Oh yes indeed, I remember those old Galleries too!
There were some very talented people using AR back then, and indeed there still are
I see you found the old Galleries for two of my favourite AR users; SomseoneSane, though alas not seen around here for a very long time now but who made some good AR tutorials back in the day: https://www.youtube.com/@someonesane
And Nicklillus a.k.a Nick Harris, professional illustrator in the real world: http://nickillus.com/