Programming Design Systems
by Rune Madsen
A free digital book treating graphic design fundamentals as code: color models and perception, shape and geometry, typographic systems, grids, and transformations, each worked through p5.js examples the reader can edit in the browser. Fills the gap every self-taught generative artist hits: the code works but the output looks bad.
More resources on Generative Art & Creative Coding
Inigo Quilez: Computer Graphics Articles
Over a hundred technical articles on procedural graphics: signed distance functions for 2D and 3D primitives, raymarching, value and Voronoi noise, domain warping, fractals, analytic normals, lighting, and rendering within 4KB size limits. The natural next step after The Book of Shaders and the terminal reference for procedural rendering — primary derivations, not summaries. Code snippets are MIT licensed.
Tyler Hobbs: Essays on Generative Art
Twenty-five essays by the artist behind Fidenza on the craft of algorithmic art: flow fields, circle packing, triangle subdivision, probability distributions, random seeds, colour arrangement, simulated watercolour, plus the economics and reception of long-form generative work. Practitioner writing at a level no tutorial site reaches — each essay explains a technique and why it looks good, and several address selling and exhibiting long-form generative work directly.
Generative Art with JavaScript and Canvas (Workshop)
Matt DesLauriers's workshop materials covering the Canvas API, the canvas-sketch toolchain, seeded randomness, simplex noise, colour palettes, and exporting artwork at print resolution or as SVG for pen plotters. Includes exercises and a cheat sheet. One of the few resources covering production mechanics — deterministic seeds, high-resolution export, plotter output — which is exactly what is required for exhibiting or selling work. Repo dates from his 2018 workshops but the toolchain remains current.
The Nature of Code
The 2024 second edition, rebuilt around p5.js, simulates natural systems in code: vectors, forces, oscillation, particle systems, autonomous agents, physics libraries, cellular automata, fractals, genetic algorithms and neural networks. The book that turns someone who can draw a circle into someone who can build a generative system. No competitor covers noise, agents, autonomy and emergence with the same depth for an art audience. Full text readable free under Creative Commons.
Code! Programming with p5.js
Daniel Shiffman's 35-video introductory track covering variables, conditionals, loops, functions and objects entirely through drawing and animation in p5.js. Eight chapters, each with runnable code examples, exercises and community-submitted variations, hosted free alongside the videos. The single most-recommended entry point for creative coding, and unusually it teaches programming fundamentals rather than copy-paste sketches.