"Sundala" | Gallery: Designs
Second, I've been busy making a post for @lilyraabe's contest which involves, among other things, showing different elements of the artpiece. This made me realise that I always save my work as I go (important when working with fractals) which means that for many of my pieces, I'll be able to go back and screenshot some things to show the WIP (Work in Progress).
I hope you all enjoy! I'm not sure what the best would be in terms of ordering... For now, I've put the complete art at the top, poem/quote below it, and the WIP (Work-in-progress) below that. Let me know what you think, please =)
Sundala
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Gallery: Designs
Max. Print Size: 35" x 35"
“I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and I was a street kid. … There was one aspect of that environment that, for some reason, struck me as different, and that was the stars. … I could tell they were lights in the sky, but that wasn’t an explanation. I mean, what were they? Little electric bulbs on long black wires, so you couldn’t see what they were held up by? What were they? … My mother said to me, "Look, we’ve just got you a library card … get out a book and find the answer.” … It was in there. It was stunning. The answer was that the Sun was a star, and the stars were suns except very far away. … The dazzling idea of a universe vast beyond imagining swept over me. … I sensed awe."
-- Carl Sagan
The creation process:
Something important about my creative process is that I often do not start with an idea in mind and instead let the process show me the path... In this case, for example, I didn't have a Sun-type Mandala in mind when I started. All I knew is I wanted to do another mandala, so I first loaded up the very first parameters I started with to create "Raízul":
Next, I randomized a colour pallette and applied it. The greyscale is nice to clearly see physical shapes but colour can reveal patterns in the math within the shapes:
Then, I needed point symmetry to get a mandala. One formula is perfect for this, called "_PolyFold-sym" ... It allows you to choose how many symmetrical parts you want. I went with 5 to get started, and tweaked the colours:
The blue made me think of under the sea, and an idea for sea urchins or starfish came to mind... But decided against that because "Raízul" was already blue. Reverted back to previous colours:
And this was when the idea for a Sun-type mandala came to me. I thought of a bright blazing yellow/orange mandala... But I need more symmetrical points and they need to be pointed... Tweaked the parameters of all the formulae until this:
The shapes were perfect, now just the colouring... I liked how the light seemed to be shining from behind the shapes and thought of, instead of having a Sun, a sun-symbol, with intense light burning from behind it, would be better. I messed with the colours of the fractal and the position of a light source...:
Almost perfect! ... But I knew I wanted a black background, imitating the blackness of space. A bit more tweaking and I finally got something almost perfect:
A few more tweaks to make it more "intense", and a quick trip into Photoshop for some final touches and it was done!
I hope you enjoyed this little journey into my creative process. I'll be doing this more from now on =)
Thank you for your upvote 💖
I appreciate it more than can be expressed in one line at the end of a post.
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A few recent posts of mine:
I Write, Therefore I Am - Mentorship Entry #1 | "Darklight" - Gallery: Designs | "The Woman Who Moved" - Collaborative Story
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If you'd like to support me further, or follow me elsewhere, I'm on these social media:
Patreon | Instagram | Facebook
Up vote #post_promo_plz
great job! especially continue!
Thank you very much =) ... What is that tag?
is really very beautiful, (tag: salon discord)
it's just to say that I saw the post of the discord asaper.
comment edited
@mandelsage,
I envy your creativity.
When 87% of today's jobs will be automated within 5-8 years and the only way for the world's population to survive without war is implementing universal basic income, it will only be creative people (like you) that will be successful!
Namaste,
JaiChai
Thank you Jai =) ... I'm sure you have some creative streak in you too! Just need to find it ;)
I follow Elon Musk and he agrees with you about universal basic income =) ... I think the other area that will still be valued is in teaching, because many people don't learn well with self-study courses. And I'm a teacher too so looks like I'm all set! ;P lol.
@mandelsage,
Thank you for replying. You might want to read this funny post. It's a true-life story frommany years ago:
https://steemit.com/life/@jaichai/ijch-enforcing-public-restroom-etiquette-and-the-future-billionaire
Namaste,
JaiChai
I LOVE it!
I LOVE it!
grin ... Thank you, Linda!
Your work is spectacular! I hope it gets the recognition it deserves!
Thank you very much CoachJJ =) ... I have to believe if I just continue doing my thing, one day, it'll get there... Hopefully before I die, lol ;P (Happens with too many artists!)
Do you use Discord?
I do =) ... I'm Mandelsage on there as well.
I tried to find you but it wants a 4 digit code after your name. I am Linda4728
Wow man this is all Mandelbulb (minus post in PS)? You certainly have a better understanding what the formulae control in the program than myself. I will most likely be picking your brain in the future when I start making more fractals. I loved looking through the process and how you detailed each step.
Heya =) Thanks for the kind words ^^ .. Yep, all Mandelbulb! =) Well, of course, minus the stars which were in JWildFire.
Feel free to pick my brain any time... Though I feel a bit rusty right now. Also, I often feel like I'm just getting lucky, lol... The key is to save all your parameters, actually (to be able to load them up and see what you did later). Because there is just SO much to MB3D ... It's hard to remember it all unless you're at the PC working at fractals 24/7 like some people I know.
For sure! I always try to save my parameters just in case. It is an insanely robust program.
I enjoyed this post. The process of creating art is probably the most enjoyable part of it. Yes, the end product matters also but I think that mostly matters to other people. I rarely feel 100% satisfied with anything I have ever made but I have learned to just stop the creative work at some point and call it good enough.
The image you created is beautiful so you get the joy of both the process and the result.
Thanks for creating and sharing it. :)
Thank you very much for the thoughtful comment! (I think you might also like my post about the gifts I made for my brothers too, where I also showed the process). EDIT: Oh! Nevermind! I see you not only saw it already, but resteemed it too! Thank you!!
Believe me, I know exactly what you're saying... For every finished piece I show here, there are 3 or more unfinished ones that just weren't working out. I save everything though, to go back to later. Never know when inspiration might hit =)