by [Raphaël de Courville](<https://twitter.com/sableRaph>) Like this page? You can buy me a coffee! And if you love it, consider supporting me on Patreon 💜
Creative Coding is a loosely defined term used to describe a wide range of artistic practices that use computer code as a medium. Creative Code typically distinguishes itself from regular coding by the fact that it doesn't follow pre-defined specifications to solve problems for a user, but rather aims at expressing ideas and concepts. Artists, designers and developers use creative coding to make online experiences, generative art, interactive installations, and more.
p5.js is a tool for drawing shapes and painting colors in the browser. You can start coding right now in the web editor and find tutorials on the p5.js website. I like to start with p5.js because of its focus on accessibility and simplicity.
If you'd like to take a step back and see what tool might be better for you, check out the Creative Coding Minilist created by Naoto Hieda and myself.
The best way to get familiar with p5.js is probably Daniel Schiffman’s Programming with p5.js for Beginners video series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPWkPOfnGsw
Give this Twitter thread a try to get a quick taste of generative art.
https://twitter.com/generativelight/status/1519759169045381127?s=20&t=RTFYBaMjg8LU2JVCbH5hqA
You will find the documentation for p5.js at https://p5js.org/reference/
This will likely be your most important tool when learning p5.js and a helpful reference later.