A few days ago I received my copy of the Digital Art For The 21st Century, I couldn't wait to open it!!! I just quickly thumbed through it at first, to get a quick idea of all the goodies inside, then would take my time and really take a closer and longer look. I admit, the images are stunning and some are simply breath-taking!!! I was not disappointed with my new book at all. I do have one problem and that is "Where are all the fractals I thought I would see???". I know that 3D art is usually front page stuff and fractals take the back seat, but I thought I would see more than just one persons work. I wish that Fractal Fanatics could have a book of their own. It doesn't have to be a large and not as many pics from one artist, but a chance for some of the non-pro 3Ders to have some of their works published. I would love to have a copy of a book filled with art from my friends here at R'osity. I hope that I didn't open a can of worms but give fractals a chance!!! I WANT FRACTALS, I WANT FRACTALS, I WANT FRACTALS........... (chanting). Thanks for listening. P.S. I thought about entering the new contest and was looking through images when the book arrived. After going through the book, I quit looking and put my 20 bucks back in my pocket. There was no place for my kind of art!!! Feeling left out! Patti Britt aka coolbreezelady

You bring up a very good and valid point Patti. If I had purchased the book and only found one entry for fractal art, I would have been very disappointed. There are many wonderful fractal artists here, as well as the great artists who use other programs, Bryce, Terragen, Poser,Vue, etc,the photographers, and artists who actually can draw! Art is another form of communication! We all know the adage,"One picture is worth a thousand words". Art is also an expression of who we are. We reveal things about ourselves in our art. Fractal art is a wonderful example of that expression too. To me personally, there is a beauty that fractal art has, whether the fractals are 'true fractals', or flame fractals, that no other kind of art possesses. I feel that there should be an opportunity for others to see more of that beauty than just one picture in a book of art. I can certainly understand your decision to not enter the new art contest. Mathmatically, the odds are against you. Don't blame you for feeling left out! Leanndra

Thanks Leanndra for your comment! I am glad to see that I am not the only one who feels this way. I know that there are expenses in publishing a book, but if an artist has a better chance of having images published then the price to publish might not be so bad. 3D is great but it gets a lot of press. I read a lot of homepages and it seems that there are many artist who just happen to stumble into fractals. Many never even heard of fractals! To me being able to read your own thoughts into an abstract image and using you imagination while veiwing an image is more powerful meaning to the veiwer than having the artist reveal everything in the image. Imagination is the key to fractals, atleast for me it is!!

Patti, You are right, about people stumbling on to fractals! Got an I M here yesterday from an artist who told me that. I also agree about the viewer using their imagination when seeing a fractal is part of what makes fractal art so fascinating. Sometimes I almost hate to title an image because it sets a boundary in the mind of everyone who sees the title and the image. Despite that many of us still see different things looking at the same image. As anyone who has read comments under a fractal will attest to. We don't all 'see' the same image. Leanndra

I must admit: I stumbled into fractals as well. And I was absolutely baffled with what I saw. So I started making them myself. I never cared much for abstracts; always felt like I should be able to "see" something in a painting or any other piece of art. But that's totally different with fractals: I see lots of things in them, just like Leanndra says. And yes: it would be nice to have a book with just fractals, from different artists, in different styles. Fractals need to become more "mainstream" before that'll happen, though. Yvonne

You're right, Yvonne! This is as good a place as any to start. I have seen more fractal artist here than any where else and since R'osity does get a lot of attention, maybe this will come to pass with the help of everyone involved. 3D had to start some where too, at first computer art of any kind was not considered art either, but with enough people getting into it, it grew like wild fire and now it's at the top of it's field. I just hope that some one will give fractals a chance to grow in to the "mainstream" too!!

Ok...let me tell you about a little experiment my brother and I did. He is a Terragen artist, and I mean artist...excellent work. I thought my little fractals were cool as well, so just for fun, we took ten of his images and ten of mine, printed 8x10's and put them in a notebook. I took mine to my workplace, and he did as well. Folks would look at my fractals and go, "Umm...that's cool." Like they couldn't think of anything else to say about them. Looking at the Terragen images it was all, "OOOOO...AHHHH...THAT'S SO FINE!!!" Same experience in both places. Soooo...I think you either have a thing (bordering on obsession) for fractals, or they do absolutely nothing for you. So I personally think the audience for fractal art would be rather miniscule. Just my two cents...

Maybe you're right! But it's frustrating not to have what some of the other artists have, the 3Der's, painters (oils, water colors, acrylics), photogs and etc. a chance to see one's hard work in bound print with others of their own kind. Who's to say that if there was a book, my work would be in it any way. Wouldn't that be a kicker!!! It would still be nice to look at other's work in printed form.

sharkrey has a point... I can sit at work fiddling with an Apo flame and people come up to me and say, "gee that's awesome", and are all really interested until you say the word "fractal" - then their eyes glaze over and they say "oh mathematics stuff" (I work in IT) and they lose all interest... WHY?? Who cares what's behind some of the amazing art that fractal mathematics can produce? It's the fact that there are some extremely interesting works out there that matters... and the fact that ANYONE can pretty much make their own only doubles the fun... I'm a self-confessed Geek of the Highest Order - so recreating nature with a graphics application on a computer does not appeal to me at all - I can take a photo if I want realism... but I want Abstract... I live for the "not real"... I love pretty colors swirling into each other... I love the randomness of flame fractals, and the sheer beauty of the "true" fractals... ...and a big "stuff you!" to people who pooh-pooh my fractal art... so there ner! I like it - and that's all that really matters, isn't it? T.

so few of the posted fractal work has that harsh "mathematical" look most of the images that i see are beautiful abstract images that can draw a person in to make of it what they feel and think this reminds me of the FractalBurka discussion from a while back maybe few people from the Fractal community bother to submit?