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.

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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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. 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.

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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Iris

As in the flower, not the part of the eye. I'm not certain this piece actually looks anything like an iris, but it has a similar color scheme to some of the ones that grow in my backyard. Of course, those irises are some weird cultivar with lots and lots of ruffles, so my idea of what an iris looks like and your idea of whan an iris looks like might not mesh.

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Lithic Photovores (recolor)

Sorry this is late; my computer monitor decided to go kaput last Friday, so I didn't have access to the computer with all of my fractal flame stuff on it. Anyway, moving on...

Those of you who are well versed in word roots can probably guess what this flame's title means: Rocky plants. I suppose it's rather similar to 'Silicon Autotrophs' for meaning, but that's okay. I just like the idea of rocks that eat light. Too much science fiction, most likely.

This flame started out purple, and I probably would have kept it that way if I could have gotten the light and dark patches where I wanted them to be. Unfortunately they were just about the opposite of what you see in this version, and it rather badly unbalanced things. I like the blue better anyway; I think the more muted colors work better with the overall feel of the 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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Upward Path

Nifty little switchback things, see? I suppose it looks like the sort of thing you'd see as a cartoony fortress of evil, perched on some absurd precipice.

Not that that's a bad thing. Absurd precipices are fun.

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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Aurora Visions

I've been putting off posting this flame because I'm not really sure what to say about it. I meant for it to look like something, but I'm not sure it does. If I squint really hard with my mind's eye, sure. But I'd really prefer that it looked like something without that kind of effort. There's a certain 'feeling' that I associate with this piece, but I couldn't put a name to it or link it to an object, place, or concept. It's frustrating.

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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Brushfire

This piece uses a larger range of colors than I usually like to work with, but I like the effect. I don't think the title would work if it were just the orange and red shades. With the greens and whites and grays in there, I can see this flame as a picture of fire running through foliage.

'Brushfire' was a really tricky piece to frame. There were a lot of undesirable elements, and the shape of the main repeats and the curvature of the piece made it difficult to cut them off without leaving straggling chunks of them on the canvas. Obviously I never entirely succeeded at 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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Glitter in the mud

This flame started out blue. But that looked silly, so now it's brown. I did some various other fiddling with it, mostly figuring out which part was most interesting and focusing the camera on that section.

This is another of those flames that uses a tiny, tiny repeat to create a glittery, sparkly effect. I hope I get a chance to figure out what exactly the best way to render these for printing is sometime soon, because I know 'Copper Flakes' gave me a lot of grief. Apophysis does this weird thing where it rounds really small elements up to one pixel in size on the render. So if the glittery bits are too small, when I shift the render size from 1280x1024 to 3000x2400, the glittery bits are five times smaller and invisible on the prints. It's very strange.

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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Strata

I'm fairly certain this title explains itself. It doesn't really explain why the flame is blue (Hint: It's because I like blue). I've been watching a set of geology lectures on DVD lately, and some of the ways rock can fold look exactly like this. It's pretty cool.

This piece is one that really suffers from the limitations of a desktop resolution. I have a version of it that's taller than it is wide, and it snags a much different section of the flame. If I were ever to get it printed, I'd choose to take a smaller, vertical section and get some more detail.

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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Alchemical Mix

I'm about 98% certain that this is the same color palette I used for 'Pyrosquid.' It's kind of an interesting mix of hues...I think it says 'noxious chemicals' pretty well for this flame, though. That's kind of what I was going for. Looking at this flame today, it strikes me that this could be a hand that's been dipped in the aforementioned noxious chemicals. I wouldn't put it past some of those kooky old-time alchemists. They did all sorts of unsafe things with their work.

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Non-Euclidean Ripples

I like to imagine all of these ripple patterns were caused by a single event taking place in a bizarrely folded geometry. Of course, I also like thinking about how it would work to perceive time as a dimension instead of linearly, so that might just be my little quirk.

