Computer art scene

In the early days of microcomputers, what could be shown on a typical video display screen was limited to plain and simple text, such as that found in the ASCII code set.

VGA was not intended to be displayed via a BBS and the vast majority of the early works in the IBM PC artscene were distributed as coded executables called "loaders" or "intros" rather than raw bitmap images.

In fact, it was considered to be "lame" to release an uncoded VGA work of art from the early- to mid-1990s, a sure indication that your group was not skilled enough to retain a worthy programmer.

The advent of custom image viewers developed by groups within the artscene, such as ACiD View and iCEView, began to shift the perception of how VGA art should be distributed and what the accepted practice should be.

Talented underground artists such as CatBones continued to help pioneer and define what is now referred to as the "hirez artscene", further championing the move away from coded VGA to stand-alone imagery with his impressive artwork.

Hirez today implies higher resolutions than before, such as a 1024x768 pixel canvas or larger, greater depth of color, and is created with much more sophisticated and modern software.

Despite the fact that contributors to the artscene can be found worldwide, the scene remains detached from mainstream bbs and internet culture.

As early demoscene groups were organized by cracktros coders, artscene members were often found designing the .nfo files detailing warez releases.