Drawing your first shapes

This lesson shows how to draw simple shapes with Turtle: squares, rectangles, triangles, and circles. You'll learn the order of commands, how to reuse code with loops, and how to move the turtle without drawing.

Basic movement

  • forward(distance) (or fd) — move forward and draw a line.
  • backward(distance) (or bk) — move backward.
  • left(angle) / right(angle) — turn the turtle.

Example: move and turn step-by-step

import turtle

t = turtle.Turtle()
t.forward(50)
t.left(90)
t.forward(50)
t.right(90)
t.backward(50)

From now on, the examples won't include Screen() or turtle.done(), but make sure to include these if running the code on your own computer.

Draw a square

Here is a square written out step-by-step. Each left(90) turns the turtle a quarter turn.

import turtle

t = turtle.Turtle()
t.forward(100)
t.left(90)
t.forward(100)
t.left(90)
t.forward(100)
t.left(90)
t.forward(100)

Rectangle and triangle

Rectangle (two long sides, two short sides):

import turtle

t = turtle.Turtle()
t.forward(150)
t.left(90)
t.forward(80)
t.left(90)
t.forward(150)
t.left(90)
t.forward(80)

Equilateral triangle (each angle 120°):

import turtle

t = turtle.Turtle()
for _ in range(3):
    t.forward(140)
    t.left(120)

Circle and arc

You can draw circles with circle(radius).

import turtle

t = turtle.Turtle()
t.circle(60)  # radius 60

Smaller radius makes a smaller circle; negative radius draws the circle to the other side.