What started out as an easier way to distribute artwork among BBSes grew into one of the most vibrant art movements online. Monthly "Art Packs", where groups of artists would release the previous 30 days worth of work, started out as ANSI-related artwork but soon grew into anything that could fit into a .ZIP.

The two most famous in the BBS era were iCE (Insane Creators Enterprises) and ACiD (ANSI Creators in Demand), but many other dozens of groups rose and fell over the years. Buried in these archives are hundreds of hours of work, thousands of original pieces, and the ebb and flow of a vibrant social culture, all aimed at one goal: to impress the others with their artistic prowess.

BBSes were the initial repository of these packs, and couriers would get copies of the newest packs to distribute among all the various boards worldwide as soon as they were available. Art Groups naturally moved to the Internet as fast as they could, taking advantage of the network to move the work even faster.

I would be lying to you if I let you believe that I collected the vast, vast majority of these art packs myself; in fact most come from the infamous and well respected ACiD Artpacks Archive, which has existed in one way or another for many years, and which contains a near-comprehensive level of art packs for most groups during the 1990's. I have since gone through it, added descriptions, corrected dates, and added what other packs have been found.

Please note that all ACiD and iCE creations are now in their own sections on this site.