Workshop Kickoff

Welcome to A Byte of Python & Turtle. One day, one language, one artwork. By this afternoon you'll have written a Python program that produces a different piece of generative art every time it runs, and you'll lock in your favourite for the gallery walk. I've watched a lot of first programs get written, and the ones from this workshop are the ones people actually want to keep.

The Day's Arc

  • Activity 1: Kickoff (you're here) — get Python running, download the starter.
  • Activity 2: Hello, Turtle — draw a square, a triangle, and a shape of your own.
  • Activity 3: Loops & Variables — turn eight lines into three, then build a mandala.
  • Activity 4: Functions & Colour — name your shape code and pick a palette.
  • Activity 5: Randomness — 80 scattered shapes, different every run, frozen with a seed.
  • Activity 6: Compose Your Piece — one deliberate design decision, then hands off.
  • Gallery walk at 14:50 — your final piece stays on screen at your workstation.

The Three Norms

  1. Wrong answers welcome. You'll be asked to predict what code does before running it. A thoughtful wrong guess teaches you more than a lucky right one. I mean that.
  2. Stuck out loud. Say what you expected and what happened instead. That one sentence is half the debugging done already.
  3. Three before me. Re-read the instruction, check your code, ask a neighbour. Then flag an instructor.

Get Set Up

  1. Download the starter below and extract it. You should see a starter/ folder and an example/ folder.
  2. Rename the starter folder to art- plus your first name: art-priya, art-marcus.
  3. Open VS Code → File → Open Folder → select your renamed folder.
  4. Open 1-shapes.py and click the run button (▶) in the top right of the editor. A turtle window appears; click the window to close it. If it appeared, you're ready.

Download the art starterstarter.zip

The Files

You'll open a different file for each activity. Each one runs on its own, so there's no commenting out earlier work.

File Activity What you'll do
1-shapes.py 2 — Hello, Turtle Draw a square, a triangle, and a shape of your own
2-loops.py 3 — Loops & Variables Use for loops and variables to build a mandala
3-functions.py 4 — Functions & Colour Write draw_shape(sides, length, colour) and pick a palette
4-compose.py 5 & 6 — Compose Scatter random shapes, then make one design choice your own

The example/showcase.py file holds four finished pieces for inspiration. Don't peek yet, though. The first generative art you see today should be your own.