An Introduction from the Tree

I consider myself a fractal artist. Not because I work with fractal media but rather because, whatever media I work with, I find myself looking at fractals. Scale variances, self repetition, randomness, order within chaos... As natural as it feels to me right now, though, initially I stumbled upon fractals by mere coincidence while looking at a friend’s drawings on deviantArt. After that, something just kept me going at fractals. I can’t tell what the driving force was, but here I am now, seeing fractals wherever I look.



Fractals are what nature is made of. Now would you dare say this wasn’t fractal art? I can’t. And that is why I feel obliged to include it here, in this blog dedicated to fractal art.
Named On Fractal Grounds Pt. 1, it’s part of a series of photos taken from a plane during a particularly eye-pleasing flight from Istanbul to Montreal.

The following fractal was done in Apophysis, which I used and abused exclusively for more than 3 years. I rarely “plan” my fractals. That is to say, I don’t tend to start out doing a fractal with a particular goal in mind. I feel like Apophysis is the perfect tool for such artistic spontaneity.



This here, Vicissitudes, is a result of one of those sessions of opening up Apophysis, turning on some music (which usually ends up giving my fractals their names) and playing around with forms, colors and textures via numbers until I like what I see. This one took its name from an Esbjorn Svensson Trio song, mostly due to the tidal interactions between the forms and the overall instability. I feel like it deserves its name as the image lends itself to many interpretations from “an imploding galaxy” to the savannah and “dying breath of a caught gazelle” - to quote some of the comments made on it by fellow artists.

This last fractal I want to show you was made in Ultra Fractal, which I started using about a year ago simply because it suddenly became more convenient after switching to a MacBook which would not let me use Apophysis with its full features. Right now, I would say Ultra Fractal is my weapon of choice.



Bloodthirsty is from a time when I was experimenting with sFBM II to see what I could do with a single layer. The title was inspired by Vicarious, from Tool, which was playing in the background as I was looking for the right colors for this grungy fractal.

Looking back now, I see myself mostly doing flat, textural abstracts of many kinds. I can’t say my style has converged to a particular standard yet, but I’m not sure I want it to either. I would hate to be predictable.

Finally, if you would like to see my other works, here are the links to my full gallery and my portfolio that has some of my chosen works.

Why "The Platypus"?

So, a good while back, I accidentally picked up the nickname "The Platypus". In the beginning, I was totally baffled by this, but I soon realized that people were just confused by my deviant art handle. Now, I'm totally into it! I love being called the platypus because really, think about the creature itself. It may be a weird lookin' bugger, but it's great because it's made of so many other creatures. Just like I am! I'm so many different things rolled into one artist. I love fractal art, it's such an incredible medium that's full of life and great depth. I also enjoy abstract painting and sometimes writing. I'm a creature of many parts. Ok, yeah, really, enough about me. I'm here for the art!

My first love is Apophysis. It's been labeled as my specialty by some friends and peers and I think I agree.

This is my piece Brutality. It was created using Apophysis ver. 2.09b.
Very often, I name the piece after it's "finished". To me, this felt like some kind of inglorious movement or something harsh and obtrusive.

A little recently, I've started experimenting and using Ultra Fractal. I find it a fascinating program and definitely one worth working with.

My piece Mermaid's Deception created with Ultra Fractal 5.

More often than not, I play and work with a piece until it feels right to me. This can take anywhere from an hour or a few minutes to an afternoon or up to a few days or a week. I have had longer experiences with a piece, but very seldom. This piece actually took quite a while to form and take the shape as you see it now. Because it continually looked beautiful, but lured me in and then disappointed me, it really earned its title.

Not too long ago, my aunt had introduced me to these wonderful inks that she was using to paint dominoes that she would use in her jewelry pieces. Well, after I got my hands on them, you'd never know they were the same thing.

My piece,The Garden Burning, created using Adirondack® alcohol inks on the backs of dominoes.

I love the way these inks work and the stuff I can do with them is pure inspiration in itself. I really don't know what to say about this piece. I was just so inspired to create something that I just went which ever direction the inks went.

So, there we have it, a brief introduction into the art of the Platypus!
Certainly, if wish to see more, you can very well check out my portfolio at Travis's Portfolio.