A new dislocation-based model for low cycle fatigue in fcc metals at a length scale smaller than the feature size of the dislocation structures is presented. It uses the crystal plasticity finite element method and dislocation densities as internal variables. Equations for the dipole distance distribution, for the double cross slip mechanism and a new dislocation multiplication law are introduced, which can predict the emergence of vein and channel structures starting from a randomly perturbed dislocation distribution. The characteristics of these structures in copper and aluminium, as well as the mechanical properties, are compared with experiments. Compared with existing density-based theories, the capability to reproduce dislocation patterning is a significant step forward. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.