One Zentangle a Day

both scales.

DAY 10 LESSONS FROM A LANDSCAPE
    MATERIALS
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Micron 005 pen
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Micron 01 pen
    •
2H or 2B pencil
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sketchbook
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white tile
    Artists’ value scale is much narrower than that found in nature.
    Guest artist Angie Vangalis’s background pattern decreases in size the farther it gets from the focal point. To enhance fading in the background, the areas near the focal point were started with a Micron 01 pen. As the pattern was almost two-thirds complete, she used a smaller-tipped Micron 005 pen.
    ALTHOUGH WE ARE NOT actually going to draw a landscape, we are going to study how they are composed and then apply those principles to our tangled tiles. Compositional balance is achieved through a balancing act of shapes and their surfaces. Every shape has a visual weight. A shape’s visual weight is affected by size, location, tonal value, background value, and emphasis on its contour. A familiar example of this is a landscape.
    Landscapes create depth by gradually diminishing color and shapes as they recede into the horizon. The focal point is placed off-center in the forefront of the composition because it is closer to the viewer. It appears larger than the background shapes. Shading is darker and more defined on the focal point, while it fades with blurred edges that diminish on the background shapes. Physical weight anchors a composition and creates a visual balance with the light, airy atmosphere in the background. This effect can be used to create depth and compositional balance with the abstract shapes drawn on a Zentangle tile.

Daily Tangles
    Try these three tangles. Finery is a very light-toned tangle. For the best results, focus on spacing the lines evenly when drawing this pattern. Echoism moves the eye through a Zentangle tile. I think of it as an abstract path leading the eye through the piece. Turn your tile when drawing the grid for Flukes.

    Practice Finery, Echoism, and Flukes in your sketchbook until they feel familiar. Create a Zentangle tile using the three new patterns. Try creating depth by incorporating some of the techniques used to create a landscape drawing.
    Angie added the pattern Tipple to today’s pattern to help carry the eye through the tile.
    CHANGING PEN TIP SIZES as we create patterns to enhance the illusion of depth is a simple technique that can be big on impact. There is very limited space on a Zentangle tile, so this technique can help keep a clearer definition of the patterns while enhancing the illusion of depth. On a clean page in your sketchbook, practice this technique with several of your favorite patterns and a few patterns you rarely use. Pay attention to the different line each nib creates and how they each affect the patterns’ tone, weight, and shading.
    All three examples move the eye through the piece by decreasing tonal values as they recede.

DAY 11 AURAS AND ROUNDING, TWO NEW TANGLENHANCERS
    MATERIALS
    •
Micron 01 pen
    •
2H and 2B pencils
    •
brush pens in black and gray
    •
sketchbook
    •
white tile
    •
ATCs
    TODAY WE WILL WORK with two Tanglenhancers that can also affect your tonal values. Auras are created by carefully drawing within 1/16 to 1/8 inch (1.6 to 3.2 mm) around a tangle’s edge. This creates a line that mimics the shape’s edge. Keep the spacing even all the way around; drawing slowly helps. You can create auras in multiples and even place patterns in them. Auras are great for transcending from one tangle or tonal pattern to another.
    Rounding on a tangle refers to darkening the crevices, nooks, and crannies. It is a little detail that gives a finished, classic look to the tangle. Rounding is done with a pen. It brings dimension, weight, and depth to a piece and can be very useful in anchoring a pattern into the composition.
    Create today’s Zentangle tile using any tangles you choose. Use an aura around at least one tangled pattern and incorporate rounding on at least one pattern. Last, challenge yourself to also use one pattern you rarely use when you tangle. Add any other patterns you would like to complete your tile.
    There are four auras around the Flux pattern. The first and second auras start the pattern Knights Bridge in them; the third and fourth were exaggerated and the pattern Shattuck was also added at the bottom. There are four auras under the Knights Bridge pattern.
    Rounding can help ground a pattern, create depth or a sense of space, and increase eye movement on a tangled tile.
    The auras help keep the