Outline the steps you take to create art.

The steps I take depend on the purpose of the art.

In cases where it is for myself, the journey I go on during the creation is almost more important than the result. Some shape or texture or theme may strike me at a certain time, where I may 'see' something in a fractal — a face, an animal, an object — which I work to give further definition so that others may see it as well. In these instances, half the creation process is the exploration; finding interesting fractals and other images, applying filters and effects, seeing 'what if' I do this or that to an image.  I love experimentation and the application of random permutations simply for the joy of it.

When the art is for a job, the process is much more structured. Depending on the client, I choose the tools and components and strive to create the desired object / look / scene. In this case, I may still try to incorporate a bit of spontaneity, however, most times the desired outcome precludes too much experimentation with the emphasis firmly on pleasing the customer.

About my art in general and the way I work:

Left to my own devices I tend toward surreal and the slightly macabre or disturbing, and I have been known to abuse colors. I haven't really settled into anything that someone can point to as "my signature style." Also different than the way most people work is that I look for, and often court 'happy accidents' in my art. For me these are the reward, the treasure I find in my artistic adventures.

Treasure hunting is how I describe creating my art. I love to find things. Aside from my fascination with colors and patterns and shiny objects, 'hunting' fractals is very addicting for me. "Just One More Twist" can yield an ugly glob of brown noise, or the most breath-taking, beautiful, and delicately colored structure I've ever seen.  I stay up all hours of the night doing "just one more" fractal. In working with fractals, I really never am in complete control of what I get and it is this chaotic boundary which I find I am most attracted to.

Another huge part of what I find appealing IS the technical and analytical side of it. I will grant you that traditional art has its technicalities too — the technicalities of say, mixing paints and pigments.  However, those do not engage my imagination in the way that using my computer to create an image does. Since I love the digital domains and the technology they encompass, almost anything related to them holds a great attraction for me.

I really DO love the whole process — starting from that germ of an idea, selecting the models / pieces / tools / software, and then creating and experimenting each step of the way. I also love the ability to go back and try a different path anytime I want. This non-linear workflow is something I find lacking in traditional media art and techniques. I like that I can explore the myriad possibilities of a 3D scene; change a texture here, move the camera there, and play countless 'what if' games with the elements in the image. It is like going on a trip without leaving my chair!

Art inspires me. Nature - Chaos and fractals, electron microscope imagery, Hubbell space pictures, macro views and natural scenes. Odd perspectives and juxtaposition is nice too. Sometimes music or my pets do. And often, personal experiences inspire me to attempt the capture of a mood or feeling, convey a thought or remember someone.

Being around talented people inspires me as well. Working with diverse, creative and supportive people is  quite inspiring thing for me. I get a charge from other people's ideas and enthusiasm; their perspectives; their views; techniques and style. I also think a bit of genteel competitiveness is motivational, which is what I find so engrossing about the Internet and online communities. I am definitely a Cyber-Junky.

Mostly, technology itself inspires me. It's wonderful that computer science has caught up with my passion for computer art finally! Five years ago, it was almost unheard of for an 'everyday' computer to create the stunning graphics we now take for granted.

How has your art evolved over time?

Mostly, my control over my tools has improved. This improved control enables me to be more spontaneous and productive. It is nice being familiar enough with my tools so that they are now an extension of my mind as opposed to an obstacle. I am able to experiment more and increase the diversity of my output in less time. Also, newer, faster hardware enables better, more sophisticated software, which in turn, enables me to experiment with many more types of techniques and objects.

What would you like people to know about you?

All reports to the contrary, I don't really bite. :-)

Are there certain programs you prefer?

I can't go a single day without using Photoshop. As much as I hated having to learn how to use it all those many years ago, it really is the industry standard for the manipulation of digital image data for not only pre-press applications but also for the creation of new art. And today I can’t imagine doing ANYTHING without fixing it or tweaking it in Photoshop. It is very powerful and I strongly suggest that anyone with even peripheral interest in the creation of art for eventual publication get familiar with Photoshop as quickly as possible.

I love Poser and use it for quite a few of my projects. Poser is a relatively inexpensive program that has multiple uses. Originally designed as an aid to traditional artists who didn’t have access to live models for figure studies, it has evolved to become a stand alone application capable of creating professional animations as well as high quality still renders of figures AND scenery.

I also use Bryce, which is also an inexpensive application, to create my landscapes. I find it’s got a great interface that, once mastered, allows me to concentrate on the art that I’m creating as opposed to the key strokes or commands required to do things.

