Research and Processing - The beginnings of the practical project

For my practical project I am really interested in creating 'art' from 'math' so I have been doing some research on computer generated art and especially the field of fractals. I do like the idea of using code to create my project as it is creating a visual from mathematical equations and contextualises just how useful math can be in the creation of visuals and thus in creative practice.

Having seen a few references to the fractal art displayed on the website deviant art, I decided to check it out and came away with a much clearer idea of what I like and what is achievable.

I have developed a serious dislike all the fluro coloured creations that seem to overwhelm the field of fractal created art. There are far fewer subtle and nature-like creations but I did find this image (see left) produced by artist Etienne Saint Amant. What really struck me about  his work is that it so closely seems to resemble hand painted art, what I believes takes this work further is the subtley beautiful animation of the same piece available on his website. What I especially like about this piece is the artfully chosen colour palette and the subtle combination of shapes that appear like brush strokes in the image.


This second image is another from the fractal gallery in deviant art. Again what I like about this image is that it manages to keep a real natural look although the image itself is surreal. The colour palette is really simple yet striking and the image is altogether very effective.






I have decided that I am going to tackle my practical project using Processing so that I might create a visual that is constantly drawing and to the screen following a random process that will produce different results each run time.