Scribble Art Generator
Turn a photo or drawing into scribble art: tone drawn with a loose, looping line that piles up where the picture is dark and stays sparse where it is light. The picture is split into small cells. Each cell gets a number of scribble passes from its darkness, from none in white areas to the maximum you set in the darkest, and every pass is a closed loop or zigzag that starts and ends in the middle of the cell, so a darker cell always holds every stroke of a lighter one plus more; wavy strokes join the cells row by row. Draw it as one continuous line, or let the pen lift over white areas. The scribble is random but seeded: the same seed and picture always give exactly the same drawing, and New scribble gives a fresh one. The tool gives the total length of line and the SVG is plain polylines at real size for a pen plotter. Nothing is uploaded.
100% private — everything runs in your browser. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
The SVG is plain polylines at real size (one path for one continuous line), for pen plotters. Print the PDF at 100% (Actual size).
Picture
Scribble
Size
Page
Runs in your browser with our own code: your picture is read on this device and nothing is uploaded or saved. The sample pictures are drawn by our code. You may use what you make here, including commercially, with no credit needed.
How to make scribble art from a photo
- Add your photo or drawing, or pick one of our sample pictures.
- Choose the scribble style, the cell size and the passes for the darkest cells.
- Pick one continuous line or lift the pen over white, and set the pen width.
- Press New scribble until you like it (or type a seed to repeat one).
- Download the PDF or PNG to print, or the SVG for a plotter.
What you can use it for
- Pen plotter art from your photos
- Scribble portraits of pets and places
- Art class tone and mark-making exercises
- Posters and cards with a hand-drawn look
- Reference for drawing scribble art by hand
- Single-line art for laser engraving
Darkness and passes (6 passes in the darkest cells)
| Passes | Cell darkness |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0% to under 14% |
| 1 | 14% to under 29% |
| 2 | 29% to under 43% |
| 3 | 43% to under 57% |
| 4 | 57% to under 71% |
| 5 | 71% to under 86% |
| 6 | 86% to 100% |
Darkness 0% is white and 100% is black. With another maximum the steps are spread the same way.
Ink cover by passes (3 mm cells, 0.3 mm pen)
| Passes | Loops | Zigzag |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0% | 0% |
| 1 | 37% | 39% |
| 2 | 56% | 61% |
| 3 | 68% | 75% |
| 4 | 78% | 83% |
| 5 | 84% | 88% |
| 6 | 89% | 92% |
Share of the paper covered by ink, measured on an even grey patch with seed 1. Cover rises with every pass because each pass is drawn over the ones before.
Line length on our 5 sample pictures
| Sample (drawn by our code) | One continuous line | Lines with the pen lifted over white | Their total length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pear lit from the left | 54.776 m | 54 | 52.004 m |
| Three pebbles | 36.023 m | 53 | 31.864 m |
| Dunes under a pale sky | 62.06 m | 30 | 57.58 m |
| Cup and saucer | 37.121 m | 59 | 32.691 m |
| Tone ramp (light to dark) | 105.412 m | 45 | 103.949 m |
180 mm wide, 3 mm cells, up to 6 passes, loops, seed 1. Your own picture shows its own length in the info line.
Which tool to use
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| Tone as a looping scribble, one line or several, seeded | Scribble Art Generator (this page) |
| One spiral line whose width follows tone | Spiral Art Generator |
| Tone made of dots | Stipple Generator |
| Threads between pins around a circle | String Art Generator |
| Edge lines only, no tone | Contour Drawing Generator |
| Dot or line screens | Halftone Image |
Also handy: the Spiral Art Generator, the Stipple Generator and the Contour Drawing Generator for edge lines.
More free tools
Turning photos into drawings?
Image tools that run privately in your browser, with no sign-up and no watermark.
Frequently asked questions
What is scribble art?
A drawing made of loose, fast, overlapping lines, where tone comes from how densely the scribble piles up: open in the light parts, packed in the dark ones.
How does the darkness become scribble?
Each cell’s darkness is measured (0 = white, 100% = black) and turned into a number of passes, from none up to the maximum you choose, in equal steps (see the table). Every pass is drawn on top of the ones before, so darker never gets less ink; our tests measure the ink cover and check it never falls from light to dark.
What does the seed do?
The loops and zigzags are random, but they come from a seed number. The same seed, picture and settings always give the same drawing, line for line, so you can save a seed you like and make it again. New scribble moves to the next seed.
One continuous line or several?
One continuous line runs row by row through the whole picture without lifting the pen, crossing light areas with a gentle wavy line. Lift the pen over white leaves white areas empty, apart from loops of dark neighbours that reach at most half a cell into them, so the drawing is several lines, one or more per row.
Is the line length exact?
Yes, for the drawing as made: it is the sum of every straight piece of the line in millimetres, which our tests re-measure from the SVG. A real pen follows the same path, so it is a good guide to ink and plotting time.
Does the line stay inside the picture?
Yes. The centre of the line stays at least half the pen width inside the edge, so the ink stays inside the picture box. Our tests check every point.
Can I use the SVG with a pen plotter?
Yes. The SVG holds only polylines at real size in millimetres, with no fills or images; in one-line mode it is a single path, so the pen goes down once.
Is it free?
Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no limit.
Is my picture uploaded?
No. Your picture is read by your browser on your own device and drawn on a canvas there; nothing is sent anywhere and nothing is stored after you close the tab.