jenepherre | Some new pretties I made

Current Mood: artistic
Current Location: here... right here
Current Music: Snow Patrol - Shut Your Eyes

Entry tags:

Some new pretties I made

So... I was drooling at some of the awesome stuff over at Digital Blasphemy, and then I noticed he has a Tools page. And that page mentions a flame fractal generator called Apophysis... and it's FREEWARE. I downloaded it immediately, as I love playing with fractals. But most come out looking too... fractal-y for me. Like... there's really no mistaking a Mandelbrot when you see one. I can't say I totally know the difference between a fractal and a flame fractal, except that I think the latter are 1000% more beautiful. I love this stuff.

Important Note: You do not have to know anything about the mathematical side of fractals in order to have fun with them. Trust me on this.

So, here are my first few creations using Apophysis. If anyone wants a larger version of one of these, just let me know which one and what size. The originals are all 1600x1200. Click on the thumbnails below to see larger versions.


Alien Cobweb Some of the brighter spots on it look like they might be pods for alien babies or something. Yeah, I'm weird.	Ghost Flower I love this one. It looks like a whole bunch of sheer organza ribbon bunched together with the ends all cut uneven and floating around.

Gossamer Vibrancy Okay, I'm not good at naming these things. But I love the colors and the way it kind of looks like smoke.	Space Station Reminded me a little of Star Trek:DS9. Which was my least favorite of the Star Treks, but ::shrug:: I actually have this as my desktop wallpaper right now.

Tapestry Explosion See what I was saying about naming these things? But the colors and the fanned pattern reminded me of tapestries for some reason. Except... it's kinda exploding at the moment.	Weaving Space Doesn't it kind of look like knitting or something? Weaving a black hole. Or something. LOL

So...? Whatcha think?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Defintely pretties, Jen. I really love them, especially the gossamer cobweb and vibrancy. I love the floating quality about them, the sheerness. (word) Opening each is like opening an unexpected surprise gift. Thanks for sharing these works of art.

Lyn

What is a fractal?

Thanks Lyn. Glad you like them.

To find out more about fractals, go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal

At the very bottom of that page is a good list of fractal software, including some programs that run on Mac.

thanks for the info. I'll check it out. Might have guessed it would be on Wikipedia. had no idea artistic kind of stuff was there, too. I've always searched for historical, etc.

Lyn

Bummer, just Windows.

Lyn

I really like the Gossamer Vibrancy

Thanks, hon! I think I'm going to put up wallpaper sized versions of that one. You weren't the only one who liked that one in particular. (I added the eyes here just for you. hehe)

I love the gossamer vibrancy and wish it were a painting for my wall. It would so rock.

Maybe one day I will learn to make these after I learn to use Photoshop CS. I joined icon tutorial and am afraid i am not getting it even with step by step instructions.
leticia

OMG, Leticia... this program is *so* much easier to learn than Photoshop CS! It automatically generates a bunch of random images when you start the program, then you just look through them to see if something catches your eye and then you can play around with whichever one you want to play with. Choose a different color set... zoom in... whatever. You can't really do anything wrong.

I'm going to post the large version of Gossamer Vibrancy. I suppose if you really wanted it, I could set it up on one of the art print sites and you could buy a print of it. LOL

Anyway, thanks for the kind words. And stick with the tutorials - you'll get it. I'd offer to help, but I don't use Photoshop much. I use PaintShop Pro 9, and I do also have Photoshop 7, but rarely use it. I love PSP 9.

Jen,
Holy cats I LOVE YOUR ICON!!!! Did you make it? I can't stop starting at it.

Do you think paintshop pro is easier than Photoshop? I keep thinking I should have purchased PSP instead of photoshop. I am going to try the program you used to make gossamer vibrancy and see if i whip up something cool looking.

Leticia

hehehe Yes, I made the icon. I saw your icon and had to use mine in my reply. Glad you enjoyed it. ;-)

I think that PaintShop Pro 9 and earlier are easier than Photoshop. I can't say for certain about the current versions of PaintShop Pro because Corel bought out the company that originally developed PSP - Jasc - and when I tested the trial version of PSP X - Corel's first release of PSP - I loathed it. So I've stayed with version 9. Once I'm on a computer with Vista I probably won't have a choice but to upgrade, but I'm not looking forward to it. That said, I suspect that PSP X and XI are still easier to learn than Photoshop. And they cost a heck of a lot less. But if you already have Photoshop, give it a little more time. Look for some beginners tutorials that show you the basics of the program. You're not going to find that in icon_tutorials, necessarily, but tuts like that *are* out there.

PLEASE let me know if you post anything you make with Apophysis! I friended you, but I'm horrible at keeping up with my friends page. Horrible. OH! There's an awesome beginners tutorial for Apophysis here. Very useful, IMO.

Very beautiful! I especially like the Ghost Flower one.

