Double Meandering Algorithm: From Drawing Game to Automated Animation

Abstract

We introduce artist Lucy Pullen's Double Meandering Algorithm, first in its original form as a pen-and-paper drawing algorithm and then as a procedurally generated animation. We utilize a chain of cubic Bézier curves to represent the characteristic spiraling line, assigning each control point according to a pseudo-randomized algorithm. The resulting curves are then animated segment by segment, reflecting the artist's process of creating the pen-and-paper drawing. By digitizing the Double Meandering Line drawing, we can also reveal the process of creation through animation, granting us the ability to exhibit a fundamental part of the drawing that is lost in the traditional pen-and-paper presentation.