Dash of Inspiration – June 20, 2011

A Dash of Inspiration…A Cup of Creativity by Doreen Erhardt

Fractal Imagery

I’m seeing more and more fractal art popping up these days and though I have not made the time for my own experiments, I do find it a fascinating and often quite beautiful form of art.  In August of 1985, the cover of Scientific American became the first known fractal image to be considered art.  Since then many artists have explored the possibilities and created some exquisite visual expressions.  When looking for a more refined definition of this ‘new’ art form and its place in today’s art world, I found this quote from Kerry Mitchell:

“Fractal Art is a subclass of two-dimensional visual art, and is in many respects similar to photography—another art form that was greeted by skepticism upon its arrival. Fractal images typically are manifested as prints, bringing Fractal Artists into the company of painters, photographers, and printmakers. Fractals exist natively as electronic images. This is a format that traditional visual artists are quickly embracing, bringing them into FA’s digital realm. Generating fractals can be an artistic endeavor, a mathematical pursuit, or just a soothing diversion.  Fractal art is not computerized art, lacking in rules, unpredictable, nor something that any person with access to a computer can do well. Instead, fractal art is expressive, creative, and requires input, effort, and intelligence.”

Today I’m sharing these wonderful exhibits of extraordinary Fractal Art; 35 Beautiful Examples of Fractal Flowers from our friends a Noupe and another set of 35 Phenomenal Fractal Art Images from Smashing Magazine.  Should these inspire you to play around a bit with creating Fractal Art, I’ve included an interesting tutorial on how to Simulate Fractals in Photoshop from PSD-TutsPlus and for those of you who get ‘hooked’ on this form of art and wish to learn more also included is a great List of Fractal Generating Software along with software specific Tutorials.

Go stimulate your imagination!

Image: "Flowers of August" by Aeroglyph