My version of drawStar (with examples)
<?php
header ("Content-type: image/png");
function drawStar($x, $y, $radius, $spikes=5, $ratio=0.5, $dir=270) {
    $coordinates = array();
    $angle = 360 / $spikes ;
    for($i=0; $i<$spikes; $i++){
        $coordinates[] = $x + (       $radius * cos(deg2rad($dir+$angle*$i)));
        $coordinates[] = $y + (       $radius * sin(deg2rad($dir+$angle*$i)));
        $coordinates[] = $x + ($ratio*$radius * cos(deg2rad($dir+$angle*$i + $angle/2)));
        $coordinates[] = $y + ($ratio*$radius * sin(deg2rad($dir+$angle*$i + $angle/2)));
    }
    return $coordinates ;
}
$im = imagecreate(800,600);
     imagecolorallocate($im,   0,   0,   0);
$w = imagecolorallocate($im, 255, 255, 255);
$r = imagecolorallocate($im, 255,   0,   0);
for ($spikes=2; $spikes<16; $spikes++) { for ($ratio=1; $ratio<21; $ratio++) { $values = drawStar(40*$ratio-20, $spikes*40-60, 10, $spikes, $ratio/10);
        imagefilledpolygon($im, $values, count($values)/2, ($ratio % 5 == 0) ? $r : $w);
    }
}
for ($dir=0; $dir<24; $dir++) {
    $values = drawStar(30*$dir+20, 580, 10, 2, 1.5, $dir*15);
    imagefilledpolygon($im, $values, count($values)/2, $w);
    $values = drawStar(30*$dir+20, 580, 10, 2, 0.2, $dir*15);
    imagefilledpolygon($im, $values, count($values)/2, $r);
}
imagepng($im);
imagedestroy($im);
?>