Efficient way to draw cracks in TikZ?

Question

How do I draw cracks effectively in TikZ like those shown below?

Drawing cracks with --++ and angles and length like the way I did in the MWE seems too cumbersome. There must be some better way? Perhaps one way might be to make the path gradually tapering, with the initial side having thicker lines and the final side having thinner lines?

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz}
\definecolor{ZircMetalDark}{RGB}{107,107,107}
\definecolor{ZircMetalLight}{RGB}{203, 203, 203}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\shade[
    left color = ZircMetalDark,
    right color = ZircMetalDark,
    middle color = ZircMetalLight,
    shading angle = 90,draw
](-4.5,0) rectangle (0,4.75);
\shade[ball color=red] (0,81.70pt) coordinate (a) circle (3pt);

%Cracks
\draw[black,thick]  (a) --++ (110:7pt) --++(140:6pt) --+(120:4pt)
            (a) --++ (110:7pt) --++(100:6pt) --+(110:4pt)
            (a) --++ (160:5pt) --++(190:6pt) --+(170:4pt)
            (a) --++ (160:5pt) --++(120:6pt) --+(160:4pt)
            (a) --++ (200:7pt) --++(190:6pt) --+(210:4pt)
            (a) --++ (200:7pt) --++(220:6pt) --+(210:4pt)
            (a) --++ (240:5pt) --++(230:6pt) --+(210:4pt)
            (a) --++ (240:5pt) --++(260:6pt) --+(230:4pt);
\shade[ball color=red] (0,81.70pt) coordinate (a) circle (3pt);
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Answer 1

Here is a proposal (using fractal line from https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/152492/14500).

The last parameter of \drawcraks is the seed (an integer) for the pseudo-random generator. Change it to get other results.

\documentclass[margin=1mm]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\tikzset{
  fractal line/.style args={#1 and #2}{%
    % #1 is ratio of length to move the middle of each segment
    % #2 is the minimum length to apply the recurrence
    to path={
      let
      \p1=(\tikztostart), % start point
      \p2=(\tikztotarget), % end point
      \n1={veclen(\x1-\x2,\y1-\y2)}, % distance 
      \p3=($(\p1)!.5!(\p2)$), % middle point
      \p4=(rand*#1*\n1,rand*#1*\n1), % random vector
      \p5=(\x3+\x4,\y3+\y4) % random moved middle point
      in \pgfextra{
        %\typeout{#1, #2, \n1}
        \pgfmathtruncatemacro\mytest{(\n1<#2)?1:0}
        \ifnum\mytest=1 %
        \tikzset{fractal line/.style args={#1 and #2}{line to}}
        \fi
      } to[fractal line=#1 and #2] (\p5) to[fractal line=#1 and #2] (\p2)
    },
  },
}

\newcommand\drawcrak[3][fill=black]{
  % [style] start, target
  \path[#1] (#2) to[fractal line=.04 and 1mm] (#3) to[fractal line=.04 and 1mm] (#2);
}

\newcommand\drawcraks[8][fill=black]{
  % [style] start, anglemin, anglestep, anglemax, distance, numsep, seed
  \pgfmathsetseed{#8}
  \pgfmathsetmacro\crackdistone{#6/5*2}
  \pgfmathsetmacro\crackdisttwo{#6/5*3}
  \pgfmathsetmacro\angletwo{#3+#4}
  \foreach \angle in {#3,\angletwo,...,#5}{
    \path (#2) ++(\angle+rand*#4*.5:\crackdistone pt) coordinate (crack1);
    \drawcrak[#1]{#2}{crack1}
    \foreach \mynum in {1,...,#7}{
      \path (crack1) ++(\angle+rand*#4:\crackdisttwo pt) coordinate (crack2);
      \drawcrak[#1]{crack1}{crack2}
    }
  }
}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \drawcraks[fill=orange]{0,0}{0}{60}{359}{2cm}{3}{9999}
  \drawcraks[fill=gray]{4,0}{90}{45}{270}{2cm}{2}{1}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}