Decorative Fountains

Right after I got my shiny new computer monitor I decided I needed some shiny new fractals to put on it, and this was one of them. It's not my best work, and it's not my worst, but it is shiny. The widescreen version is the one I 'intended' when I made the thing. It lacks the negative space at the top and bottom which you can see in the preview image and the 1280x1024 version. I'm torn as to which one I like better; the widescreen fills the canvas better, but it's also more cluttered.

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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.

On the technical side, this flame is pretty tame. That's probably why it's more obviously fractal. No truly distorting variations are used; the least fractal element in here is probably the 'radial blur' variation that produces those lovely starburst effects. I generally don't like flames that have this little deviation from the perfect geometric shapes, but I think the colors and the starbursts are enough for me to make an exception.

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Descending Hues

I like the range of colors in this flame. It has that nice deep purple that I love so much, and it has some pretty good green shades. There are enough shades mixed together to prevent making any one of them the focal point (although the purple tries to steal some attention, I think it's just dark enough to work).

This piece is one I did last Monday, and it's really meant for a widescreen format. Since I now have a widescreen monitor, I've been doing 16:9 aspect ratio flames instead of 5:4. I don't particularly care for the 5:4 version of this flame (such as seen at left), although I can't say exactly why. I know it's something to do with the change in composition. If anybody really wants me to I'd be willing to fiddle around with it to make the 5:4 version work. I suppose I'll need to figure it out eventually anyway if I ever want to get it printed.

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Painted Conch

My mother owns a little seashell that has had the outer layers polished off of it in spots, exposing the mother of pearl underneath. (A little bit of googling leads me to believe it may be the shell of a Turbo Sarmaticus) It gives it a very unusual coloration; not quite like the flame at left, but pretty close. The real object has less blue. I wasn't really thinking of that seashell when I created and named this piece, but I was reminded strongly of it when I looked at this flame again. It's odd how stuff like that happens.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Green Tide

The color and texture of this flame are my favorite things about it. The green shades go all the way from almost-blue to almost-yellow (although there are really only three gradations present), counterbalanced by the slight purplish tint of the brighter areas. The elongated lines that make up the flame remind me of a photograph with an over-long exposure time; blurred and static, but still conveying motion.

I had a really hard time positioning this piece on the canvas. The dark green section on the right-hand side continues a lot farther than I'd have liked it too, and it started looking fuzzy and grainy, just as the smaller repeats of it do. I generally don't like to cut off just a small piece of a flame the way I've done here, but it turned out to be the best solution without altering the shape of the flame.

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Orbital Diagrams

This flame reminds me of the old low-tech special effects holographic-display things that used to get drawn into old sci-fi movies. I'm not sure if the colors match one that I'm remembering, or what, but that's what it makes me think of. It also has this compass rose thing happening too, with the little striated lines coming off of it. I really like the combination of those two elements.

This piece is one of my favorites. I made it about two months ago, and I didn't want to make anything else for a while because I was still having fun looking at this one. It's very much a 'hand made' flame; I didn't introduce any random elements when I was constructing it. I take an obscure sort of pride in that, even though flames that do have random elements are often better than ones that don't. I think part of my attachement to it is that it is hand made--and that I spent quite a bit of time doing so. Longer to fix it in my memory, I suppose.

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Static Electricity

Bzzzzck! It's been a little while since I've posted a flame that requires sound effects. But this one certainly does. Probably something along the lines of those musical tesla coils. It probably doesn't play star wars music, though.

This flame uses the popcorn variation, which is nothing new by this point. But I really like the way the fractal pattern visible in the center of the flame gets distorted and wonky-shaped at the edges by it.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Waterslide

Anyone who's been to a water amusement park is familiar with their propensity for cool color schemes, especially in watery colors like blue and green. My memory of this flame's creation process is non-existent, so I don't know if I did the color or the shape first, but I think they fit well together and with the title.

WheeeeeeSPLOOSH!

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Fern Mat

I really like the way the composition on this piece turned out. Most of the mass of the image is spread out, but the focus ends up being that blue and green section around the negative spiral parts. The colors also seem to introduce a little of that false-illumination effect that's shown up in a few other flames. I also think that the beige sort of color goes really nicely with the green and blue shades. Although maybe my saying that is redundant; obviously I liked it or I wouldn't have used it (Well, except for the times I've used colors I don't like and complained about. So scratch the redundancy comment.)

