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EDIT February 20, 2012
PhotoComix2
has recommended the program XnView which is an efficient multimedia viewer, browser and converter. Download it here: [link] . Thanks!In seeking to improve my images, I thought to remind myself of resources I've used in the past as well as ones I scoped out more recently via google. I also wanted to give back and to pass on this information to other artists.
Check out some of these resources. Some of them are for 'painters' and some for digital artists and designers. All of them will provide you some useful ideas - things you may have even studied before and forgotten!
Please add your own resources, thoughts and ideas and pass it on! Feel free to copy and paste or share - though with my name would be nice! hehe
Especially if you know any ways of making gradients and a one-step transfer to Mandelbulb 3D, PLEASE let me know! I tried out one quick method below as an example or mini-tut.
I'd love to see a lot more tips and comments about art and your process from all artists in dA and/or elsewhere.
(Oh and by the way, I only ever took a few classes in public school and like one in university so I consider myself pretty much a self-taught artist. Make your own art education!)
-------------------------------
1: Know your tools! (well it's a process!) Remind yourself to "look it up" or "just ask" when you're stuck.
2: Know art, especially your own genre. Really look around at loads of other artists and galleries everywhere and especially the natural and man-made worlds and see what's going on there. How does your work compare? Are you reinventing the wheel? Is your stuff too derivative (too much like other peoples')?
Is it time to go back to the galleries and/or read the manuals? Go for originality, silly!
------------------dA Tip-------------------
If you've been posting for years and you get few or no visits or views at all - YES - you really need to look around and learn, (For starters give and receive feedback in your comment sections with minimal thanking though!) and I have no intention of being mean!
Sad to say, I've seen altogether too many sites like this (of course my own are included here! LOL!) that just don't cut it. It's very sad to come back after nearly 5 years of only rare posting here and see that some people are still posting almost exactly the same um...well, uninteresting images again and again! Why!!!??!
As for myself, I can only say that I am hooked on on-going learning. It's what keeps me going every day. I don't want to be a snob about it but seriously! In this day of information overload, there's no sense in remaining ignorant. (OK, OK, I was a teacher for nearly 20 years and get a bit lecturey! LOL!) I only aspire to originality myself (which is hard! when a person sees so many fine examples!) and hope that sometimes I achieve it which is no easy job with the giant explosion of fractal popularity.
By the way, there's no reason to suffer and die for Adobe and other super expensive products. Paint Shop Pro is cheaper and way easier and more intuitive to use, also way smaller and less resource intensive. The Gimp (though I haven't used it much) is FREE and they say it has the same basic capabilities as many costly programs. There are scads of other basic painting and editing programs (as well as free fractal generating programs such as Mandelbulb3D!) to be found as either web-based tools or free downloads.
----------------ART RESOURCES-------------------
--Colour--
About the word 'colour'/'color':
[link] LOL!
Colour Palette programs (web and computer based) (all free)
Of course most graphics programs have palette and gradient tools built right into them. It's handy to have other ways to work with colour. I like the gradient tool in Paint Shop Pro - it's somewhat
easier to work with than the one in Mandelbulb3D (for me) and has more options.
basic colour picker
[link]
create your own palettes using images and colours
[link]
create basic two colour gradients
[link]
free download for creating your own palettes
[link]
[link]
Newton's Color Wheel by T. Ford (one of the UF greats). This is a super way of choosing colours and making palettes. You can also save the gradients for use in UltraFractal and Apophysis (free) in particular and use Apophysis to make gradients from other images. Very cool! Or you can enter the colour codes manually into other programs.
[link]
---------------------------------------------
--Textures--
When making your work (or 'play' as I like to think of it!), it's handy to be able to create the textures and backgrounds you need by yourself without having to resort to stock and the complexities of crediting others. (Also don't forget to google 'free textures' and that solves a lot of your crediting issues.)
I like Filter Forge for this. There's a 30 day free trial and a way to submit your own filters in order
to 'earn' a free copy as well. There are more than free 7000 filters available via their website and a google of ways to modify them. The site often has specially reduced prices so check it out. It's super easy to use.
Flaming Pear
A site of many free filters and stuff (some you have to buy):
[link]
There are zillions of other ways to make your own!