This piece is another startlingly simple flame. Just looking at it I would assume it was fairly complicated, but that's not the case. It only has two repeats; one creates the ripple effect, the other causes the spiraling repetitions down towards the center. This piece is about two years old, and it seems that during that period I was switching off between 'really simple' and 'really complex' as working styles.

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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Fractured Cosmos

This piece is one I did in early February of this year, and I'm really pleased with the way it came out. It almost reminds me of a flower, but I wouldn't recommend trying to slot it into that mental box. When I try to do that I start noticing the way the different 'layers' appear to flip and twist.

This is a very simple flame on the technical side, with only two repeats involved. I think that's why it has such a definite fractal pattern; there's nothing else getting in the way. That also made it a great deal easier to color, although I ended up spending quite a bit of time on that part anyway. I had a hard time making myself stop working on this one, actually, just because there were so many small tweaks I could have made.

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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Portal in the Mist

For one reason and another I've always really liked this flame, even though I know it's not the greatest aesthetically. Part of it is probably the balance of colors in the piece; the colors themselves aren't a very appealing set, but the range of hues and intensities is good. The wavy shapes and textures are interesting, but the overall shape isn't that great; that pixelated patch in the bottom left really hurts the rest of the piece. Ah well. Somehow I still like this piece. I hope you do too, in spite of any failings it may have.

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Drab Peacock

It occurred to me that this didn't really have to be a 'drab' peacock. All I had to do was change the colors. I kind of like them the way they are, though. They're restful, this way. Did you know that there are actually different colors of peacock? Apparently they've been bred into all sorts of different shades. I doubt there's one that has exactly this set of colors to it, but some of them come pretty close.

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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Fighting Dustclouds

It certainly wasn't my intention when I named this piece, but it occurs to me that the name could mean those dustclouds you see in cartoons that always surround people who are fighting. You know, arms and legs occasionally flailing outside it, sound effects emanating from within...but as I said, that wasn't the intention. I was thinking more along the lines of eddies and whirls of dust laden air colliding and mingling.

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Algae Sediments

This flame is one of the few pieces that's mostly green that I've been satisfied with. I seem to have poor luck working with greens. But this piece turned out nicely. I especially like the lines that give it the lovely oily look. If I could have, I would have tried to even out the brightness of the piece a little, so that the edges weren't so faded. But, alas, there are some things that I have not yet figured out how to do. That's one fo them.

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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Path

I imagine this piece as a trail through a rocky canyon, walls arching up overhead both sides, sunlight shining patchily on the walls. Sure, it takes a little effort, but the really fun interpretations usually do.

This flame has some very confusing fractal elements to it. I'm fairly certain that the segments at the bottom are repeats of the segment at the top, but both parts contain repeats of themselves aas well. The easiest identifying mark on the repeats is that row of four dots that shows up at the tip of the top segment spines. You can follow that all the way down the bottom chain until the resolution blurs out in the large images.

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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Rhinoceros Shellfish

Another piece with a 'shell' name. In this case I find it entirely appropriate, though. The swriling patterns really looked like something I'd see on a shell. The little pointy bit over on the top left inspired the 'Rhinoceros" bit. It's rather amusing to picture a seashell stampeding and trying to gore people with its horn.

While I can't say for certain what color palette I used on this piece, the style of color palette is one I use frequently. Shades of grey, and one or two brighter colors mixed in. The nice thing about this style of color palette is the ease with which I can change the color. Because most of the palette is grey, I can just shift the hue and not worry about creating color combinations that really clash. So if I wanted to, this piece could be purple, or blue, or green...

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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Trajectory

I've moved away from this style of flame, but I used to work with them quite often. I think these pieces based on the 'spiral' variation have a lot of good points, but I prefer the denser, smoother textures that I can produce with other variations. Still, I do like this flame. It feels very swooshy. And I can't quite tell for certain, but I'm pretty sure that's gradient #209. Not one of my better uses of it, really. This piece would be improved by an absence of beige.

