This is the first fractal artwork I made using UF3. It took about half a day to make. It's a funky sunglasses-wearing extra-terrestrial from the 1970s. The cute body (actually just a head and legs) is a Mandelbrot-form Nova fractal to which the orbit traps outside coloring algorithm has been applied. The afro is a Magnet Mandelbrot. I tweaked gradients and inside coloring to make the afro look convincingly attached to the head. When designing the Newton fractal background, I hoped to simulate the psychedelic animations of abstract wavy ribbons that you sometimes see in old funk music videos and tv shows -- sometimes they had silhouettes of dancers superimposed on them. An iteration-based orbit traps outside coloring algorithm using wave trap shapes worked well.

I like the jagged edges of the alien's feet, because they could either be interpreted as cleats, or rough bellbottom jean cuffs that hide the shoes from our view. In the latter interpretation, I guess the alien is leaping. I also like the aura that emanates from the afro, lightly affecting the background. Conclusively, I'm pleased with this amusing first work. It looks like an album cover. If you're an interested band, send e-mail. (Remove the NO_SPAM_ prefix.)

Bands I was listening to: RATM, Plummet, Run DMC, Jimmy Eat World, Tatu.

- W.Wu, 7/29/2003 4:55PM

My original intention with this piece was to imitate what I think is "traditional-looking" fractal art, by superimposing several differently colored snapshots of a spiral-like fractal. However, I ended up deciding that my first layer looked good enough to stand alone. It's a Julia fractal. The spiraling bright white beam contrasts nicely with the dark and aged stone-like geography that curls around it, as if overwhelmed by the beam's energy. The image made me think of an old world being retired by some fresh cosmic force.

I wasn't listening to any music while making this one. Crickets chirped outside.

- W.Wu, 7/31/2003 10:36PM

After playing with a Mandelbrot fractal for a while, I discovered the rough outline of a stem and flower pattern. With the goal of sculpting a flower, I eventually found a combination of fractal parameters and coloring algorithmics that shapes what you see above. Amusingly, I almost abandoned this piece after I showed Mom this intermediate image, and she said that it looked not like a vased rose, but rather, female genitalia =P

Self-similarity patterns: The blue petal head has grooves which whirlpool infinitely into two vertigo-like drains. The leaves also have interesting patterns. Check out these zoom-ins to see four-leaf groups growing inside four-leaf groups, ad infinitum.

Blue roses do not naturally exist. They can only be bred artifically, by cultivating white rose buds in a blue pigment that eventually permeates the petals. Consequently, I feel that the blue rose makes a good symbol for fractal art, which mixes human creativity with mathematical structures that seem directly taken from nature.

I was listening to various trance anthems while working.

- W.Wu, 8/3/2003 7:59PM