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Infinite Peephole

My favorite thing about this flame is the color palette. That turquoise and orange set is really a nice combination. I don't have a color wheel handy, but I suspect those two shades would be just about opposite each other. Most of the time opposing colors clash, but blue and orange seems to be an exception. That might just be my opinion, though. I don't know. Color perception is such an individual thing.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Water Orb

This piece probably falls somewhere on the high end of mediocre. I don't really like it, but it's still somewhat pleasing to look at and there aren't any truly glaring defects in it. The impression of motion saves this piece, I think. It looks like certain parts of it are swirling around other parts, possibly in different directions. I think it's just a little too chaotic and disorganized, though.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Swooshing Mists

While this flame is mostly just a 'look pretty' piece, I do think it looks something like what happens when you open a door into a room filled with smoke or fog from a machine. It's probably being lit by colored spotlights. Although it would be a neat trick if the vapor was actually that color.

This flame is an example of another distinct style produced by a specific variation ('Horseshoe' in this case). It likes to produce those swirly nodes like the one you see in the center there, with less tightly wrapped pieces as you get away from the center. 'Storm at the Terminator' is another good example of this variation. Where that piece uses the horseshoe variation almost exclusively, 'Swooshing Mists' has some distorted repeats that extend the initial shape into more complex forms.

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Aurora 2

I don't know whether these colors are actually possible in an aurora. But it would be very cool if they were. According to wikipedia it's possible to have green, red, and blue as the base colors for an aurora. Those are the only colors your computer screen can actually produce, so maybe...

It's a little bit embarassing, but I wasn't actually sure if there was an 'Aurora' already when I named this piece. So I tacked a '2' on the end just in case. Fortunately I did have a piece titled 'Aurora' already. I would have felt pretty silly if there hadn't been. For the curious, that first piece can be seen here. I posted it about four and a half months ago.

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Luminous Eyespot

With all the spine-like protrusions and swishy bits, this flame looked to me like a deep sea fish. Bioluminescent, only half seen, swirling away from your tiny and cramped submersible...

I freely admit to using strange colors for this flame, but I really like that phosphorescent blue-green in contrast to the muddy olive shade and the purple. On its own it would be obnoxious and glaring, but when it's set against duller colors it works quite well.

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Abstract 3-2-08

Abstract 8-10-07

The mix of textures in this piece just made my brain go 'What? No, does not compute. Sorry.' Even though I'm used to the way it looks now, it's still a little baffling. Of course, I think that's the best way for a flame to be. If you can't figure it out, you'll want to keep looking at it. Seems like a good thing to me.

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Abstract 3-2-08:

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Abstract 8-10-07:

Abstract 7-18-08

A lot of the flames that I label with 'Abstract' are pieces that aren't good enough to have inspired a title by the time I finish with them, but at the same time are too interesting for me to simply discard. Often they're pieces that I've spent a considerable amount of time on, as well. This is one of those pieces. I couldn't think of a name for it, but I was tired of working on it. And I didn't want to throw it away. So...'Abstract.' Looking at it today, I'd probably name it something moderately descriptive, like 'Hooked Fan.' But I'm morally opposed to changing the name of a piece, so it remains and 'Abstract.'

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Alien Shrubbery

No, there's no Monty Python joke intended here, which I'm sure some of you will take as a great loss. Tough beans. I rather like the idea of decorative gardens on an alien planet, though. It's one that's used a lot in most soft sci-fi set in space, but that's because it's a cool idea. The sheer variety of plant species and breeds on Earth is staggering. Once you start multiplying that by two or ten or a hundred, and start adding in things like carnivorous carnations and ambulatory azaleas...Like I said, I like the concept.

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Bog Lights

It's just swamp gas. Really. Nothing to see here folks, move along...

The shapes in this flame make it one of those "Must...post...now..." pieces, which I then put off because I don't want to use up all the good ones first. I'm also quite enamored of the little threads of purple in the foreground area (Do these things even have foregrounds? This one seems to, but I don't really know). They really make the color scheme work; if it was just that flat teal color all over it would be pretty ugly.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Negative Space

This flame looks to me like it might have some sort of oddly shaped event horizon in the middle there, or possibly an infestation of pixelivorous virii. If you look at it the other way, the black space is being covered by an oddly delineated mist spewing from that slightly brighter section. Much longer and there wouldn't be any left...