Yay! Someone who likes my favorite one! Thanks for the comments. :-)

I forgot that one. The black background sets off the golds beautifully. I'm more into gossamer and more wavy and less geometric shapes, I guess.

Makes a very distinctive icon for you.

Lyn

These are gorgeous.... Thank you for sharing them.

Janet

Thanks Janet! I'm glad you enjoyed them.

So who's the hot guy on your icon?

That's John Barrowman who plays Captain Jack Harkness in the new Doctor Who series and Torchwood. And I totally agree, he is hot and one of the funniest, nicest and most personable actors I've ever seen. He's a wonderful singer as well.

Janet,

is he Brit? are the shows on BBC, American tv? I've seen them in my guide for cable, but don't remember where. Always interested in new shows to check out.

Lyn

He's Scottish-American. Born in Scotland, grew up in Illinois becoming an American citizen after high school and ended up moving to London after being cast opposite Elaine Paige in Anything Goes during his last year of college. He usually speaks in an American accent but if around other Scots, he'll fall into his Glaswegian.

He's done a few things in the States. He was Jack, one of Cole Porter's lovers in De-Lovely, the Lead Tenor in The Producers and did the Titans and Central Park West TV shows. He's become more known outside the theatre world because of Doctor Who and received his own show, Torchwood on the strength of his character.

If you catch the Christopher Eccleston series of Doctor Who on Sci Fi Channel or BBC America, he is in the final five episodes. Doctor Who and the sequel, Torchwood are both British TV shows, although after 44 years I don't think you can really consider Doctor Who "new". You can easily follow along though without the entire history.... Christopher Eccleston's series is a good place to start and the two part episodes (The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances) introducing Captain Jack are considered by most to be the best ones for that year, causing it to win a Hugo.

As you can see, I could go on and on and on.... If you want to learn more about John, his official website is at http://www.johnbarrowman.com.

Ah! I thought - just after I left my comment for you - that it might be him. I've never seen him in anything, actually, but I have a friend who's a massive Torchwood fan and I was helping her with a new LJ layout recently and saw the OMG HOT Jack/Ianto kiss. And I was looking for pics and found his site and he and his partner got married in England!! And he wore a kilt with nothing underneath! LOL And he flashed one of his female costars. hahahaha I love the guy already. I don't think I knew he could sing though. I don't know if I'll try to get into Torchwood at all - I don't get BBC-America or any BBC channel, so I think I'd have to download torrents - but no question that Mr. Barrowman is hot and definitely someone to keep an eye on in the biz.

LJ layout? :D

John's proudly wears his Scottish heritage. He wore his kilt when he visited a Scottish castle for a show called Keys to the Castle for HGTV. It's been repeated several times so you might catch that. If you get Sci Fi Channel, Doctor Who airs there and one of their executives has said they are in talks to get Torchwood. I have to wonder how much will get edited though.

John's very cheeky... in more ways than one. He's known for his xxx rated humor and for flashing his cast mates on the set or from back stage. He's so charming, he gets away with it. He's also got an absolutely gorgeous voice. I highly recommend Reflections of Broadway, John Barrowman Sings Cole Porter and Aspects of Andrew Lloyd Webber, all of which can be found on iTunes.

I download pretty much any and everything I can find with him and have apparently gotten Lois addicted as well.

OMG your icon!! hahahahaha That's right... Lois has mentioned him. I'd forgotten about that. I do get the SciFi channel... might look into that. I'm really into Supernatural now. LOVE Jensen Ackles. See icon. ;-)

The LJ layout for my friend ended up being just Ianto - she loves him. You can see it here: http://drkcherry.livejournal.com/ I'm not really doing header graphics for people - she did most of her graphic herself and then let me tweak it - but if you find a header graphic you like, I'll help customize your LJ with it if you want.

Oooo! He's cute!

I don't blame her for being addicted to Ianto. He's my second favorite character on the show. Take a guess as to the first. :-D Lovely header too. I always see something I like and never get around to doing anything with it until the urgency has passed and I've found three or four other pictures I like even better. There isn't a shortage of JB/CJH pictures around.So far I've stuck mostly with icons. I may have to renew the membership just so I can add more. :-)

Those are freaking awesome! My favourites are Ghost Flower and Tapestry Explosion. :D I'm gonna give this thing a download.

Oh, I would love Gossamer Vibrancy as wallpaper. Would you be willing to send me a larger one? *bats eyelashes* My res is 1280x1024 but I can make it smaller myself if you send me a larger size. :)

Hey gorgeous! I've been wondering how you're doing. Yeah - I could probably go over to your LJ and find out, but I'm just terrible at keeping up with any of my friends on LJ anymore.

You can have any of these pics you want in the large size. Like I said (I think) the originals are all 1600x1200. I'll send the Gossamer Vibrancy one now, and then if you want any of the others you can let me know, k? ::hugs::

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Some new pretties I made

Pretties

Re: Pretties

Re: Pretties

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject