Hexagon Spiral in Python Turtle

Intermediate · Patterns and spirals · 32 lines · draws in about 16 seconds

Every hexagon starts at the same corner, a little bigger and turned 5 degrees further than the last, so 72 of them curl into a rainbow shell.

Hexagon Spiral in Python Turtle: the finished drawing

import turtle

import colorsys

screen = turtle.Screen()

screen.bgcolor("black")

screen.title("Hexagon spiral")

t = turtle.Turtle()

t.speed(10)

t.pensize(2)

def draw_hexagon(side):

for i in range(6):

t.forward(side)

t.left(60)

# Start a little left and down, so the finished spiral sits in the middle

t.penup()

t.goto(-65, -32)

t.pendown()

# 72 hexagons, each a little bigger and turned 5 degrees (72 x 5 = 360)

for i in range(72):

hue = i / 72

t.pencolor(colorsys.hsv_to_rgb(hue, 0.9, 1))

draw_hexagon(7 + i * 1.9)

t.left(5)

t.hideturtle()

turtle.done()

Open in the editor

How the code works

A function for one hexagon

Six equal lines with a 60 degree turn after each make a hexagon, and the turtle ends where it started, facing the same way. side sets how big it is.

def draw_hexagon(side):
    for i in range(6):
        t.forward(side)
        t.left(60)

Start off-centre

Every hexagon grows up and to the right of the corner it starts from. Starting at (-65, -32) puts the middle of the finished shell in the middle of the screen.

# Start a little left and down, so the finished spiral sits in the middle
t.penup()
t.goto(-65, -32)
t.pendown()

Bigger, turned and recoloured

hue goes from 0 to almost 1, and colorsys.hsv_to_rgb() turns it into a colour of the rainbow, from red through yellow, green and blue to purple. Each side is 7 + i * 1.9 steps, so every hexagon is bigger than the last, and left(5) turns the next one.

# 72 hexagons, each a little bigger and turned 5 degrees (72 x 5 = 360)
for i in range(72):
    hue = i / 72
    t.pencolor(colorsys.hsv_to_rgb(hue, 0.9, 1))
    draw_hexagon(7 + i * 1.9)
    t.left(5)

Make it yours

Change the code above and press Run. Some ideas:

Change the 0.9 in hsv_to_rgb(hue, 0.9, 1) to 0.4 for soft pastel colours.
Inside draw_hexagon, change range(6) to range(4) and left(60) to left(90) to build the shell from squares.
Change t.left(5) to t.left(15) and the hexagons spread into a lacy swirl that goes round three times.

What it uses

functions with parameters
nested loops
colorsys for rainbow colours

Every turtle command the site supports is listed on Python turtle online.