Hello from the Washingon, DC metro area of MD

[flamingolady]

hi there,
I'm new here, just browsing for now.  Still trying to figure out what open source program out there to use to make fractals?  Hope there are some threads discussing that topic. 
The artwork on here is fabulous, so fun to look at.  Looks like there are many software programs to use.
I'm an acrylic artist (using real paint), been doing digital graphics for the last couple yrs, and now want to expand into fractals.  Primarily I use Inkscape, which I love, and use Gimp a little.  I mostly use Gimp for manipulating items to make textures for web banners and avatars.  I love the IWARP feature of Gimp. 
dee

[cKleinhuis]

hello and welcome to the forums, as a starter i always suggest ultrafractal which is fully enabled intesting mode, an alternative is chaosPro,
and the recent 3d fractals are best rendered with Mandelbulber, or Mandelbulb3d ( found here in the download section)

[Erisian]

Hi.  I'm also trained in acrylics, watercolours and gouache and have been an avid Gimp user for many years.  Iwarp is incredible, but I'm looking forward to 2.8's cage tool.  Sourceforge.net has many open source fractal generators, although some are in the early stages of development.  Wish I could pinpoint a few good ones for you but I have so many generators that I can't remember which ones are open source.  Good luck with your learning.  Youtube has many good digital art tutorials  and I also recommend Idrawgirls.com.  (he doesn't only draw girls so don't let that put you off!)  He's a pro character concept artist who uses Photoshop but on one occasion he tried Gimp and twice described it as "Awesome."  If you go to his site, search for Bat Creature and you should find it.