Hi Keith - I think the biggest hurdle fractal art has to jump over is probably the same for other forms of digital art: The erroneous and "unfair"(right word?) misconception of the "mainstream" art world that "the computer does all the work" and it's not "valid" because it wasn't physically made "by hand". No canvas, no paint, no brushes. I think there is just as much skill and work involved in making digital art as there is in painting a canvas - just different skills. Trying to keep 160 layers straight and making and fine-tuning 25 gradients is just as hard as getting just the right shade by mixing paint on a palette, IMHO. (What does the "H" mean? I mean "humble" but I guess it sometimes means "honest"? Maybe I've got it ALL wrong And it means something like "It's MY Hamburger, Ollie"? lol) And most of my gallery stuff has taken anywhere from 4 days to a month to finish, just like an oil painting might.

I, too, would like to learn more about "successful" ways to sell my art - what with all the offshoring going on I may be unemployed by this time next year - really!. Something tells me that skills in RF and fiber optic communications won't get me far at McD's - lol. I've had offers of website hosting that I've, thru nervous indecision and complete ignorance of what to do, let slide that might have helped with this, I reckon. There are sites like Zazzle that do it for you but you're buried in a sea of 100,000 other images. There's also a place called "CafePress" that will also make calendars of your images to sell to other members or people you direct there. Does this stuff really work? I've seen some artists asking anywhere from $90 to $170 for prints - do they sell many at those prices?

Here's something that could really help. If a "promoter" or "patron" with ties to the mainstream art world could be found to sponsor a large fractal art exhibition in a large city, with art from the best out there like you, Janet, Etienne, Gilles and the folks here, I'll bet it'd make a decent splash. Problem 2 of digital art is that the only way it is normally displayed is on a computer monitor. Having them physically printed and displayed prominently somewhere - and not just in the math wing of a college campus - would go a long way toward exposing them to the world and show that they're not all just Fractint Mandies made on an old "trash60". I think/hope maybe, in time, digital art will be accepted as the computer age goes on and PC's/the internet become more and more prevalent.

At the heart of it, I guess, is how much work and time one wants to devote to "selling" themselves and their art coupled with the fear - at least for me - that nobody would like it enough to buy it. The "rejection" thing. We all display our stuff hoping folks will like it - just like we used to go running to show mom our latest stick figure "masterpieces" as little kids. This stuff is typically just a hobby, albeit a VERY time consuming one, for most of us.

I do think there could be a "market" for this stuff, though, considering the psychedelic vibe of a lot of fractals and the fact that we - most of us here - "baby boomers" are entering a time in our lives that has some of us looking back with nostalgia (and amazement we have any brain cells left! lol) on our "wild and crazy youth" and these kind of images many times remind me of great blacklight and other posters we had as kids. Shoot - I even get all nostalgic hearing a disco (yuck! lol) tune these days! :?) The "crux of the biscuit" is how to get fractal art exposed to LOTS of people, though.
Rick

Message edited on: 12/30/2004 15:29