Som Onyankopon

Som Onyankopon means "Worship God". It is the symbol of devotion to God.

We will use the 5 pixel grid to trace out this image. The image of this is shown below:

The plan to draw this shape is given below:

1. Lift up the pen
2. Set the pensize to 40 pixels
3. Draw the vertical line at the centre
4. Draw all the U shaped figures
5. Draw the horizontal line

Using Turtle Graphics

We will use the template.py file and rename it to som.py.

The code for steps 1 and 2 are shown below:

turtle.penup()

turtle.pensize(40)

To draw the vertical line, we move the turtle to the position (0, 160) and move forward by 140 pixels.

The code to do this is shown below:

turtle.setposition(0, 160)

turtle.pendown()

turtle.setheading(270)

turtle.forward(220)

The generated image is shown below:

Working from the bottom, we shall draw the U shaped symbols and then the final horizontal line.

To draw the first U shape, we move the turtle to the position (-40, -80), move 80 pixels, turn to the left by 90 degrees and move another 80 pixels.

The code to do this is shown below:

turtle.penup()

turtle.setposition(-40, -80)

turtle.pendown()

turtle.setheading(270)

turtle.forward(80)

turtle.left(90)

turtle.forward(80)

turtle.left(90)

turtle.forward(80)

The generated image is shown below:

To draw the lower U shaped symbol, we need to move the turtle to the position (-130, 0) and repeat the steps above only that instead of 80 pixels when we turn, we move by 260 pixels.

The code to do this is shown below:

turtle.penup()

turtle.setposition(-130, 0)

turtle.pendown()

turtle.setheading(270)

turtle.forward(80)

turtle.left(90)

turtle.forward(260)

turtle.left(90)

turtle.forward(80)

The generated image is shown below:

To draw the low U shaped symbol, we need to move the turtle to the position (-80, 80) and repeat the steps above only that instead of 80 pixels when we turn, we move by 160 pixels.

The code to do this is shown below:

turtle.penup()

turtle.setposition(-80, 80)

turtle.pendown()

turtle.setheading(270)

turtle.forward(80)

turtle.left(90)

turtle.forward(160)

turtle.left(90)

turtle.forward(80)

The generated image is shown below:

To draw the horizontal line, we move the turtle to the position (-40, 120). Place the pen down, set the orientation of the turtle to 0 degrees and move forward by 80 pixels.

The code to do this is shown below:

turtle.penup()

turtle.setposition(-40, 120)

turtle.pendown()

turtle.setheading(0)

turtle.forward(80)

The generated image is shown below

Conclusion

At the end of this section, we have successfully drawn the Som Onyankopon symbol.

It looks like a catcus tree to me but also like a cathedral.

This post is part of the series: Drawing Adinkra Symbols using Python. The goal is to draw 40 Adinkra symbols using the Python programming language.