I consider the overall subject of Fractal Art to mean images that are originally produced with a computer program that is dedicated to fractal image generation. It is also assumed that minimal post processing is applied to the final, presented image. Layered fractals are Fractal Art, but not images that are collage type images using other than fractal image elements. Layered fractals are produced by many fractal generation programs, and each layer is a genuine fractal. 

    Traditional Fractal images are images that focus on magnification 1, or other typical fractal forms found in most fractal imagery (Magnification 1 Mandelbrots and Julias, etc., minibrots, elephants, seahorses, spirals, etc). 

    Representative Fractal images are produced by focusing the main imaginative work on the overall compositional elements of the image. The fractal nature of the Representative Fractal image may not be immediately obvious. Compositional considerations are paramount in these fractal images. Fractal elements may or may not be present in the final image. 

    Digital Art in this essay is defined as art images produced with graphic manipulation computer programs. While this definition may seem to be all inclusive, it is limited by the definition of a graphic manipulation computer program. A graphic manipulation computer program is defined as a computer program that receives outside imagery information (or internally stored forms: lines, shapes, effects, etc.) and applies manipulations to that imagery. 

    A true fractal image generation program does not exactly fit the definition of a graphic manipulation program. There is no "outside" image information being entered into the original image. In fact, fractals begin as an original mathematical formula, a pure mathematical entity. This is Fractal Art's relation to what is now called Algorithmic Art. 

    Fractal Art may be considered as a separate genre of Digital Art and closely related to Algorithmic Art. The fact that a fractal generation program is the originator of the image sets Fractal images apart from the other major categories of Digital Art. A fractal generation program is not an image manipulation program in the strictest definition of an image manipulation program. While the forms stored in image manipulation programs are mathematical, this is only because they rely on computers to complete their functions. A line is still only a line, and a square is only a square. A fractal image stands on its own, and cannot be easily reproduced with a standard graphic program. A fractal image can only be produced by a particular mathematical formula, and can be produced as a image only with a program designed to handle this specific type of mathematics. 

    Traditional and Representative Fractal Art can be considered as sub categories of Fractal Art. It is important to have these separate sub categories to help evaluate the relative merits of any fractal image.

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