How to code what's done by hand?

A great challenge is finding creative ways to achieve with code what is so easily done by hand. To the left is an acrylic painting I did several months prior to first attempting to create works of art with my program.

Tracing the outline of a shape by hand is easy. Doing this with code is difficult-- but not impossible. I developed a shape tracing algorithm after many failed attempts over the years. It's my belief that anything done by hand can be achieved with code.