed there really. He's like me when it comes to being creative, we just cannot stop painting!"


ROM knows that you hate scanners. What can you tell us about the Swedish Louie who has been often associated with scanning?


"I hate scanners who claim to have drawn the whole thing by themselves and never rap a word about their scanner. When I ask someone about the way that he has created a picture, I can understand his decision to scan, if I get a truthful answer, otherwise I can't do anything but despise it. Louie is a great artist who doesn't need a scanner to get his work done. Many words have been said about his Gathering 96 picture, wether he has scanned just outlines or the whole picture and then did some retouching. My opinion is that it is not scanned, simply because I know from my own experience that it's not a very difficult picture to draw. So why should he have used a scanner?"


Have you ever caught some scanning symptoms in famous scene graphics?


"I've seen quite a lot of these so-called graphicians who tried to get away with scanning and claim to have pixelled it all. The French Slaine of Ivory is one such name!"


Who are the scene artists you respect the most?


"Firstly, I would like to name my good friend Facet. I know him quite well so I have a good insight of how he does and draw things. The first work I saw was from him was the one for the legendary music disk, Legalise It. I liked it immediately. Since then he has gone through many changes, but I admire him for always being himself. Besides Facet, I admire a lot of other graphicians for their work. I am not so unnecessarily critical on the work of other artists, since you can't compare everybody to the greatest. I can name graphicians like Suny, Louie, Rodney, Lowlife and Lazur"


If you had to set up a gallery with scene pictures, which ones would you choose?


"I really like Louie's Me And My Little Sister, Suny's Estelle and Aztec pictures, Ra's logos for Psychedelic, Facet's logos in general, Rack's work for Ray of Hope 2 and Cougar's Sanasmatron"


Is it right to pretend that a picture drawer must also know how to design demos?


"Design is a world apart. You can design so many different things. Designing a picture cannot be compared to designing the style of a demo. The people at Disney Studios, have responsible ones, just to design the colour-schemes of the particular scenes of a movie"


Sceners associate RA with originality, but who is the most original artist in your opinion?


"RA WAS original about two years ago. The things he does today, are not as original as they used to be. The criterions for originality change too fast these days"


With the introduction of ray-tracing in demos, many sceners are seeing no long future for the pixel graphicians. Do you think that ray-tracers are the graphicians of tomorrow?


"I believe that pixelling and ray-tracing can perfectly live together. Maybe just as painting and photography have done for many years already. I mean there are things which can be done better with both techniques"


What will happen if a new RISC Amiga will come out with a 24 bit graphics board as standard?


"Can a graphician pixel in 24 bit? In my opinion, a lot of graphicians who have gone 24 bit, don't even try. Almost all of the 24 bit work of these days looks so much alike. It looks Photoshop-ish. You can literally see Kai Krause (inventor of KPT) in those pictures. Of course it is possible, but one only needs to find new and original ways"


What is your opinion on the use of high resolution pictures?


"Higher resolutions can be beneficial in some ways. You don't have to do that much anti-aliasing. Adding more detail to the same piece of screen becomes easier"


What do you think of Made, and his low resolution mania?


"If Made wants to stick to low res for the rest of his life, that's fine with me. But that way, he will be blocking out a lot of wonderful possibilities gained by using higher resolutions"


Why is Holland so scene-inactive when it comes to groups?


"Total blackout! I just don't know the answer. I have a theory though. I think that it might have to do with the lack of high quality coder activity. There are some very good coders in Holland, but they all seem to have retired or completely lost their interest in the scene. Moreover there are quite a lot of groups who just make fun productions without caring about the quality"


PC - The Future


Just like most other artists of today, Danny is also active in a PC group. 
"The PCs have been coming on real strong in the last few years, while the Amiga has unfortunately stayed behind. PCs have gone so much faster for little money. A Pentium 166 costs much less than an Amiga 4000, and that's insane. The Software support for the Amiga is pathetic when compared to the PC world. When programs like Photoshop, Soft Image, Adobe Premiere and 3D Studio are only available on the PC, the choice is made a lot more easier"
 Still, Danny assures us that his Amiga days are not yet over - far away from that!

Here Mop leaves the Dutch paint-master, to his furious will to pixel his ideas. From what we have seen with our own eyes, we can assure you that after The Assembly and the SIH events, the graphics scene on Amiga will once again prove it's unlimited resource of fascinating artistry - thanks to Danny and his likes - the people who always keep us on the edge.