---------------------------------------------------
--Colour Theory--
What colour IS that thing!?!? Talking to others about colour? It's amazing how the same colour word can mean so many things to so many different people.
Confused? Simple, go to Wikipedia and get the exact colour definitions and examples are given including their various codes. This will at least give you a reference point. Of course there will still be subjectivity in this area no matter how we try and code it!
Also using the same or similar colour schemes too much can get boring to you and your viewers. Learn to love ALL colours in their place. Before I became a fractal artist, there were some colours that I actually 'hated' especially overly warm and hot colours. Now I adore them all!
(You may also consider googling some sites for testing types of colour blindness and how to compensate.)
3 parts (lots of examples)
[link]
[link] (similar to above)
all on one page
[link]
very detailed and interesting with lots of examples
[link]
more on Elements of Design - Color
from SanDiego Jewish Academy
[link]
You can also use programs like UltraFractal and Apophysis (free) to make and save or transfer (by code) gradients to other programs.
----------------------------------------------
--Composition--
Top 10 Painting Tips for Strong Compositions
[link]
The Fried Egg School of Painting Composition
[link]
More Painting Tips from About.com
[link]
Composition and Design by Marvin Bartel (university lesson info)
[link]
Here's what do to to stimulate your creativity as well as stifle it! (more from Marvin Bartel)
Ten Classroom Creativity Killers [link]
He really addresses my issues regarding 'copying':
"#1. I Kill Creativity when I encourage Renting (borrowing) instead of Owning ideas.
"Real artwork is based on the child's own experience, memory, observation, and/or imagination. Real artwork is not borrowed from other children or other artists. The definition of borrowing is "use it and give it back". Even thieves take ownership--they do not borrow. They do not intend to return what they take. Ideas cannot be patented or copyrighted. They are free in the vapor of our lives. I stole this idea from Nick Lindsay, a good friend and poet. He is the son of poet Vachel Lindsay. When I asked him if he was ever tempted to borrow from other poets, he said, "Steal it--Don't borrow it. Make it your own." Making an idea my own means that I choose it, improve it, shake it, pound it, deconstruct it, reengineer it, materialize it, test it, internalize it, and so on. I can not simply copy it or rent it."
Also addresses and separates 'copying' from 'inspiration'
[link]
And yet more from Marvin:
Percy Principles of Art and Composition
[link]
Historical and Cultural Context
Andy Goldsworthy - Beneath the Surface Appearance
[link]
My personal pet hate: bi-lateral (side-by-side) symmetry!! Quadralateral and kaleidoscopic images ARE MORE interesting - and they're not always THAT interesting. Why? The eye/brain views symmetry as unnatural and kinda rebels against it. It's a bit like the "Fried Egg"[one thing plopped in the middle of the canvas] concept above as well.
Look around and observe the asymmetry in the most beautiful or captivating people, creatures and natural scenes. I'd say, strive for interesting angles, even the smallest swerve away from too much symmetry will immediately make your pictures more attractive and impressive.
This is especially applicable when working with fractals as they are often already very synthetic looking! Really study the way that the great painters and photographers put their images together - you will rarely see PERFECT side by side symmetry and yet fractaleers especially seem addicted to this plan! I believe the style is more appropriate to design graphics and even then - I would use it very very sparingly!
-------------------------------------------------
--Fractal Music--
Making Your Own Music for Videos - perhaps especially for fractals! Super easy!
[link]
There are many many programs for creating ambient music. I had another fractally generated one that was just excellent and that was lost years ago of course - or disappeared from the net. I like this one because it uses fractals in particular to generate the music.
I'm sure there are many more of this type of program and would love to hear from you about your sources.
-----------------------------------------------------
--Title Generator--
- good for art, lol
[link] (contributed by baba
) there are a ton of these on the net as well as all kinds of name generators (though personally I often just use my head to randomly generate my own most of the time, lol!) Stay away from using numbers and formulas too much unless they're clearly part of a grouping. You can always rename the image something more interesting when you post or show it. Boring title=fewer viewers. Try to stay away from common quotes and cliches in youy art titles - a
creative piece of art deserves a special distinctive name. Make your titles as creative as your images!
Think about how this works with books, movies and other titled items.
----------------------------------------
Over all and by and large: art and appreciation are totally subjective. Regardless of rules and theories - make are that you love and want others to see too!
