There is fractal art and there is the analysis of fractal art, and then there’s fractal events: contests, calendars and the occasional news item.  But then there are those occasional “things” that just don’t fall into the usual categories.  Here are some of those high points –special finds– of this 2011 holiday season on Deviant Art…

Season’s Greetings…

In all fairness, the authors never intended their images to be displayed like this.  Some authors choose to restrict viewing only to registered and logged-in members of Deviant Art.  All others are presented with the stock image padlock.

I think the idea is to prevent potential scammers from misusing their art as well as maybe web bots and those Google Image searches so the online gallery site can just stick to displaying artwork to those users who are browsing around looking for artwork.  I have a DA user account from a few years ago but it’s too much trouble looking up the password and username.  Besides, very few artists require registered log-ins so I don’t bother.  I don’t actually know what those “locked up” images look like.

Best Animation Thumbnail Link of All Time

Based solely on the style of writing and the type of rock used, I propose a date for this artwork of no later than circa 2011 BC

You know, most people who venture into the complex and time consuming realm of animation I believe have an above average level of user skills when it comes to using fractal software.  Why this artist preferred to scrawl this desperate, “dying man”  message in place of a single frame capture I’ll never know.  Actually, come to think of it, I found the thumbnail so funny I forgot to click on it and view the animation.  I guess that makes us both Neanderthals.

Best Use of Irony in a Signature Line

Signature lines are the bumper stickers of the Information Highway --Anonymous : ) =)

Yes, some of you know who this is.  And why is that?  It’s because you’ve seen this signature line so often!

I don’t know why, but I got to actually thinking what that quote was saying and thought to myself:  “She intends for us to click on those links, doesn’t she?  And does she not have to best of intentions that we should visit her galleries?  Wouldn’t it then follow that the road to hell goes right through her galleries?  Or at the very least, the road to hell *starts* with her galleries…”

Nirvana is the achievement of total watermark-nature

Bouddha Face by trsor7 (Deviant Art) -click for fullsize-

Okay, I understand.  People are always stealing artwork off Deviant Art and in some cases –paradoxically, in fact– reposting it to DA under their own name.  And what better way to foil such evil schemes than by stamping your username and gallery link on the image (under a huge Deviant Art logo).  And what better place to put that watermark than smack dab in the middle of the image?

In fact, after you’ve done that, maybe no one will ever want to steal your image.

Watermark springs a leak

Here’s the original image with a, shall we say, rushing torrent of a watermark:

Grey Skies by f--l--A--r--k (Deviant Art) Old version Dec, 21st

Then a change of heart…

Here’s the newer, cleaner version:

Grey Skies by f--l--a--r--k (click for full-size)

Note that Stan Ragets (stanragets.com) didn’t get rid of the watermark altogether, he just made one that didn’t leave tire tracks right across his image.  In fact, the new one is rather stylish.  Now how about doing something with that DA username?

Even God didn’t put a watermark on the Milky Way…

Hot Milkyway by geaannunziata (click for full-size)

After 2 weeks of rendering, a watermark says “it’s finished”

Hot and Cold Geometry by Joao Benoit (click for full-size)

Yeah, the details of the watermark show up a lot better in the full-size version too.  But then, it’s only natural to to finish off a composition like this made of squares with a nice square watermark right in the middle on a clear, white background.

Note how the centrally located watermark connects both the “hot” and “cold” geometry elements and unifies the whole picture.  Could the use of the watermark in fact be an artistic statement?

I wonder what his other artwork looks like?

Here’s one.  A mirrored photo with an almost fractal look.  Click on it to see it full-size and see if you can spot the watermark.

Satan's Employees by Joao Benoit (click for full-size)

It’s hard to spot that watermark in this one.  Watermarks just seem to blend it perfectly with Satan’s Employees.  But then, I’m not really looking at it from the point of view of an artist.  That is, a poor, ripped-off artist.  I’m looking at all this from the point of view of the audience.

Watermarked Mona Lisa by Me, me, ME!!! 2011

It’s entirely up to the artist whether they want to use a watermark or not; or whether they want to use any sort of digital restrictions.  But I would suggest you consider what you may in fact lose with all these things even if someone actually tries to “steal” your art.

Writing your name on your artwork isn’t a bad idea at all.  In my opinion though, watermarks just ruin your artwork by making it unviewable if in fact they do succeed in making it unusable.  But then, if you don’t want people to view your artwork, then what’s the use of uploading it?