Yo ho ho…
Not all treasure is jewels and gold! Sometimes, the treasure lies within each of us, waiting to be discovered. If you are tangling, and looking for your own, internal treasures, follow the link over to Eni Oken's Tan Treasure Video lesson! Her video will take you through all the steps to create your personal treasure map.
Zentangle drawn on an Official Tan Renaissance tile using a black, brown and sepia Micron pens. Shading done with Copic markers, colored pencils and graphite pencil. Highlights were done with pastel pencil and gel ink. Distress ink was used for the background and edges.
Swirls.
Am I looking down at a carpet? A muddy river? Foam at the edge of a wave on the beach? It’s an interesting, visual mystery!
Sand Swirl is one of my favorite tangles to draw. It’s simple echoed lines allow your mind to enter the Zen zone quickly. Here, I used three different colors of ink to give the tile more depth and dimension.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen, warm grey and cool grey Copic Multiliner. Shading done with graphite pencil.
What’s up, Dewd?
Zentangle has introduced a new tangle, Dewd, along with the debut of the new Project Packs! I decided to do it on a black tile, in keeping with the spirit of the introduction video, here .
I used two different pink, metallic pens and two different silver pens so that I would have a tiny bit of variation between the inner shape and the outer auras.
Then, I used the Mooka 3D behind the Dewd to add another layer of interest.
Another’s view.
The tiles above and below were created by my husband. If you remember, from yesterday's post , I mentioned that I had asked all of my relatives to draw Zentangles for my birthday in 2010. Recently, I found them again and got to reminisce about that time and to see all the wonderful tiles everyone made.
For this first tile, my sweetheart used a heart as the central string! I think he did a fantastic job.
Note: I had some trouble scanning this drawing because it is in a large-format sketchbook. The upper left isn't really blurry. That was caused by the drawing page not being flat on the scanner. This Zentangle was created by my husband a little over 7 years ago. At the beginning of October, 2010, I gave all of my family members blank tiles and asked them each to draw a Zentangle for my birthday present. Apparently, my husband did some practice drawing in his sketch book before actually creating a tile!
Tiny details.
This tile is a result of Eni Oken’s Tiny Details Lesson . This excellent video shows you exactly how to create and shade areas of a tile which include little, tiny detail drawings which can be a major challenge to shade!
I love tiny drawing and repetitive patterns that are very close to each other. There is just something really soothing and satisfying about filling predefined areas with tangles like these, making this tile lots of fun to create.
Fractalized stars.
Recently, Eni Oken added a lesson about fractalizing tangles to her Art Club members. It was a fantastic lesson and everyone had a lot of fun creating beautiful tiles.
I decided to try Betweed for my tangle because it looks like a star to me, and I love anything having to do with stars! The “rule” I used was to draw a new, smaller Betweed in each space created by the original rendition. I managed to go three iterations before some of the spaces became too small for another iteration.
From the Zentangle Primer: Lesson 2, page 45, Exercise 4.
For this exercise, we were to use all the same tangles: Shattuck, Jetties and Bales, but use different shading.
I think Amanda (above) did a fantastic job with this tile! I love that she used several tanglations: Bales, Hollibaugh, Florz, and Jetties! My favorite is her version of Bales. It has so much depth to it now!
My artwork is above. I mixed Bales and Florz togther for my background, and pillow-shaded each floret in the design. I had a lot of fun with Jetties. I decided to treat them more like beads, and made each one different, although a few original Jetties snuck in on their own. I’ve drawn Shattuck many times, this is the first time I’ve added perfs to them.
From the Zentangle Primer: Lesson 2, page 36.
In this chapter, we are learning three new tangles: Bales, Jetties and Shattuck.
For the first tile in this chapter, there are step-by-step instructions that tell you where to put each tangle and how to draw and shade it.
I did make a few choices like drawing straight instead of curved lines for the Shattuck, and I chose to overlap my Jetties, rather than make them all touching. However, I did try to follow the shading instructions as exactly as I could.
From the Zentangle Primer: Exercise 2, page 33.
For this tile, we were told to select two tangles and to alter or combine them to create a new tanglation.
I chose to use Printemps and used it to create the strips for Hollibaugh. This ended up presenting a challenge, because it was difficult to distinguish edges where the strips crossed over each other. I ended up outlining each strip with a wider-nibbed pen to create stronger edges.
