The only place I ever go on a regular basis to see fractal art is Fractalforums.com. I don’t pay much attention to the names only the artwork. So when a name like “reallybigname” becomes familiar to me it can only be because he’s been consistently uploading interesting work. Continue reading
Some time has now passed since Tim posted his thoughts on "The Fractal Art Manifesto" — basically arguing that Kerry Mitchell’s document glorifies the artist’s role and downplays the computer’s contribution. Mitchell, in a cut-and-paste epic-length response, half of which was merely quoting Tim’s original post, rebutted — and then called in reinforcements from the … Continue reading
While it may not be as well known today as it has been in the past, The Fractal Art Manifesto, written back in 1999 by Kerry Mitchell, is one of the very few attempts to formally define fractal art. If you visit the Wikipedia page for Fractal Art, you’ll see that quotations from The Fractal … Continue reading
The future of fractal art Well, bluntly stated, there is no future in fractal art. At least not in the kind of fractal art that most artists are making today. That’s the stuff I called Parameter Art in my last posting, Part 4. What we’ve all seen is what we’re all going to see. Of … Continue reading
Pixel Art vs. Parameter Art In my preceding three parts I have dealt with what I see are the limitations of fractals for making artwork. To put it simply, the geometric imagery called “fractals” has a natural bent towards the decorative and design type of art work. Artists who attempt to create more serious kinds … Continue reading
What fractals fail to do… You can’t make art with them. And we all need our heads examined for thinking we could in the first place. I should be a bit more specific when I say, “art”. I mean the thinking man’s stuff. The kind of image that provokes your mind to complex, intense thought … Continue reading
What fractals are good for, or, the creative use of fractal algorithms. Fractal art needs a reboot, a re-thinking of what it’s all about. The optimistic forecasts from the early days of fractal art, the coming fame and pubic recognition, needs to be corrected and downgraded in light of what has actually come about in the … Continue reading
Responses at Fractal Forums.com to the recent announcement of the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest 2011 suggest to me that a lot of things have changed in the fractal art world since the BMFAC was initiated back in… ¡Ay, caramba! –2006! ~ Click on images to go to original site ~ Fractal Ken hit the … Continue reading
Gero Wortmann, hailing from Munich, Germany may not be as old as me but some of the stuff he makes I really like. ~ Click images to view full size on original website ~ They look fractal, but what does that really mean? His work really focuses on the basic shape and form of the … Continue reading
I’ve been trying to reconcile two conflicting things: Firstly, that there’s something exciting about fractal programs, and secondly, that there’s something quite disappointing about fractal art today. I don’t need to explain why I’m enthused about fractal programs, I hope. But I probably do need to do a lot of explaining to convince people that … Continue reading
Welcome back, readers, to the home edition of the Fractalbook Network’s much loved game show: Name! That! Comment! Now, finally, through the mystery of OT technology, you can continue honing your somewhat-fractal-related social networking skills and never miss a beat stroking your virtual artist-friends while sitting alone at home in a room by yourself. Just … Continue reading
Something happens to fractals when they start to resemble real things. It’s sad, in a way, but I think fractal art is limited in its appeal to a wider audience simply because it’s “fractal.” Fractals have shape, color and pattern, but often those purely abstract, non-representational qualities relegate fractal imagery to the domain of the … Continue reading
Just when I was beginning to think the 3D fractal scene was plateauing and running out of interesting themes to explore… along comes something sharp. Continue reading
From time to time I revisit places and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Mr. Velocipede, a long time fractal artist, has reinvented herself and started an new blog with new enthusiasm entitled, “Oh no, not again.” Nothing interests me more than seeing someone do something new and different with fractal art and Velocipede … Continue reading
Generative Art is simply a machine whose output has artistic qualities. The Wikipedia page defines Generative Art as: Generative art is a system oriented art practice where the common denominator is the use of systems as a production method. To meet the definition of generative art, an artwork must be self-contained and operate with some … Continue reading
I’m sorry, but I can’t give out too many details about the actual recipient because the prize winning journalist has been keeping a very low profile in order to avoid “the haters” of the fractal art world which he’s observed over the years to have plagued and besieged Orbit Trap, the blog that inspires him. … Continue reading
Although it’s probably been a perennial theme in fractal art from the beginning, the recent 3D fractal explosion has greatly increased the number of images whose main impression is that of The Strange Place. Because of this, I think it’s only appropriate to give some thought to this reinvigorated sub-genre of fractal art. Continue reading
Back in 2006, Juan Luis Martinez (Fractovia.org) wrote a post explaining why despite the growing popularity (and growing hip-ness) of the Macintosh computing platform we shouldn’t expect a similar proliferation of fractal programs to follow the way they have on the Windows platform. He doesn’t speculate as to why it isn’t going to happen or … Continue reading