I love the ease with which these programs can be used together to create almost any style and genre of art.

Other programs I use include UltraFractal and XenoDream, both of which are fractal generators. UltraFractal is great for 2 dimensional images and XenoDream works in both 2 and 3-D. Also, XenoDream has some interesting tools that allow me to create unique 3-dimensional lighting effects on otherwise 2-dimensional image data.

I'm currently re-evaluating a nifty program called ZBrush whose recent software upgrade piqued my interest. ZBrush is a hybrid application, also moderately priced, which combines the process of painting with sculpting, all on a PC.

And, even though I don't use Painter at this time, it is software that I want to explore. Painter is yet another example of reasonably priced software that can be used to create spectacular works. Painter is geared toward those traditionally trained and offers very convincing real-world-media effects, such as water color and oil paints, using a digital canvas. The works created in Painter can become indistinguishable from works that were painted ‘by hand’ using oils (or whatever traditional medium you like) and scanned into the computer, showing all the tell tale effects like color mixing during a stroke and the spread of pigment on watercolor paper.

I am coming up to speed on Carrara, which now boasts a seamless integration with Poser scenes and objects via an optional plug-in. Carrara is a modeling package which allows you to create 3-D objects, light them, texture them, and render them. It can also be used to create professional quality animations. It is really a full-featured digital art/machine shop!

And I keep threatening to learn a bit more about Amapi, too.  Amapi is a fast, rich and versatile 3D Polygonal modeler that looks good for beginners as well as advanced 3D users with its speed, and ease-of-use. It has some cool features that look like a load of fun as well.

I use CorelDraw and Illustrator for vector work, and InDesign and PageMaker for layout and publications.

Are you a traditionally-trained artist that has selected the digital media, or did new technologies allow you to create the visions you've envisioned?

No formal art training here. And, definitely new technology allowed me to express myself in the way I'd wanted to for a long time. The idea of flat oil painting or watercolor painting on paper doesn’t really excite me the way that digital and 3-dimensional tools do.

Is there a prejudice against digital art?

Most definitely.

When people think of ‘digital’ art they still think of TRON or Star Wars — Not that this is BAD, necessarily. I, for example, love the look and feel of these visionary applications of computer graphics and my own work has been greatly influenced by them. However, this pigeon-holing does limit, in the eyes of the general population, the desirability of art created using digital tools and predisposes people to assume that anything digital makes it a ‘special effect’, therefore non-serious or non-fine-art, and ultimately low quality and not collectable.

People don’t realize that digital tools have evolved. The fact is that digital tools evolve at an amazing rate and digital artists today are faced with a staggering number of choices. Almost limitless options are available with respect to unique combinations of style, effects, methods, and output. So much so that it becomes mind-numbing when trying to wade through it all. The challenge facing the digital artist today is not just the execution of the actual subject matter, but also the choice of software and the selection of methods used to create the finished piece.

It’s easy to lose track of technology since it advances at such high rates of speed. Even those who work with it on a daily basis are having a hard time keeping up. What techniques may have been a pipe-dream a year ago may now be totally accessible to even the hobbyist with a modest technology and financial investment.

What most people do not realize is that digital art has been permeating their lives for quite some time. Things like movies are an obvious place, but these days most commercial art, that is, the art you find on book covers, CD covers and pretty much anything that gets printed is probably digitally created. It just isn't feasible for most commercial illustrators to do it any other way with the competition that exists and the tight budgets of publishers. Even in printing, the concept of the original has fallen away. With the very reasonably priced digital presses that are available it just doesn’t make sense to continue working with the more expensive process of handling, scanning and converting physical media when one can have it all digitally from the onset.

The reasons for the prejudice against digital art are definitely a subject that can take up an entire volume just by itself! I believe that eventually it will be just another tool, though it may take a decade or two before we get there.

Other information about yourself that might not be directly art-related?

I have been called a digital evangelist of sorts. Because I love working with digital tools so much, I find that I’m a natural ‘spokesman’ for it and generally end up speaking at conventions and shows about it. My own experiences (with the difficulties people who create in digital have with finding agent representation, selling digitally created work to serious collectors, and finding galleries willing to show art that is digital in any way) have forced me to find my own solutions, representation and marketing avenues so I’ve got first hand knowledge. And, as one of the truly dedicated digital fanatics, I am always happy to share what I’ve learned. I believe that with enough education and exposure, the whole digital versus non-digital issue will melt away and we’ll be able to go back to what’s important… the art.