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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Ice Cave

I like to imagine that this flame is a cave with fog and mist roiling out of the opening. Perhaps there are hunched over people trudging inside, hoping to escape a blizzard or storm. Or maybe it's a giant albino frog that's tricking them into walking straight down its throat. (I'm so sorry about that last one, but I've been looking at this thing for ten minutes and that circle in the upper left just looks like a dang eyeball!)

This flame is the sibling to 'Moondial', which I posted waaay back in July of '09. While they were posted six months apart, these two flames were done in the same session. I think 'Ice Cave' is the superior of the two. It doesn't have quite the same incomprehensible geometry, but the shape is more appealing. It makes slightly better use of its color palette as well. 'Moondial' wins for composition, though. I don't think that this piece quite fits on a 4:5 canvas. The widescreen canvas is a better size, but it's still not quite right.

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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Fossil Insect

This is another sketch piece, so I don't really have a whole lot to say about it. It's got some fun textures and shapes. I really like the hard lines that cut through the more solid part of the image, and I really like the way it seems to have multiple partially opaque layers to it (which it does, but usually when that happens it just looks like some parts of the flame are colored a little differently than the rest).

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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Downdrafts

The combination of orange and grey in this flame really appeals to me. It's one of those color sets that seems to turn out really well on computer monitors. It's not too glaring, but it still has some actual color to it. That seems to be really difficult to do with some other shades, especially greens and purples.

The bedrock of this piece is that hollow oval shape. Everything else you see is a repeat of that, or interaction between those repeats. It's really quite a simple flame, but it doesn't appear that way because the basic shape is more complex.

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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Detonation or Flower

This is a fairly basic 'many repeats' flame. But both flowers and explosions are pretty, (even if one is preferably viewed from a distance, or both, if you're allergic) so there you have it. I really recommend looking at one of the larger versions of this flame, as the fine detail is really interesting. Looking at this today I'm noticing that little bit of blue up near the top for the first time. Not sure how that got there, but it's kind of fun.

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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Pyrosquid, Pyrosquid (inset, rotated)

This is not a restful flame, any way you look at it. Unless of course you like stygian horrors in fun fruit colors. Or alien horrors, in fun fruit colors. Or possibly scientifically mutated horrors (in fun fruit colors!). Restful or not, it's one of my favorite pieces which I place in the 'whimsical' category. The inset version might fall outside of the whimsical category into the 'kind of creepy' category, but that bulging cephalopod cerebrum was ready for its close-up. And the textures there are just plain cool.

On the technical side of things, this was a moderately complicated flame. At the same time, though, it's readily divided into sections, which made it easy to work with. I can look at this flame and account for each piece that went into it, which is a very rare thing to be able to do (This is after looking at the parameters, by the way. I'm not doing this from memory).

Purple Quartzite

I feel terrible about this title. Just terrible. Quartzite is an actual rock, and it is nothing like the flame at right. Metamorphic sandstone, feh. If you're of the geologic persuasion, just imagine I named it Purple Generic Crystalline Structures instead.

The repeats on this flame are a little different than usual. Most of the time if I'm adding multiple repeats I'll add them one at a time in different spots. In this piece I added sets of two repeats at the same vertices, but with different rotations. I think that's what created the dense branching structures, as well as the two lobed purple shapes. I might have to play around with that technique again sometime soon, as I appear to have forgotten all about it in the two years since I made this flame.

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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Sea Sprites

No, I'm not referring to the soda. Or to pixelated animations. The word 'sprite' in the title is "a broad term referring to a number of preternatural legendary creatures" (thank you wikipedia).

This flame is somewhat more fractal than most of my works, but you may have to look a little closer to see it. There's a sort of 'S' shape that seems to be the main repeated element. It gets twisted out of a shape a lot, though, so it might be hard to pick out. I think that shape is what makes it look like there are grotesque little faces* in the flame.

