designcoding
About Table of Contents Keywords Monthly Archive
Support designcoding!

Drawing Escher-like Tiling

December 11, 2024 | Studios
#escher #rhinoceros #tessellation #tiling #tutorial

Escher tilings, inspired by the work of Dutch artist M.C. Escher, are inspiring tessellations that cover a plane using repeated geometric shapes without gaps or overlaps. He often used interlocking, recognizable figures like animals and birds to create these patterns, blending art with mathematical precision. His tilings explore symmetry, transformations, and the interplay between two- and three-dimensional space. Escher’s work has influenced both artistic and mathematical fields, particularly in the study of tessellations and geometry. Thus, In this short tutorial, we are using his method to blend hexagonal tiling with very basic rules. The exercise is called Drawing Escher-like Tiling.

Drawing Escher-like Tiling escher, rhinoceros

In this video series, I demonstrate in-class exercises from the Architectural Geometry course I teach to first-year students. Using Rhinoceros software, we explore Euclidean constructions, basic drawing and transformation commands, introductory fractals, regular and semi-regular tessellations, patterns, modeling, and unrolling polyhedra. These short drawing exercises are beneficial for junior architects, interior designers, industrial designers, and others interested in related disciplines. I’ll be posting exercises weekly on my blog and other platforms. Here is the exercise Drawing Escher-like Tiling. However, I studied this topic here and here earlier. It is still an interesting basic geometry topic for me.

The software used in this course is Rhinoceros 3d (www.rhino3d.com). However, if you want to find out more and see the whole list of this video series, you can check my YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@designcodingnet. The music of this video is ‘First Snow’ by Scott Buckley (CC-BY 4.0). www.scottbuckley.com.au

Cite this post

Yazar, T. (2024, December 11). Drawing Escher-like Tiling. designcoding. Retrieved August 24, 2026, from https://www.designcoding.net/drawing-escher-like-tiling/

Related Posts

Escher Patterns in the Classroom

August 22, 2017

Here is one of the exercises I tested with a few students in Architectural Geometry. The exercise is about creating Escher-like patterns. It is an introductory topic on the designerly utilization of regular tessellations. We use square, hexagonal, or triangular tessellations as underlying structures of complex patterns. Below are some of the student works from this exercise. I think the black-and-white coloring helps in terms of reducing the requirements. Although the patterns designed in this exercise are not Escher patterns,…

Drawing Kagome Tiling

December 11, 2024

In Japanese, “kagome” refers to basket weaving, and the name of this tiling derives from the traditional basket-weaving craft of Japanese culture. In geometry, we know Kagome tiling as a semi-regular tessellation, Tri-Hexagonal Tiling. This tiling is composed of regular hexagons and triangles that cover the plane completely without gaps or overlaps. The dual of this tiling is the Rhombille Tiling. In this short tutorial, I am explaining the drawing of Kagome tiling in Rhinoceros. Thus, I am using some…

Eschers Tessellations

March 29, 2012

After Puzzling, I tried to establish more of Escher’s basic grid transformations using Grasshopper’s native components. This definition simulates Escher’s transformation of four-cornered grids. The postulate is based on the fact that every quadrilateral (or triangular) planar shape can create regular tessellations without gaps or overlaps. In the traditional method, this tessellation is achieved by rotating the shape 180 degrees and copying afterward. However, in Grasshopper we simply define the fifth point for each shape and divide subsurfaces into four…

Constructing Irregular Tiling

December 11, 2024

Using a compass and straightedge enables precise geometric constructions, allowing for the creation of complex tessellations. To begin these constructions, a single starting point is sufficient. Circles, which represent a collection of points at a specific distance from the center, and straight lines, which represent a collection of points in a particular direction, are utilized for geometric constructions. In this short tutorial, we move on with the beginner-level drawing exercises. This time, I am drawing an irregular tiling with triangles…

Constructing Snub Square Tiling

December 11, 2024

Snub Square Tiling is a semi-regular tessellation of the plane, composed of two squares and three regular triangles at each vertex. The arrangement of these two regular shapes seamlessly covers the plane without any gaps or overlaps. It is one of the eight semi-regular tessellations known in geometry. The dual of Snub Square Tiling is Cairo Pentagonal Tiling, which we will explore later. In this short tutorial, I am drawing and constructing the Snub Square Tiling by using an abstract…

  • Chapters

    • Algorithms
    • Discourses
    • Fabrications
    • Studios
  • Explore

    • All Keywords
    • Table of Contents
    • Monthly Archive
    • #polyhedra
    • #unrolling
    • #archimedean-solid
    • #platonic-solid
    • #parametric-surface
    • #folding
    • #truncated
    • #grasshopper
    • #pattern
    • #relief
    • #icosahedron
    • #buckminster-fuller
    • #icosidodecahedron
    • #dodecahedron
    • #stellated-solid
    • #cuboctahedron
    • #octahedron
    • #tetrahedron
    • #deformation
    • #animation
  • Search

  • Support designcoding!

  • Enjoying designcoding? Support me on Patreon to keep it growing. Thank you!

  • copyright 2026 designcoding.net | about | privacy policy | end user license agreement