I moved this response from the end of the "Renderosity Contest" thread and made it a topic of it's own. I've noticed fractals are generally not as respected as art as most other digital medium. I suspect much of this thinking stems from people's ideas of how art is created. In other words, people equate the value of art with how it is being created. Generally people can understand art when an artist takes a pencil and draws on a piece of paper. Fractals, as all fractal artists know, have a much different and mysterious method of creation. It isn't as straightforward as trying to reproduce something in our minds. It goes beyond our minds. For a fractal artist, it is not about recreation but creation. Our skills as an artist involve complex manipulation, composition, and mastery of the digital medium. If people understood just how involved the creation of fractal art actually is, I'm sure it would get more of the respect it deserves in the art world. Thanks for reading! :) Dave

Good point. I completely agree with you. I had a discussion about this on the Fractal Burka blog and I said that the challenge for all innovative artists throughout history was to get people to just look at the image in front of them and think for themselves.

On my new blog I compared a current fractal artist's work with a well known conventional artist from the turn of the century (1900's that is). I found that they had enormous similarities in style. What's the difference? One was made with paint and canvas, the other is made with a computer. They really look like similar pieces of artwork when viewed on a computer monitor.

Yeah, I actually took a look at that earlier. Interesting stuff. It shows there are as many styles within fractal art as people creating it. A lot of fractal artists that post their work here have developed their own personal style to a point where I can look at a new peice and tell who the artist was. That's a great thing.

All I can add to the subject is that "regular" art obviously isn't for me... I failed art so miserably in high school that I actually had very little confidence to even attempt doing any artwork at all for nearly 20 years... Then a friend badgered me into trying Vue D'Esprit... and would you believe that I actually made some pretty funky works that other people actually liked?? So much for my art teacher... she must have been one of those close-minded types... I wonder if she knew how much she screwed me up because SHE couldn't understand my work? Anyways, I've always had a bit of a leaning towards the more "abstract" as opposed to the "real" - so when I happened upon Apophysis I think I really found my niche. Fractals ARE art as far as I'm concerned... MY kind of art! Then again - who really cares what other people think? My art is created for ME first, and if other people like it, good - if not, also good - each to their own I suppose... lol! T.