Isn't that your "special purpose" as an artist?
-------------------------------------------------
--MINI TUTORIAL for easy Mandelbulb3D colouring using maps--
Then I decided to try a simple colouring method for Mandelbulb3D by using kuler.adobe.com. I made an account (though you don't have to) and uploaded a photo I had taken in Second Life (my other 3D world). I chose the colour areas I wanted by moving the little circles. I imported a screen capture and saved it as an 800x400 map and used the map for the difuse colour.
No doubt there are an unlimited ways of doing this as well as using these and other colour
resources. Tell me your ideas!
..................................................................................
The Second Life photo I used in kuler.com - pretty much a random shot.
Here's the resulting map:
The original fractal image using a basic palette similar to the one that came with the starter parameters requested from and provided by MarkJayBee
(YAY! Mark!!! He's on a sort of mini-sabbatical from dA right now. :
and the parameters I made:Mandelbulb3Dv17{
T.....S....O/...g2...2A...EkqQMXZe0yz4R6JEEcXZ.EnKtZfaXPryvTkLqTI91xzaqSypRWaUzj
................................l2uE0399j02........Y./..................y.2.....
.................ME/8....6.70...g0...2E4.....cNmWPCKm8fD/..........m/dkpXm1.iBEb
x.EnAncD/2../.kawx/8COCsz.YkdI82C2wjWcTNUwBGtz9...........U0.....y1...sD...../..
.w1...sDwEaNkzIZjuHVhJAmt.qcyyAtfdOBWEcDnkLDoezjXu1pBHo9j4vfykKZ1f8ltuajhumLzIq8
ut9HBn.wiwFUykdd6fPO.8fD......YR2........2....kD.2....sD.Ekz...........E........
.............A6U.i1...sD....zUJRW5.yp7S.MObs/UnRW5.qr7S.sVbs/UFSW5..............
................wzzz.gZRF0ES.A7.4/....3....L....M0...I....k8....n....6HB....aKSY
.UrTzZHNJylBzo78xagomQpJLxj60wWzF5wfI/6..........0.........U..........a.8.Eg.zA.
5Got8VlJazv4K4y.iv1/.1..........U6U0.MAnL1k4K4y.iv1/.P4pMnDnNqyD.........../06qz
0vgq.Ejz6tm2d0yDjv0LxeMyVyH6ofOohAGvzGV.BsjeueA.muV/OkbUiyvCsCicyI/wzUQk90KJldzj
/6U0.wzzz1...................................Qm5K0.sU06.P3/PrV8.DXRo.Ys9JS5O.wiw
g0Um7Ryjq/knM5B.euJsla3.w8OV.2ORbzfR.wAqF1EhqRyjq/knM5B.RTrtzO5.DXRo.UHSbzfR.wAq
F1EKwRyjq/knM5B...k7TM7.eem6ydB.IJptzO5.szrtzO5.................................
E....I....E.....I....Y....kOjB4OTBKRWJ4.s/UQ.................................MU/
4.........EnAnAnAnA0.BnAnAnAnAzD..........2....................k................
................................................................................
.....................2.....3....A....AJOZ75Q6Z4PWJaQo/..........................
.....MU/4MU/4.................zD........kz1........wz.........zD................
..........................................................2........wz...........
................................/....E/....1....HZKNm/5GdlaMZ75R................
................4MU/4MU/........aNaNaNaN4.2........wz........U.E........kz1.....
...................................................................../........zD
..........................................E.....I....2....kLmJqMd/bQjBKMgdZA....
...................................................sz...........................
................................................................................
.....................................................2.....3....3....w3IjlKS4x4P
YZaPb/.......................................................E/E................
................................................................................
................................................................}
And here's the image in which I used the kuler.com map:
I've since tried making the palette in kuler and manually changing the colour values on the gradient maker in MB3D and that worked well too!
................................................................................................
Thanks so much for reading! I'd love to hear your feedback!
Leonie Zurakowsky
best and even free Image Viewer/Converter/Organizer XNVIEW www.xnview.com
well more coming.. (i have a surprise but i must finish to package...)
To make gradients you might like this little gradient maker tool too [link] it's free and the tutorial is easy to follow.