'Negative Space' uses a final transform, the same way pieces like the marbles I did over Christmas do. But in this case, instead of mapping the flame onto a sphere, it kind of stretched and pulled the edges of the flame around that area of black space. It's a little hard to describe exactly how it works. This piece uses the popcorn variation, which is what makes those little lines and jinks (They're most visible around the periphery of the black space). That's not one I use very often of late, although some of my best works have utilized it.

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Purple Fountains

In an odd coincidence, I think this flame uses the same color palette as yesterday's. They weren't done at the same time, so I don't know if it's entirely by chance or if I decided to reuse it on purpose. It's probably one of the preset gradients that come bundled with Apophysis, so it's quite possible that the randomizer selected it twice.

I'm really not sure what to say about this piece. It seems to be just abstract enough that it's hard to compare it to an object, or any kind of 'real' thing. I'm writing this at 2 AM though, so I don't really trust my brain for this artistic stuff. If you don't really want to think about it too hard either, just go with the title: It's fountains, and they are purple. It doesn't fit perfectly, but it's the closest I can come.

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Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Hypnosis

Go buy something...go buy something...the swirly thing commands you...

This flame is a surprisingly complex result from a fairly simple set of parameters. There's one 'body' element in it, and three basic repeat elements twisted to form the spiral shape. I have to say that this one didn't remain as my desktop background for very long. I prefer something just a little more restful. Still, this would be a lot of fun as a piece of wall art. I really hope I get the chance to print it some day.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Fog Serpent

I really like the glow effect on this flame. If my memory is correct, this is the only flam I've done with precisely that 'look' to it. It's really just that the orphaned pixels in this flame happened to be very lightly colored, and elements of the main flame were very dark. The unfortunate thing about this is that the effect sort of peters out as you get over to the left side of the image, and leaves a grainy looking mess. I suppose I could correct that with a gradient background (black to a dark grey, from right to left), but those tend to dilute the visual impact of a piece more than I care for. Still, that silhouetted effect on the upper right edge of the flame is pretty cool.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Nightmare Carnival

Are those ambulatory carnivorous ferris wheels? Why yes, I think they are! This might be because of a disaffected carny who's been taking mad science correspondence courses, but I myself blame the funnel cake radiation.

The fractal flame medium seems to be good at making eyes and mouths, but I suspect this is really just a trick of the human brain. Eyes and mouths are generally the more important bits of what people look at. Things that look just a little bit like an eye get the benefit of the doubt.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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People in the Mist

This is a rather interesting pair of flames. They're really the same flame, rotated to different angles. The canvas is mirrored on the second one, as well. Anyway, these came about from a desire to make a flame that actually looked like a specific object: A dam. My first attempt was rather lackluster, and is not something I'll be sharing. But I wasn't ready to quit yet, so I fiddled with it some more, and came up with the image at right. It's less of a dam and more of a waterfall, but I still like it. It may be a bit tough to figure out the reasoning behind the title on this one, so I'll give you a hint: Imagine the white speckles in the really crashy part of the image are faces, or lanterns, or something like that.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Downstream

While I was working on 'People in the Mist' I was having a terribly tough time figuring out how it should be oriented on the canvas. Something about the shape of the piece was just awkward. If I zoomed out far enough that no elements were cut off, it looked lonely and incomplete, with funny edges sticking out all over the place. If I moved it so the funny edges were cut off, I was also cutting off bits I wanted visible. And the big long lines that faded away to black really wanted to be parallel to a canvas edge. I couldn't find a 'perfect' orientation for the flame, so I went with two not-so-perfect renders instead. I'm rather pleased by the way they turned out.

