• Create an empty Canvas
  
  from Tkinter import *
  root = Tk()
  canvas = Canvas(root, width=300, height=200)
  canvas.pack()
  root.mainloop()  # This call BLOCKS (so your program waits until you close the window!)
  
  

• Draw a rectangle
  
  from Tkinter import *
  root = Tk()
  canvas = Canvas(root, width=300, height=200)
  canvas.pack()
  canvas.create_rectangle(0,0,150,150, fill="yellow")
  root.mainloop()
  
   

• Draw rectangles in different locations, sizes, fill colors, and outline colors
  
  from Tkinter import *
  root = Tk()
  canvas = Canvas(root, width=300, height=200)
  canvas.pack()
  canvas.create_rectangle(  0,   0, 150, 150, fill="yellow")
  canvas.create_rectangle(100,  50, 250, 100, fill="orange", width=5)
  canvas.create_rectangle( 50, 100, 150, 200, fill="green", outline="red", width=3)
  canvas.create_rectangle(125,  25, 175, 190, fill="purple", width=0)
  root.mainloop()
  
  
• Draw ovals, polygons, lines, centered text, and anchored text
  
  from Tkinter import *
  root = Tk()
  canvas = Canvas(root, width=300, height=200)
  canvas.pack()
  canvas.create_oval(50, 50, 250, 150, fill="yellow")
  canvas.create_polygon(50,30,150,50,250,30,150,10, fill="green")
  canvas.create_line(50, 50, 250, 150, fill="red", width=5)
  canvas.create_text(150, 100, text="Amazing!", fill="purple", font="Helvetica 26 bold underline")
  canvas.create_text(150, 100, text="Carpe Diem!", anchor=SW, fill="orange", font="Times 18 italic")
  root.mainloop()
  
  
• Use tuples and lists-of-tuples as parameters
  
  from Tkinter import *
  root = Tk()
  canvas = Canvas(root, width=300, height=200)
  canvas.pack()
  canvas.create_oval((50, 50), (250, 150), fill="yellow")
  canvas.create_polygon([(50,30),(150,50),(250,30),(150,10)], fill="green")
  root.mainloop()
   
• Graphics Helper Functions
  
  # Draw this picture:
  
  
  from Tkinter import *
  root = Tk()
  canvas = Canvas(root, width=300, height=200)
  canvas.pack()
  def drawBelgianFlag(canvas, x0, y0, x1, y1):
      # draw a Belgian flag in the area bounded by (x0,y0) in
      # the top-left and (x1,y1) in the bottom-right
      width = (x1 - x0)
      canvas.create_rectangle(x0, y0, x0+width/3, y1, fill="black", width=0)
      canvas.create_rectangle(x0+width/3, y0, x0+width*2/3, y1, fill="yellow", width=0)
      canvas.create_rectangle(x0+width*2/3, y0, x1, y1, fill="red", width=0)
  
  # Draw a large Belgian flag
  drawBelgianFlag(canvas, 25, 25, 175, 150)
  
  # And draw a smaller one below it
  drawBelgianFlag(canvas, 75, 160, 125, 200)
  
  # Now let's have some fun and draw a whole grid of Belgian flags!
  width = 30
  height = 25
  margin = 5
  for row in range(3):
      for col in range(3):
          left = 200 + col * width + margin
          top = 50 + row * height + margin
          right = left + width - margin
          bottom = top + height - margin
          drawBelgianFlag(canvas, left, top, right, bottom)
  
  # Finally, don't forge to display the window!
  root.mainloop()
  

Online References and Tutorials

There are a great many online references and tutorials for Tkinter.  Unfortunately, many (perhaps most) are not packaged in a way that's especially useful for us (they may not use Python, they may include too many or too few details, etc).

Here is an example of a website that we found to be useful:
   NM Tech's Canvas reference (which is part of NM Tech's Tkinter Reference)

The web is a big place, so you may find other, even better tutorials!