Definitions of Fractals

Generally spoken, so-called “fractal” objects are objects that reproduce themselves on a more or less large scale, and this infinitely. These objects can be obtained from simple elements, through curves or sets of dots.

Some people think fractals are trippy pictures. Some people think fractals are weird pictures. And some people even think fractals are funny pictures. I, however, believe most fractals are Priceless Pictures! See what you make of them and I’m sure you’ll agree.

The word Fractal was first used in 1974 by Benoît Mandelbrot and is derived from the Latin root fractus meaning broken. Fractal was originally an adjective like in “fractal objects”.

Read more

What are Fractals?

There are various definitions of fractals. Some of these definitions are complicated fractal mathematics and some are definitions for non-experts like me. Therefore, I will be able to give you only an explanation of self-taught basic fractal geometry since I started creating fractals in late 1999.

There are two main features to fractals. One feature is all fractals exhibit self-similarity at all scales. This self-similarity may be strict or loose. Strict fractal self-similarity is rare in nature and may be non-existent.

Let me try and explain loose self-similarity a little further. Imagine you’re in the kitchen and prepare a whole cauliflower for dinner. So what do you do? First, you break off a big branch from the whole cauliflower. What do you see now? You see a small cauliflower that looks similar i.e. loosely self-similar to the whole cauliflower you had a moment ago.

Now if you were to continue breaking off even smaller branches of cauliflower you’d end up with ever-smaller replicas of the whole cauliflower until nothing was left. That in effect is what fractals are, self-similar replicas at all scales. I know this is not how you prepare cauliflower but I hope you’re able to understand the nature of fractals a little more.

Read more

Fractal Art – LENR reactions can produce Fractals as by-products

New evidence has revealed a credible methodology for creating Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR). This post is about Fractal Art and how LENR reactions can produce Fractals as by-products.

The discovery of several elements whose presence was clearly unexpected occurred. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) was used to identify the chemical characteristics in combination with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Platinum, Palladium, Gold, Hafnium, Rhenium, etc. were discovered in the substance which resulted in fantastic Fractal Art images.

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to identify the atomic properties. As another by-product, great fractal images were created as well which provides numerous possibilities for future projects.

Read more

Fractal Art Images

In a fundamental way, fractals art images are merely shapes, just like circles, triangles, and squares are shapes. Yet, fractals are so different from the more common shapes that we know. You can tell immediately that fractals are very different. Circles, for example, are smooth, and we can see that even more precisely if we look at all the time smaller image of pieces of a circle:

When the magnification of the piece of the circle increases, the circle’s edges will flatten out to eventually get indistinguishable from straight lines. For a smooth shape, this is characteristic: if only you’ll zoom in enough, the edges will look just like straight lines.

Fractals are different: no matter how often or how much you’ll zoom in, their shape will never flatten out. With fractals, regardless of how much you are zooming in, you’ll never be without detail. In every fractal, there is an infinite amount of detail, literally.

Read more

Fractal Art and Amazing Vortographs

Do you ever find a new technique or application in art that just astounds you? Fractal Art and amazing Vortographs are my latest obsession.

I first learned about Fractal Art and Vortographs in college during my History of Photography class. At the time, I was far more concerned with making sure I could fit all those slides and facts in my brain than the inspirational things I could learn from these photographers. But looking back, that class exposed me to photographers and processes I probably wouldn’t have heard of otherwise. I know fractals are different but still, I want you to see these great images nonetheless.

Vortography is a completely abstract form of photography invented by Alvin Langdon Coburn all the way back in 1917.  You know, back when you couldn’t just *create* these effects in photoshop – you had to be creative enough to visualize them beforehand. What Coburn did was absolutely new and unique, although not so appreciated at the time.

Read more

Fractal Art Images – A New World

Fractal Art began to be created in the times characterized by the impact of a variety of concepts and the combination of all kinds of methods. The storm-force caused by “fuzzy” Fractal Art swiftly scudded through the domains of mathematics, biology, atmosphere, and oceanics.

