[sigtau]

Ahem!  Skip to the fourth paragraph if you aren't interested in why I'm doing this. 

Just recently, I have had a need to acquire scholarships for financial aid into uni.  I am already accepted, but I still need to find ways to pay for it and reduce the number of loans I'm having to take out--which, as stated, means that I need to find as many scholarships as possible.

Most scholarships have either closed their doors for entries or are too specific for me to fulfill their requirements for the time being.  However, the school I am attending has stated that they give art scholarships out to those who send in impressive work--and thus, this has led me to find certain graphic, 3D, and web design examples of my own work in order to fill up a nice, hefty portfolio to be turned in.

The one thing that is giving me the most trouble is the graphic design portion.  I'm fairly adept in Photoshop/GIMP, but simply opening up the program and beginning to draw with nothing but a mouse and keyboard isn't exactly ideal for my situation.  That said, I needed to think of something impressive that would get the attention of those reviewing the portfolio, and I decided to settle on fractal art.

Fractal art is essentially a digital art form that uses fractals--pictures created by means of infinite detail--to create beautiful designs, swirling colors, and awe-inspiring pictures.  These can be generated cheaply and efficiently, and look very pleasing to the eye.  However, getting them shaped correctly into the designs you want can actually be extremely difficult if you aren't already well-acquainted with your tools, which is the feat I'm currently trying to overcome.

So, I've spat out a few designs, and I want to see what you guys think.  Please bear in mind that I want to crank out a few more before the weekend's over.

Only three of these will make the cut into the portfolio.  Please vote on which ones you like the best.  These are ordered from earliest to most recent.  I didn't create a poll because I wanted to be able to add to the list later.

Emerald
Beat
Shell
Arbor
Bloom
Infinite
Feather
Swimmer
Hydrozoan

The "Sigtastic Media" thing is only there to make a distinction between my game design work (Sigma-Tau Productions) and my other digital work.  Unlike most fractal art, I tried to make mine more focused on designs that focus on imitating a specific object, rather than a full-screen artistic 'flame' design.

I've put quite a bit of care into these, and I'm interested in hearing your opinions.

Discuss, my HLP *****es.

[redsniper]

I was going to rip on you for doing this as a quick easy way to crank out some art at the last minute, but Bloom actually looks pretty cool. Hydrozoan is okay too.

[BloodEagle]

Beatbw, Hydrozoan, Bloom

[Mort]

hydrozoan
infinite
swimmer
beat

The best IMO

[castor]

Shell, Hydrozoan, Beat.

[Hellstryker]

Shell, Hydro, Arbor

[bigchunk1]

Beat, Hydrozoan, Shell

Ya, I hate to be the prick in the room but how are you generating this art? How much of it is the program and how much of it is you?  You're competing against hand drawn art and sculptures and the like right?

I'm not sure how much it matters, maybe the less they know about the process the better off you might be.

EDIT: Ya you know on second thought, it's probably fine. 

[watsisname]

Fractal art is weird.  Unlike painting or drawing, you can't easily produce exactly what you want to, regardless of how familiar you are with the tools (though it only helps if you are).  Probably the best advice I can give is to try to realize that fractal software does not "QUICKLY MAKE GOOD ART" – it takes time and effort like any other form of art does.  I'd suggest sticking to a few transforms at a time, get to know how different transforms play off each other, and allow yourself to spend more time than you might originally want to tweak the fractal, even if you’re happy with how it looks already.  Your work will grab and hold the viewers’ attention more effectively if you spend more time on each piece than if you try to spit out a bunch of pieces quickly.

Of your work posted thus far, I quite like Hydrozoan.  (Seems a lot of others do, too!)  Really does look like a jellyfish.  Arbor is also nice, and Emerald has some catchy abstract shapes and curves going on.  Not really being drawn in by the others, but I look forward to seeing your next pieces.

[Nuke]

i stuck a bunch of fractals in my ****ty skybox. they make good nebulas.