A square tiling, four to a corner, shaded as a checkerboardFour squares meet at every corner. Fill every second square and the grid turns into a checkerboard.
A square tiling, four to a corner, shaded as a checkerboardFour squares meet at every corner. Fill every second square and the grid turns into a checkerboard.
The Cairo tiling: pentagons that do fit togetherIdentical pentagons that are not regular, named for a paving design used in Cairo.
Hexagons ringed by triangles: the trihexagonal tilingTriangles ring each hexagon, and hexagons ring each triangle.
Octagons and squares: the truncated square tilingOne square and two octagons meet at every corner. It is the only edge-to-edge tiling of regular shapes with an octagon.
Rows of squares between rows of trianglesThe elongated triangular tiling: a triangle tiling stretched apart by rows of squares.
The snub hexagonal tiling: four triangles to a hexagonFour triangles and one hexagon meet at every corner. It is the one that comes as a mirror-image pair.
The snub square tiling: three triangles, two squaresThree triangles and two squares meet at every corner, with the squares tilted two ways.
Squares, hexagons and dodecagons in one tilingThe truncated trihexagonal tiling: one square, one hexagon and one twelve-sided tile at each corner.
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Regular and semi-regular tilings, continued
Three regular pentagons around a point, gap showingRegular pentagons cannot tile a flat page: their corner angle does not divide a full turn. Shade the gap.
The three regular tilings side by sideTriangles with six at a corner, squares with four, hexagons with three. No other regular shape tiles alone.
Triangle, square, hexagon, square around each cornerThe rhombitrihexagonal tiling: one triangle, two squares and one hexagon meet at every corner.
The triangular tiling ruled from three sets of linesOne of only three regular tilings: six equilateral triangles meet at every corner. Rule lines three ways.
Twelve-sided tiles with a triangle in every gapThe truncated hexagonal tiling: two dodecagons and one triangle meet at every corner.
Brick, weave and floor patterns 13
A brick wall with every shared half-edge markedA brick wall is not edge to edge: the long side of each brick is shared with two bricks. Mark both halves.
A herringbone of parallelograms with straight seamsHerringbone blocks may be parallelograms or rectangles. With slanted ends the zigzag meets on a line.
A mosaic border of small square tesseraeMosaics were built from tesserae, small squared blocks. Rule a strip of squares and color a zigzag.
A quilt of squares, each split corner to cornerTessellations are used in quilting. Cut every square on one diagonal and color the halves light and dark.
A square grid cut into triangles: the tetrakis tilingEach square is divided into four right triangles from its center point.
A two-square floor: big tiles with small ones betweenSquares of two sizes, each one touching four of the other size. Also called the Pythagorean tiling.
Bricks stacked in straight columns, joints lined upThe plainest brick pattern: every joint runs straight on, up and across. Rule a grid of 2 by 1 blocks.
Cairo paving drawn as a street floor in perspectiveDraw the pentagon tiling flat first, then redraw it between two lines that meet at a vanishing point.
English bond: a row of long faces, then a row of endsRows of bricks laid lengthwise alternate with rows laid end on, each end centered on a long brick.
Flemish bond: long face, end, long face in each rowEvery row alternates one long face and one end, with each end centered over a long face below.
Four planks pinwheeled around one small square tileLay four 2 by 1 blocks so that each one's end meets the next one's side, leaving a 1 by 1 middle.
Paving hexagons divided three ways into rhombiDivide every hexagon into three diamonds that meet at its center. It becomes the tumbling blocks floor.
Tumbling blocks: a floor of 60 degree diamondsIdentical diamonds with 60 and 120 degree corners. Shade them in three tones and cubes appear.
Shapes cut and slid: birds, boats, whales 13
A bird tile: a notch on the left, a beak on the rightCut a triangle out of the left side of a square and slide it across. The piece that sticks out is the beak.
A dog tile: the next head fits under the bellyCut a block from the bottom edge to make legs and slide it to the top as a head and ears.
A ghost tile cut on both pairs of sidesSlide a wavy cut from bottom to top for the hem, then a bump from left to right for an arm.
A jigsaw tile: one knob out and one socket inCut a round knob from the left side and slide it to the right. Do the same from top to bottom.
A leaf tile from a diamond with matching curvesBend one side of a diamond outward and copy the same bend onto the opposite side. Repeat on the other pair.
A mushroom tile: each cap sits between two stemsCut a rounded cap shape from the bottom edge of a square and slide it to the top. Stems fill the gaps.
A sailboat tile: each hull notch holds a sail tipCut a tall triangle from the bottom of a square and slide it to the top. Draw a hull line below the sail.
A seahorse tile from a tall rectangleSlide a curled tail cut from top to bottom and a snout cut from left to right. Test the fit with four tiles.
A square tile with a wave cut from top to bottomCut a wavy strip off the top edge and slide it straight down to the bottom edge. Trace it in rows.
A staircase tile: steps cut from one side of a squareCut three steps out of the left edge and slide them to the right edge. The tiles lock like zipper teeth.
