@gerardway it's a little difficult to describe. I recommend playing around with the interactive generator, to get a feeling for it.
For something as specific as a flamingo, I would probably come up with how I want the flamingo to look first and then I figure out how the strings need to move, which knots I need where.
Btw halokiwi I always wanted to ask how does someone make normal patterns I just can't understand how you come up with it. Say,I wanted to make a normal pattern that if you knot it it comes out looking like a flamingo for example