The Mona Lisa is the most popular artwork in the Louvre, the most famous art collection in the world. It measures 77 x 53 cm (30 x 21 in). That’s the size of a high-end computer monitor, today. The world has the Louvre, and the the Louvre has the Mona Lisa, but Orbit Trap has … Continue reading
What is fractal art? What can fractal art be? We think the best answer is found by looking at what fractal artists are displaying on the internet. Here’s a collection of links that should leave you better informed about what fractal art is, and can be, as told by the artists themselves with their … Continue reading
~ Click on any image to view full-size on the original site ~ He has a Deviant Art Gallery too with more examples of “steampunk” mandelboxes. On DA he goes by Hal Tenny which sounds like a real name. He shares, he cares, he posts parameter files! What a wonderful fractal artist and human being … Continue reading
sbioelements (from Undersea) by Tatiana Plokhova I figured it might be time to return again to examining work that falls into the category of Phase Two fractal art. Tim laid down the foundation for Phase Two thinking in an earlier OT post where he notes that Phase Two fractal art focuses on the image and … Continue reading
Joseph Jefferson as Rip Van Winkle. Photograph seen on 1000 Stemmer. Daylight licked me into shape I must have been asleep for days –The Cure, "Just Like Heaven" Dear Diary, I must have dozed off. Before I knew it, months had passed. But, surely, in the wake of the late holiday season, world peace … Continue reading
Yes, the fractal art world has its Christmas movie offerings just like Hollywood does. Well, actually, most of these were posted long before the holiday season started, but I just haven’t gotten around to (re)posting them here. If you follow Fractalforums.com then you’ve probably seen all of these fine, cutting-edge, fractal videos. Maybe I should … Continue reading
There’s a lot of far-out stuff in Dan Wills’ ultraMeta Picasa gallery. It’s a reminder that fractal art can be just as much about exploring a fractal world as it is about that strange, fickle and formal thing called “art.” Continue reading
From time to time while browsing fractal art on the internet I’ve seen images that greatly impressed me and yet when subjecting them to a second, more critical evaluation, found myself unable to defend them as anything more significant than just eye-candy. What all of these images had in common was exceptionally good color. Upon … Continue reading
How old is 3D imagery? In case you’re wondering, and you’re also stupid, 3D imagery has been around as long as humans have had two eyes. It’s pretty common actually and goes under the generic title: see-ing. In fact, if you think about it, the usual flat, 2D kind of imagery seen in most artwork, … Continue reading
Add the following two links to your bookmarks/favorites and visit them every day and you will stay up to date with 80% of all that’s interesting in the fractal art world today. Recent Uploads to the gallery and Recent Posts to the forum at Fractalforums.com: Recent uploads Recent Posts One of my favorite posting themes … Continue reading
We recently received an inquiry here at Orbit Trap; an email requesting where the Fractal Universe calendar featuring the work of Cornelia Yoder could be bought. I was flabbergasted… But I Googled the title, found it on Amazon.com and sent off a reply anyway. Strange, I thought, but many people find hunting for things on … Continue reading
Yep. They sure are! See if you can guess what fractal program made this one: Oh. You guessed wrong. But that’s understandable. You see, the entire fractal generator that made the explosion was destroyed in the making. Fast rendering time! –but it only works once! I think they called it “Ivy Mike” because they weren’t … Continue reading
~Click images to view on original site~ Doesn’t this just freak you out? I’ve actually held a few seashells like this in my own hand and seeing that computer art pattern on such a natural and living thing is just deeply weird. We’ve all seen fractal patterns in broccoli, pine cones and spiral snail shells … Continue reading
A new and wondrous discovery in the land of 3D fractals has been made by a veteran Fractalforum member, Erp Trafassel (trafassel). In response, Daniel White (twinbee), who sparked the original 3D fractal quest for the “Holy Grail”, the 3D Mandelbrot, gave the Mandelbulb a 5/10 in achieving the goals of their quest but gave Trafassel’s recent achievements a 7 or 8. Continue reading
A new fractal program (alpha version) yFractalExplorer. It’s real-time rendering abilities include displaying the image as color ascii art. A couple other examples of animated fractal ascii art which begs the question: “Is fractal land ripe for an ascii art revival?” Of course not, but it’s still cool to look at once in a while… Continue reading
Hermann invites stranded passengers at the Munich airport to share a beer. A look at one of his artworks and the java applet based method by which Hermann displays them. Jwm-art’s two recent images of similar simple methods but rich style. A suggestion for a new smiley/emoticon for Fractalforums.com Continue reading
Although some fractals today can look extremely realistic, I find they don’t usually mix well with photographic elements. Computer-made imagery just seems to clash –aesthetically– with imagery from the real world. But just recently I discovered a few examples of just the opposite; harmony and synergy in a image mixing fractal and non-fractal imagery. Continue reading