Besides these natural sciences, it also influenced violently several social studies, even in music and art. So let’s look a little deeper into the world of Fractal Art Images – a New World.

Mysterious and infinite art fascination in imagination, unbelievable and indescribable scenery in the fractal new world have been leading and stimulating human beings to explore and expand.

During the research and creation, people appreciate surprisingly the wonderful works based on science and fine arts and the harmonious integration of mathematics and aesthetics. People enjoy feeling physically the genuine and alive mathematics that usually be considered as only uninteresting numbers and complicated formulas in the past. Fractal Art is a special bridge between science and fine arts.

Read more

How to make Fractal Art by hand

Flower’s Pearl

When I make a flame like this, I start thinking I don’t know nearly enough about the possible tricks and techniques of this art form to say I have anything resembling a ‘style’ yet. So here you see how to make fractal art by hand. There are so many wildly divergent possibilities, and I’ve only scratched the surface. Maybe that’s a good thing; if this stopped being a learning process, it wouldn’t be as much fun.

When I re-rendered this piece in the 16:10 ratio, something surprising popped up: A line spiraling outwards from the center of the pearl. It’s repeated elsewhere in the piece, although the distortions make it difficult to pick out. I have no idea where it came from, or why it doesn’t show up in the only-slightly-smaller 5:4 render. It doesn’t mar the piece any, but I’d very much like to know why it’s there.

Fireworks Bombardment

This piece is hot off the processor, to use a horribly trite metaphor. I did it this afternoon, and I’m pretty happy with it. My brother pointed out to me that it’s got a similar spiral pattern to what you’d see in the seeds on a sunflower–fractal shapes are everywhere, folks.

Read more

Fractal Art – Footprints in the Ether

If there were such a terribly unscientific thing as an ‘ether’ in the first place (And you never know, physicists come up with any number of crazy ideas that they claim to be able to fit to mathematical models.

They probably can, but nobody but the other physicists would be able to tell if they were full of nonsense.), I think it would have various ethereal beasties living in it. Beasties that leave footprints. Some of these footprints would be very large. Some would be very small.

The beasties that leave large footprints would eat the beasties that leave small footprints. It’s only natural, after all. I submit for your consideration the image above, wherein we see footprints marking the passage of a Very Large Beastie chasing after various smaller beasties. The remarkable resemblance in color to rainbow sherbet is purely an artifact of our Etherscope, which must use false color to present interpretable images.

Read more

Fractal Art – How to start

Simply stated, fractal pieces of art are graphical representations of mathematical equations. Fractal art has basically infinitely diverse forms, lighting, color, and detail level.

Due to its mathematical basis, a fractal may contain infinite detail: theoretically, you can zoom in and out a fractal without any limit. Fractals are self-similar without being identical, and certain regions of fractals look similar to some other regions. So this page tells you more about Fractal Art – How to start.

In the 1980s, new computer technological developments unleashed a phenomenal new direction of art that was based on mathematical algorithms. We named this new art form Fractal Art. Very often, the images of Fractal Art are splitting, kaleidoscopic, and spiraling in beautiful symmetrical patterns.

Fractals are computer-generated images, or designs, complex patterns and forms that are of amazing detail, color, and light. Fractal Art is created by using mathematical formulas and is infinite as to ever-increasing detail. The closer you will zoom or look into a fractal, the more details you will discover. Different types of fractals may be created by different mathematical formulas.

Read more

Famous Fractal Artists

Today, you can find hundreds of digital artists all across the world who are making art that is incorporating fractal elements, and all these artists come with their own styles. Just take a look how many fractal art examples are on Pinterest or check out this video:

While algorithmic art is objectively showing the mathematical or geometric structure in a highly pleasing aesthetic way, there are also fractal artists who are daring to take it all to the next level and use fractal elements in their artworks that are appealing in a subjective way to spectators’ emotions and feelings.

In this article, I review the styles of Kerry Mitchell, Mark Townsend, and  Janet Parke, and you’ll notice that all three fractal artists come with their own recognizable and well-developed styles.

Read more