I can see the fascination of this problem. There are so many ways to approach it, from addressing the physics, to higher level attempts to get the right look. Searching around, it seems to have justifiably caught the imagination of many.

Here's another approach, made interesting by its use the connection machine [1], whereby an attempt is made to simulate the diffusion of pigments though paper.

[1] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/72ab/54ecaaf7458853bd441b94...

Great comment! Yes, there are many other approaches that are more true to reality, to the point where they are fairly thorough simulations of physics. My approach is somewhat like a five minute figure drawing sketch compared to the equivalent of hyper-realistic 100 hour paintings. Neither is necessarily a better approach, but both are good for different goals. What I like about my approach is that it is very easy for me to understand and manipulate. I can take advantage of this to make new effects that are less like reality but still intriguing in their own way.

I have to say that the "sample works" look superb - I wonder what they would look like printed onto fabric? I visited quite a successful manufacturing company here in the UK and they basically had huge inkjet printers printing their designs onto fabric...

Really awesome effect! If author is here, would love to hear more about the 'deformation function' mention - is it a fractal height-map type approach that splits each line of polygon and deflects?

Author here. Thank you! Yes, I think you have the basic gist of it. Split each line, then move an endpoint. There's nothing too complicated about the algorithm, the trick is really around fine tuning all of the possible parameters. If it's not obvious, my approach is purely going after aesthetic effects.

Thank you, this is great, I may try this approach out for a personal painting app I've been toying with

I was mind blown when I read how much algorithmic skills were applied to drawing software back in the days.