Unless I have something specific in mind for my morning tangling, I just draw some kind of random string on my tile. Sometimes I use a small french cuve template, as I’ve done on the tile above.
After the string is drawn, I count up how many “spaces” there are and I use a random number generator along with a long list of the tangles that I know to select n+2 tangles. The extra two are incase I feel the need to switch out because I have too many similar patterns, or one is a ribbon and I am going to do it on a line instead of in a space.
Then I decide which tangles will go in each space. I look for contrast and balance over the entire tile to inform my decision.
Finally, I tangle each section, one at a time.
When the tangling is finished, I look at the tile and hold it out at arm’s lengh to decide which way it should go, selecting the top of the tile.
Now that I know which way it goes, I do the shading.
Most of the time, this system works out well, and after it’s all done, I add my chop and turn it over to add the list of tangles, the date and my signature to the back. Sometimes I may add a note as a reference reminder if needed.
For this specific tile, I think this may be the first time I’ve used the tangle Gust. If I did use it previously, I certainly don’t remember it!
My favorite things here are the section of Molygon and the Swarm tangled sections! They were fun to shade because you really see how much dimension is added as you are doing it!
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil. Highlights done with white chalk pencil.
#drawing #tile #zentangle #tangling