“One Tangle A Day” by Beckah Krahula, Day 3.
The focus of this chapter is creating depth by overlapping designs.
Above, you can see how the Poke Root stems and fruit weave in front of or behind the ribbons of the Hollibaugh tangle. At the top, the third tangle, Festune is drawn “behind” these ribbons. In Zentangle, the term “drawing behind” is used to describe this technique.
Although this tile is simple, you have to really think about what you are doing. Sections have to be drawn in the proper order to achieve the layering effect.
How you shade also contributes to the depth and dimension of the tangling. Like a symphony conductor’s baton, or the fairy godmother’s magic wand, a touch here and there, some vigorous movement, or small rounded arches can transform flat shapes giving them depth, dimension and drama.
For the tile above, I chose to make “suggestions” more than lots of lines, to leave plenty of open spaces to play against the tangles. I actually spent more time on shading than on tangling, looking at each shape and deciding where to darken and where to leave light. I used my tortillion sparingly, yet deliberately to make exacting shadows, molding each tangle to create shape and depth both individually and as a group.
I really like the way this turned out. Festune, which has never been a favorite of mine, is really intriguing me here!
Zentangle drawn on a standard, white Zentangle tile using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
#drawing #tile #zentangle #tangling