Phoenix Color-by-Number — Hexagon Pattern

About this pattern

Almost every line in the phoenix runs at an angle — the swept wings, the curling tail, the crest — which is exactly what a hexagonal grid handles better than a square one. The fiery reds and golds also give the conversion wide colour separation to work with. Hexagons tile without gaps and every cell has six neighbours instead of four, so angled edges are approximated far more smoothly than on a square grid. That suits an animal subject, where almost every important line — the arch of the neck, the curve of the jaw — runs at an angle. The offset rows make position slightly harder to track than strict rows and columns, which is the cost of the smoother curves.