*Grotesque faces not guaranteed. Your mileage may vary. Do not look at this flame while operating heavy machinery, because that would be a really stupid thing to do.

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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Star Compactor

I'll admit that the title for this flame isn't very good without more explanation than should be necessary. But I really like to think of this flame as depicting stellar debris being swirled around and sucked into a black hole (or other gravity well, if you're feeling picky).

Looking back at the paramaters of this flame, I'm a little surprised that there are only three elements to it. Usually dense textures like those in this flame require more repeats to achieve. It does explain the fairly uniform color scheme, though. It's easier to make large portions of a flame the same color or make stripes and gradients when there are less repeats.

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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Supervibration

The blurring and lines in this piece have convinced me that it is some manner of strange plant, vibrating to attract pollinators or deter predators.

This piece makes use of pastel colors. Usually when I do this it's to avoid too jarring an image. Some of the more intense shapes and textures aren't enjoyable to look at when they've got a vibrant color palette. Of course, it's also possible that I just like pastels.

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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Broken Watch

This piece said 'Sproing!' to me. One of those cartoon-sound-effect sproing noises, too. Anway, I was thinking of un-winding watch springs and little gears flinging themselves out of position when I named this flame.

'Broken Watch' has a rather interesting pattern in it that can't really be seen in the preview version. But if you look at one of the big ones, you'll see that the circular striations have repeats of themselves at the cardinal points. I'm not certain if that's a true fractal effect, or if it's an artifact of rendering lots and lots of circular lines like that. If you've ever messed around with the circle tool in paint you'll know that it's awfully hard to represent a circle with squares. These phantom-repeats show up in most of the flames using that same circular-striations technique.

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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Pebble Mosaic

Hey look! Gradient 209!

This flame is far more regular in shape and appearance than most of my works. If my memory is correct (by no means a certainty) this piece was made during the period where I was first experimenting with using the linear variation to create spiral shapes. Obviously this is something of a 'proof of concept' for the technique. 'Filigree' came out of the same period, about two weeks later.

The one thing I've never been happy about with this piece is the pattern of bright dots that show up on the lower right. I really wish I could have gotten rid of them while keeping the texture the same, but it's those dots that make the speckled repeats throughout the flame.

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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Coelocanth

It's rather abstract, (which is as it should be) but if you squint your eyes and contort your brain just right, there's a fish in this flame. It is perhaps not the most accurate reproduction of a Coelocanth ever, but I'd be interested to see a fractal flame representation that beats it. This piece makes use of a spherical/waves repeat, which is what produces those partially opaque curving triangles. You can find several other flames that use the same technique on this blog, the most recent being 'Thumbprint,' from a couple weeks ago.

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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Three for the price of one...

...except not really. You are getting three flames today, but I won't be posting any for Friday or Saturday. There are a couple reasons for this. First off, these three flames are a set, three related flames that make a good illustration of the 'artistic process' (quotation marks indicate self-mockery at pretentiousness) I go through. Secondly, I have family in town for Thanksgiving. So it's vacation time.

Bottom Dweller

The first of the set, 'Bottom Dweller' isn't really that great. The colors are interesting and mesh well with the title, but it's a little bit messy. I tend to dislike it when there are faint repeats that don't render fully; they leave orphaned pixels all over the place, like stray toner on Xerox copies. But I really liked the basic form of the piece, so I went ahead and fiddled with it a little more to see what else I could get out of it.

Bottom Dweller 2 (inset)

This piece is quite obviously related to 'Bottom Dweller' even without the title. Same color scheme, same feathery textures. However, this flame builds upon the complexity of the original. The orientation of the two pieces is identical; if you look at the black space at the bottom left of the piece at right, you can see that it is identical to the black space at the base of the bulb in 'Bottom Dweller.' This should give you some idea of how far the second piece was inset.

Still, I wasn't quite happy with the piece. So, on to the third flame, and one of my all time favorites.