By the way: Yes, I do think this one looks like a dam.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Waves2

I consider the bottom half or so of this flame to be rather boring. Interesting textures, perhaps. I think the fun part of this piece is the swoopy part with the white and blue highlights. It makes this flame cry out for sound effects and cheesy onomatopoeia. "Ksshhhh! Sploosh! Crash!" I always find myself mentally inserting surf noises when I'm looking at this piece.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Underwater Explosion

There's a funny story behind it, but I don't actually like this piece anymore. You know how windows PCs will sometimes flash to a different desktop image as their logging on or logging off? Well, somehow, this flame got stuck as the one it flashed to. So I got to see it every day, for months. Not for very long, but it was [i]annoying[/i]. So even though this is a pretty cool piece in terms of color and shape, and it's got that nifty 'fake lighting' effect going on, I don't like it anymore. Call it negative association, I guess.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Thumbprint

Perhaps it's a little feathery looking for a thumbprint, but 'featherprint' just sounded wrong. The colors here are rather muted, but I think bright colors with blurry looking flames like this one (not all blurry flames, just this particular style) are a little jarring. The fact that these are some of my favorite shades has nothing whatsoever to do with my choice, of course. What would make you think that?

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Trying to be Square

I really like the colors, textures and shapes presented in this image for their own sake. But the idea of all these pieces and shards and curves trying to force themselves into their little box and failing appeals to my sense of poetry. I know it's dreadfully cliche, but there's a reason we all like that cliche so much.

Compositionally, this flame uses one of my favorite techniques. Any time you have regular features that are parallel or perpendicular to the sides of the canvas, you alter the way people look at a piece. With my work, I've found that rotating those features out of true with the sides of the canvas makes it easier to see the image, instead of the box it lives in. That tiny bit of irregularity or asymmetry seems to draw people in.

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Leaf Tones

I actually got pretty green colors in this flame. Not very many, but some. Greens are incredibly difficult to make look good on computer monitors, for some reason. Something to do with the way the RGB color scheme works, I guess. Anyway, I was really pleased with the color palette for this flame. It's got a rather interesting texture, as well, but the color is mostly what I wanted to show off with this one.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Flowering Crystals

Ten points to anybody who gets the literary reference. This piece has some fairly obvious fractal elements, but it doesn't beat you over the head with them. The sort of...'bubble' of faint bits that traces around the edges of the flame is rather interesting, and I like the way it smoothes out the the borders. Looking at it now I'm thinking that lime green and tan with aqua and purple might be a little bit of an unorthodox color choice. But fah! I defy orthodox color choices!

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Tangled Streams

So, this is a pretty cool looking flame. Nifty textures, interesting colors, and GREAT GATSBY THERE'S FACES IN THERE! (No, I don't know why I picked that particular exclamation. Why do you ask?) Really though, look at it. That largest black space in the middle? Mouth. Next black space up? Eye. Also another mouth. Fractal faces, cool huh? There are even nostrils in there. Really creepy looking ones, I must say. I had not intended for this to be creepy faces. But it is, so...Happy Halloween! And no, the title is not meant to be a Ghostbusters reference. Never even seen the movie.

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Anemones (second view)

I'm quite fond of the 'tentacle' effect in this flame, but it's unfortunately linked rather closely to the other things that make this flame interesting. Kind of hard to transfer without it being just a copy of the original with a few tweaks. The 'second view' business in the title refers to the fact that this was the second render of this flame I did. The first one had the canvas centered a little further towards the base of the image, and the colors in that segment looked unfortunately like blood in the water. So instead we have this nice, mostly-pastel version with an unwieldy title. Pay no attention to the red over on the left. It's um...algae. Yeah. Algae. Let's go with that.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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Photodragon

The name on this piece was attached before I realized that I could be a bit more verbose with such things. Even if it does make for a messy file structure, I could have called this 'Serpent of Light' or 'Luminous Dragon' instead. But since I wanted to be brief, it got to be named 'Photodragon.' The really interesting thing about this piece is that it is a direct mutation of 'Magnetic Flares' which you can see in the gallery. Most of the time a mutation of a good flame will itself be rather unappealing (there are exceptions to the general rule; certain flames mutate very well), but that wasn't the case with this one.

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Bubbles and Foliage

This is the sort of thing I like to picture seeing while scuba diving on an alien world. Maybe it's seaweed, maybe it's man-eating squid roe. Maybe it's a coral reef, or a filter feeder masquerading as one.

From a technical standpoint, this flame is 95% gratuitous abuse of fractal repeats. I like the colors in this quite a lot, although I would tone down the pink a little if I were doing it again today.

Download links: Right click and hit 'Save Link As' to download. If you just want to look at a larger version of the image, simply follow the link.

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