In my role as digital evangelist, I’ve helped one of the major sci-fi/fantasy/space conventions, Dragon*Con, start and maintain their own Digital Art section. Truly ground breaking and forward thinking, the Dragon*Con Art Show gives digital artists their first real acceptance into a major event of this caliber. The Dragon*Con Art Show accepts digital art in its native format and uses print on demand technology to deliver the final art product to customers on the media of their choice! This has taken what some considered a liability and undesirable ‘media’ and turned it into a real asset. Entry fees for digital art are mere dollars per piece, there is no shipping expense, no hanging expense, no inventory overhead to maintain, and no up front production costs to the artists. This is how digital technology really shines!

I do still enjoy the techy side and like to keep current on things out side of digital art. I own, with my business partner, a web hosting company that was created to primarily address my own, somewhat complicated web hosting needs but which quickly grew to accommodate other artists and small businesses, too. I really enjoy designing and developing web sites and ecommerce applications for internal use as well as for clients. And, because my philosophy is ‘art friendly’ we offer some darned attractive hosting packages geared specifically for these types of sites.

I've written, with my multi award winning co-author John Grant, a book celebrating and showcasing the diversity of art created using digital tools. The book, Digital Art for the 21st Century, made Locus Magazine's 2004 Recommended Reading List:

http://www.locusmag.com/2005/Issues/02RecommendedReading.html.

I've been very pleased with the warm reviews we've been getting from art critics and book reviewers alike, who are not necessarily into digital-anything. Unlike most digital art books, the genres and styles represented in this volume really aren't CG or even fantasy specific. We've got artists whose work can be classified as traditional ‘fine art’ and whose technique looks like oil paintings mixed together with artists whose work looks like a very stylized and digital version of TRON. We really show off the power and versatility of digital tools! The book is available at major bookstores around the world, including amazon.com.

I'm currently writing a book to help people through their digital learning curve — a book on Digital Art Tools & Techniques. I feel that there is a need for a book that starts at the beginning and logically builds to sophisticated techniques, in one easy to use volume. The idea is to start off with the fundamentals of digital image creation, such as what a byte is, the advantages and disadvantages of different file formats and the preparation of images for the various desired end-purposes, and then graduate in easy stages to choices of softwares, three-dimensional modeling and present a plethora of money and time-saving tricks. In a final section, there will be step-by-step presentations demonstrating how all the techniques of earlier chapters can be put together to create dazzling final results.

I'm really excited about this project and look forward to seeing it on the shelves.

Also, I've got my mind on compiling a scrumptious coffee table book, Life is a Bowl of Fractals, showcasing and explaining fractals; as an art form of their own and as a tool for the creation of other art pieces. Most volumes dealing with fractals, as currently available, tend toward math-geek-speak and I feel, turn people away from the creative and exciting aspects of fractals. Also, I find that most ‘art’ displayed in these fractal volumes is awkward, looking rather dated showing only the standard ‘mandelbrots’ and ‘julias’ done in clashing colors that make me wonder if the artist was perhaps slightly color blind. Most existing fractal books hardly scratch the surface and do a poor job showcasing and introducing the real beauty, versatility and usefulness of fractals in all aspects of the creative process.

Fractals are everywhere around us. Sea shells are fractals. Trees, plants, clouds, and even complex terrain can be realistically represented using fractal formulas. Fractals are used to simulate the real world and do an amazing job creating complex, life-like structures that we would be hard pressed to manually draw or build. Fractals are used in Hollywood, too. For example, the waves and water in the movie Titanic were mostly math, fractal-based math rendered by a computer!

I am co-owner of a few artist-friendly services:

(unique clothing and accessories featuring much digital art)	(art gallery and print store - as of this date not yet open, but coming soon)	(Web Hosting)

How can patrons contact you to purchase your art?

The best way for patrons to contact me is through my agent. Her name is Jacki and they can catch her via email at jacki(at)weird-art.com, or at (225) 978-8234 via telephone. If they prefer dealing with me directly, that's fine too. I can be contacted through the Contact form on this web site or if you prefer direct email, my email is weird.audre(at)weird-art.com.
 
I've got a few web-based galleries where samples of my art can be viewed:
 
Weird-Art.com
Freaky-Fractals.com
MysticalMandalas.com

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