Month: January 2026

DoodleDraw a snowflake

A single snowflake
Image by Cheryl Johnson from Pixabay

Following algorithms to draw nature can lead to natural looking pictures of all all sorts of things: from trees to snowflakes. It is one way computer generated imagery (CGI) scenery is created for films and games. You can write computer programs to do it if you have programming skill, but it can be just as fun (and more stress-relieving) to just doodle algorithmic pictures by hand – you act as what computer scientists call a ‘computational agent’ just following the algorithm. Here is an example Doodle Algorithm to draw a snowflake.

The DoodleDraw Algorithm

1. Draw a Black rectangle
2. Draw a SnowflakeHex in the middle of the black rectangle.
3. DoodleDraw a.Hexagon Snowflake

To Draw a SnowflakeHex:
    1. Draw a white hexagon with white lines sticking out from each corner (as shown).

To DoodleDraw a Hexagon Snowflake:
    1. IF happy with the picture THEN STOP
        ELSE
            1. Pick an existing SnowflakeHex and pick a line on it.
            2. Draw a new smaller SnowflakeHex on that line.
            3. DoodleDraw a Hexagon Snowflake.
A hexagon with lines from each corner
Image by CS4FN

The doodle this led to for me is given below… does it look snowflake-ish? Now follow the algorithm and draw your own, just like snowflakes every drawing should be different even if following the same algorithm as we include random steps in the algorithm.

A snowflake drawn from hexagons with lines from each corner
Image by CS4FN


Different algorithms with different starting shapes give different looking trees, grasses, ferns, snowflakes, crystals,… Often nature is following a very similar recursive creation process, which is why the results can be realistic.

Try inventing your own doodle art algorithm and see how realistic the drawings you end up with are. First try using a slightly different starting picture to ours above (eg a hollow hexagon instead of a filled in one, or skip the lines, or have more lines, or have a different central image to the one that is then replicated…and see what you end up with. Find lots more ideas for doodle draw algorithms on our DoodleDraw page.

Next time you find yourself doodling in a meeting or lecture, invent your own doodle draw algorithm, draw an algorithmic doodle, develop your algorithmic thinking skills and at the same time explore algorithms for drawing nature.

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