Tide Pool

I actually removed some of the elements present in 'Bottom Dweller 2' to make this piece. Specifically the ones making the long, straight lines that overlapped the rest of the piece. This led to a much cleaner appearance, more in line with what I was going for from the start. I also rotated the flame about 120 degrees counter-clockwise. This was mostly because I wanted it to look like seaweed and shellfish on a rock, and that angle seemed to work best.

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.

Maintenance Port

I no longer remember if the effect was intentional (this flame is from March of last year), but I love the way the components of this work 'stack' to create an illusion of depth. As the title implies, it looked to me like a panel or cover had been removed from a piece of machinery to get at the plugs and wiring inside. The second iteration of repeats in the center there look sort of like S-video sockets, now that I think about 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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Tectonics

Not a very good title on this one. It looks a little bit fissured and cracked, but I'm not seeing any subduction zones in it looking at it now. Maybe there's a mid-ocean ridge in there somewhere?

I do like the fractal 'edge' you can see running throughout this flame. If you're familiar with Brownian Motion (and if you're not, click the link. Although the article about Random Walk has better pictures.) you may see some of the similarities. Brownian motion and random walking are often used to generate realistic looking coastlines and terrain. The general outline of this flame would make a pretty nifty island, wouldn't 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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Cloud Arches

I don't really have anything to say about this one; it's an intact work without commentary. I hope you like it.

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Abstract 8-12-07

Maybe some sort of bird plumage? Palm fronds that are inexplicably cerulean in hue? Some manner of coral reef beastie? I couldn't decide, so this flame got saddled with an 'Abstract' for a title. This piece is a rather dramatic example of what I like to call 'artificial lighting' in a flame. It looks as thoughh there's a light source shining on just a segment of the piece, but it's actually just a trick of color and where the densest parts of the flame are.

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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Smoldering Spiderweb

I bet that smells really bad up close. Like burning hair. I don't know, what does burning spidersilk smell like? The lines and textures in this piece are really fun. The main variant combination here is the same as the one I used in 'Abstract 7-21-07,' although it produces a slightly different effect here. It seems to be quite a versatile technique.

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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Mudflow

The textures in this flame really tickled my sense of aesthetics. The colors are intentionally muted to help bring them out: The grey and brown shades seemed to make them show up a little bit better. They also fit better with what the texture and shape reminded me of which was a...you guessed it, mudflow. A lahar, if you want to use the fancy word, although I've got another flame titled that. Look up 'lahar' on youtube and you'll see what I mean. They're 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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Fog

One of my very earliest works, 'Fog' was done in early 2005. This is one of my few early flames that really suceeds at color, mostly because it doesn't have very much of it. The pale lavender and green shades counter each other nicely, and fit well with the texture and shape. I was quite lucky to get that particular premade gradient for this flame. Speaking of the texture and shape, I suppose they reminded me more of the wisps fo smoke you get when you blow out a candle and it smolders for a while than fog. But hey, I'd only done thirty flames at the time. Naming conventions hadn't yet become settled.

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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Aurora

The title for this flame is one of those 'exactly what is says on the tin' sort of things. Speaking of the title, does anybody else think 'Aurora' is a really weird word? Try saying it. The double 'or' sound feels kinda weird on the tongue.

As for the flame itself: I love the shapes in this piece. That segment to the right is almost worth clipping out and turning into a long, skinny print. The piece would be improved by a little variation in color, maybe throw in a little pink and purple. But it does work with the monochrome scheme.

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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Birdwing

Hey look! It's gradient 209 again! In my defense, this was only the fourth flame I used it on. Sure, I'd only done 10 flames total since I came across it, but...still! Only the fourth one. This flame also marks the first time I started doing many-repeats flames. I made 'Conch' a couple days later using this technique. 'Birdwing' itself isn't terribly interesting, but I really like the radiating lines. At the time it was pretty far up the list of cool flames.