A whale tile from a rectangle, tail slid to the frontCut a fluke shape out of one short end and slide it to the other. Add an eye and a spout to each tile.
Light geese and dark geese flying opposite waysDraw a row of geese so that the gaps between them are geese too, facing the other way. Color in two tones.
Six tiles in a row changing from a square into a birdMake the cut a little deeper in each tile. Every tile in the row must still fit the one beside it.
Turned and flipped tiles 13
A glide tile: cut, flipped over, then slid acrossCut a shape from the top edge, flip it left to right and move it to the bottom edge. Rows alternate.
A hexagon tile with all three pairs of sides turnedChange one side of each pair and turn the change about the corner between them. Check with seven tiles.
A kite tile, every second one upside downDraw a row of kites pointing up, then fit kites pointing down into the gaps between them.
A leaf tile turned in threes around a pointThree copies of one tile, each a third of a turn from the last, close up around a shared corner.
A lizard tile built on a hexagonCut a shape from one side of a hexagon and turn it about the corner onto the next side. Do three corners.
A pinwheel tiling of one right trianglePinwheel tilings never repeat, and the tile turns up at endlessly many angles. Draw a patch of twenty.
A square tile turned about a corner: four make a windmillCut a piece from one side and swing it a quarter turn about the corner onto the next side.
A triangle tile, bumps turned about each side midpointCut a bump from half of one side and turn it about the midpoint onto the other half. Do all three sides.
Isosceles triangles mirrored edge over edgeAn edge tessellation: flip each tile over one of its edges and it lands exactly where its neighbor is.
L tiles of three squares, turned to lock in pairsShapes built from squares can tile the page. Two L shapes, one turned half a turn, make a 2 by 3 block.
Mitten tiles and their mirror images, thumbs in gapsA tile and its mirror image used together. Draw a mitten shape, flip it, and fit thumbs into gaps.
T tiles of four squares, every other one flippedStand one T upright and turn the next upside down, so that its stem fits up between two crossbars.
The Voderberg spiral: one bent nine-sided tileThe first spiral tiling made of a single tile shape, found by Heinz Voderberg in 1936.
How this list was compiled: Original list written for Draw This Next on 2026-10-03: 52 tessellations to draw in four groups (regular and semi-regular tilings; brick, weave and floor patterns; shapes cut and slid; turned and flipped tiles), each marked easy, medium or hard. The cut-and-slide and turned tiles (bird, whale, mushroom, boat, dog, ghost, seahorse, lizard, mittens) are our own designs, and so are the drawing hints. The names and rules of the tilings were read on 2026-10-03 in the English Wikipedia articles Tessellation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessellation) and Euclidean tilings by convex regular polygons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclidean_tilings_by_convex_regular_polygons), and in the articles Truncated square tiling, Trihexagonal tiling, Snub square tiling, Elongated triangular tiling, Rhombitrihexagonal tiling, Truncated hexagonal tiling, Truncated trihexagonal tiling, Snub trihexagonal tiling, Cairo pentagonal tiling, Rhombille tiling, Pythagorean tiling, Tetrakis square tiling, Herringbone pattern and Brickwork, each at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ followed by its title. Text free to reuse under CC BY-SA 4.0. Hints that only say where to cut, slide, turn or flip state no fact beyond the drawing. Licence: own work
How it works
Tessellations to draw, 52 of them: regular and semi-regular tilings, brick, weave and floor patterns, shapes cut and slid into birds, boats and whales, and turned and flipped tiles. The page opens on the 20 easy ones.
Read the full guide
No gaps, no overlaps
A tessellation covers a surface with tiles that leave no gaps and never overlap. Only three regular shapes do it alone: the equilateral triangle, the square and the regular hexagon. Eight more tilings mix regular shapes so that every corner is the same.
Cut, slide, repeat
To make your own tile, cut a piece from one side of a square and slide it to the opposite side. Whatever the shape, it still fits its neighbors. Choose Any level under the button for all 52. Kind, under More filters, keeps the list to one group.
Make one tile from cardstock and trace around it. Tracing keeps every copy the same.
Questions and answers
What are easy things to draw in tessellations?
Birds, waves and staircases all come from a square with one cut: a notch on the left becomes a beak on the right. Jigsaw pieces and L shapes are easy too. Easy holds 20.
Which shapes tessellate?
Among regular shapes, only the equilateral triangle, the square and the regular hexagon tile by themselves. Regular pentagons leave gaps. Many irregular shapes tile too: some pentagons, shapes built from squares, and tiles cut into animals.
What is a semi-regular tessellation?
A tiling of two or more kinds of regular polygon with the same arrangement at every corner. There are eight. The easiest to draw puts two octagons and a square at each corner.
How do you make a tessellation from a square?
Cut a shape from one side and slide it straight across to the opposite side, then do the same from top to bottom if you like. Trace the new tile in rows. Turning or flipping the cut piece gives other patterns.