From the Zentangle Primer: Exercise 1, page 33.
For this exercise, we each had to create a Zentangle using the same tangles as the first. However, we were to shade them differently.
Amanda’s artwork is above. You can see how she shaded around the outside of the central bobble which makes it appear more like it is floating above the tile. She also altered Printemps from her original style. This version gives it a lot more drama and depth.
From the Zentangle Primer: Exercise 1, page 33.
For this exercise, we were to create another Zentangle, using the same four tangles as the first tile. However, this time, we were instructed to shade each tangle differently.
In addition to changing the shading, I also changed the style of each of the tangles. I chose to wrap Florz around a bobble and give it more of a 3D, or dimensional feel. I took a lot of creative license with Cresent Moon, adding more details and treating it more like ruffles. I normally draw Printemps fairly small, but here, I tried to make it much larger than I normally do. And for Hollibaugh, I rounded out the areas where the strips ran into the border.
Fishing.
We cast our net into the sea, searching for Ix to sell in the market. As we hauled the nets abord, we discovered a treasure trapped within. The Marasu was worth more than everything else in our nets, combined! This one, being so large, was probably worth even more than our ship! All of the fisher folk would share in this bounty when we reached the shore.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
Halloween.
All the goodies were ready, filling the bowl, nestled into the spider’s web. She waited on a bench by the door with the bowl in her lap. Would they come, dressed in outlandish garb? Or would they dance in the light of the fire and simply ignore her?
This is a very simple tile, with only three tangles. But by overlapping and allowing various parts to grow outside of boundaries, the tangles take on a life of their own.
The Zentangle Primer.
Our group has changed books. We originally wanted to use the Zentangle Primer , but we had to wait because Amanda did not have a copy. So, while we were waiting for hers to arrive, we have been using the One Zentangle a Day book. Amanda received her Primer on Saturday, so we have both been reading/rereading the Primer. Today’s post is from the Primer, Lesson 1, Your First Tile.
Wrapped up.
This Zentangle is the result of two different Facebook posts.
In one group, someone asked about shading a Zentangle that was drawn in blue ink. That got me to thinking about how I would handle the situation. So, for this tile, I’ve used blue ink. For the shading I used both colored pencil and graphite. I think the combination of the two allows for more dramatic depth than using the blue pencil alone.
Day 2.
For this day, we are adding three new tangles to our repertoire: Fescu, Nekton and Knight’s Bridge. We were also instructed to practice making various strings.
For Amanda’s tile above, as you can see, her string is much more complex than on Day 1. She also used areas of repeated tangles to tie everything together.
Matthew did a wonderfully curvy string that gave him an interesting open space to fill with graceful Fescu! He decided to forgo any shading on his tile this time, because he felt it made his tile from the first day too muddy. I will be seeing him on Saturday, so I will give him a couple of shading tricks that should help him out.
Hapy Halloween.
When I was creating this tile, I wanted to have bats flying in front of the moon. There was no tangle that even remotely looked like bats at the time, so I created one. Here’s the step-out:
This was so many years ago, when I was first learning all about Zentangles. Now I know that this isn’t really a “tangle”, but I am still sharing it with you for your Halloween pleasure!
Amanda’s Day 1.
You will recall that I said yesterday I was working on a challenge with another tangler? Well, here is her tangle based on the same lesson! I love how she made the Tipple into bubbles, including a few popping at the upper and lower right!
Amanda’s son, Matthew also did the Day 1 exercise!
Matthew is a 17-year old, highschool junior. He is in his second year of art classes and is a very talented artist. I love how he shaded each section of Cresent Moon differently. It shows the versitility of this tangle!
Day 1.
This week, I’m working on a challenge with another tangler named Amanda. We both have the book, “One Zentangle a Day” by Beckah Krahula.
Today’s tangle is for Day 1, which introduces Tipple, Static and Crescent Moon. I chose to follow the standard, Zentangle method, and started with dots in the corners and then connecting them with a frame. I used a simple string and filled each section with a tangle. I repeated Tipple in a second section because my string created four sections. Then I decided which way I wanted the tile to go and added my chop in the bottom right. Finally, I did some fairly simple shading to finish the tile.