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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Napalm (fiddled)

The (fiddled) in the title of this piece indicates that it is not the original version of this flame. The original had some nasty line thingies (technical term, there) that kinda ruined the fireball effect. This flame really taught me a lot about selecting specific elements of a flame and de-emphasizing or removing them.

Plus, it looks like a fireball. What's not to like?

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.

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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Waves on the Wind

I love the shape and flow of this piece. I feel like I really succeeded in creating a feeling of movement. The increasing transparency towards the right side of the image is a big factor in that. The ambiguity of the name is also something I like about this one. The flame has 'waves' in it already, but at the same time it looks sort of like spray being blown off the top of a wave at sea, or maybe some really intense whitecaps on a river.

From a technical standpoint, it's really easy to see fractal repeats in this piece. All of the stuff you can see in the righthand 3/4ths of the image is a single basic shape going through a series of distortions.

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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Fibers and feathers

I like the impression of lighting on this flame. It looks like it has a spotlight aimed at it, or as if it's partly in shadow. I have no idea whether that was intentional or not. I'd like to think it was, but it was probably serendipity. Most of the truly interesting flames I come up with are at least half accident.

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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Shimmery

If this were a real object, it would be rippling gently and making a 'Schwaaaaaaaaaa' sound effect. It might also be engulfing mesmerized bystanders and digesting them, but I don't like to speculate. I love the smooth texture the wavy segments around the edges have; those, in combination with the silvery-pink color, give 'Shimmery' its unique look.

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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Gas Field

To summarize this piece: Something blew up in outer space. This is what's left. 'Gas Field' is one of many, many pieces I've done that look vaguely like an astronomy picture. The radial squigglies are a little unusual. You can see similar on 'Abstract 7-21-07,' but this is the first flame I used the technique on. I was a bit surprised by this looking back in my archive; I had thought 'Abstract' originated that little trick. I suspect I came up with it twice, instead of carrying it over from 'Gas Field' to 'Abstract.'

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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Plasma

Today's piece is an old one. Done in April of 2005, this is one of the last fractals I made using enforced symmetry. Symmetry is nice, but I've come to think that balanced asymmetry is more interesting. 'Plasma' is a good piece; it's one of my favorites out of my early work. But the symmetry deadens it just a bit.

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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Sound Sails

I like to picture 'Sound Sails' as being affixed to a hovercraft skimming over a trackless waste of some sort. Preferably in a dystopian future where most civilization has collapsed. But that's just me. One thing I've found in the years I've been working with fractal flames is that everyone will have their own opinion.

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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Shipkiller, parts 1 and 2

This set of flames really needs to be seen together for full effect, so you get a double today. 'Shipkiller' and 'Shipkiller 2' are essentially the same fractal. As I recall, I only changed one variable and fiddled with the color a little bit between them. I wasn't even intending to make a set at the time, but I really liked the way it looked when you put the two of them together, so here they are.

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.

Shipkiller:

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Shipkiller 2:

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Moondial

Today's piece, 'Moondial,' is particularly interesting if you look for a three-dimensional shape in it. The ribbed section in the left becomes a flat surface with an arching ceiling, which leads through a bizarre twist to spin back in the other direction on the right. It's not exactly Escher, but it's 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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Giant Clockworks

'Giant Clockworks' is actually one of the flames I had on the short-list when I was selecting which ones to print. It's just so shiny! Something about it just didn't click right, though. I still can't quite pin it down. But still, shiiiiiny...

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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Array Number 23

Occasionally I'll make a flame that looks really good, but doesn't really resemble anything. In such cases, I like to indulge my whimsy when it comes to naming. Hence, 'Array Number 23.' An array of what? I don't know. Think of something. Are there twenty-two others? Maybe. I haven't made them yet, 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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Metal Crystals

Today's fractal, 'Metal Crystals,' is one of those odd flames that appear almost spotlit. The center of the piece has very bright, light colors, which fade off quickly as you approach the edges. For me, this makes me think of some sort of deep sea rover shining its lights on some unknown lifeform or rock formation.

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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