Also, for those of you who want extra enjoyment - another group, #Ultra-Fractal-Redux, is holding more monthly UF challenges. Check out the one for February here:

Welcome to the group & our first Challenge!A Warm Welcome To #Ultra-Fractal-Redux
It is heart-warming to see so many of you joining this new group, and we have some exciting things planned ahead, so spread the word!
As you will no doubt have seen from our original Home Page information, this group is more than a mere collecting point for UF art.  It is also a place for sharing knowledge about the program and how to use it with one another, so that we can all learn and grow together as amazing Ultra Fractal artists!  We already have quite a few fractals with parameters added, and our Resources gallery is getting quite a comprehensive collection of tutorials and other things in it.  This is a major part of what this group is all about, so please keep them coming!
Below we have the details of our very first challenge, which is two-fold in order to accommodate the skill levels and preferences of the people taking part.  At the end of the month once the challenge is over, we would like to invite you to tell us



Previous editions:

You can find all of the previous challenges in this journal. Please keep in mind that the challenge rules changed after the 26th edition!

Links to ALL UF challenges (updated periodically!)Since the UF challenges are growing in number, instead of linking them all in each new one, I thought I'd make a collection journal for all of them. This will contain all challenges held so far, from the newest (top) to the oldest (bottom), all conveniently thumbed for you! It will also be updated each month so that ALL challenges are reachable from here, even the newer ones. And this journal will of course be linked in every challenge, to keep them all connected
Sadly, challenge #11 is apparently a broken link. It's the only inaccessible one so far, though, so I may be able to restore it someday, if you guys wish me to.
Let's go!
:thumb214252218

Now we can go on with the last challenge's results, and then I will introduce this month's challenge to you all.

Here is the January challenge, themed "2013 All Star", and the deviations I've picked as the winners!
(Please note: do not feel offended if you're not in the top three. Winners are chosen basing on their way of representing the challenge theme, and I always try to be as impartial as possible while judging.)


For this one time, I have actually picked two deviants for the first place and one for the second, as I think the first two equally deserve to win for different reasons.
They are =CoffeeToffeeSquirrel and `FarDareisMai, with Challenging Carr - A Shuriken in the Derriere and Coming Unglued respectively:



The reason why I believe they both deserve to win is that they managed to create two completely different, yet equally appreciable kinds of fractal beauties with a formula that's extremely difficult to work with: =CoffeeToffeeSquirrel managed to recreate a soft, swirling spiral with a gentle flow and faint colours, completely smoothing out the formula's asperities and making them tame; whereas `FarDareisMai did the opposite: she exploited Carr's harsh appearance to create a colourful explosion, one of the most dynamic and cluttered fractal works I've ever seen - and no wonder, since abstracts are her well known specialty.
Congratulations to you both!


The second place goes to =Jimpan1973 with Lucky13:



Jim never surrenders, not even in front of the scariest formulas ever, and he's always capable of making them fit his style and adding beautiful metallic textures to his artwork. It's a work that sure deserves some praise.


This was apparently the most hated challenge amongst all those we've had up to now (admittedly, I made it really difficult, so I'm not blaming anyone but myself for this ) and in spite of this, it was still one of the most attended challenges ever! The artistic endeavour of all our fellow fractalists that didn't make it to the top three are here - please take your time to look at them!




We're done for January. On to February!

Ultra Fractal monthly challenges Redux

Challenge #25: February 2013

February's challenge will be a Theme challenge - its title being Oceanic!

This challenge idea comes from ~lsergius10, who suggested we could have a water-themed challenge. I figured a freestyle challenge would also help our fellow fractalists get a break from the dreaded Carr, so that's what we're doing this month!
Simple as that: make a fractal that is centered on water. It can be any kind of water, not just the sea or the ocean: you may choose to represent running water, rain, waterfalls and so on. Everything is up to you - No restrictions!

Here are some watery fractal treats from our dA gallery:



Remember: to enter the challenge, post your deviation's link and thumb in a comment of this journal. ALSO: PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU LINK THIS NEWS ARTICLE IN THE DEVIATION. (Sorry for stating it so strongly, but I've had lots of people saying they'd enter the challenge without even stating it in their deviation comments, so I figured I'd better add this specification somewhere!)

Please spread the word by advertising this news article - we definitely want more participants. The more, the merrier!

This challenge's deadline is February 28th, 2013. Ready, set, GO!!!