One Zentangle a Day

circles their dimension. The last two patterns are built upon a grid. Sampson starts on an × grid while ’Nzeppel is based on a diamond-shaped grid that is further divided. The rounded-edge shapes added in the last step give it its organic look.
    Practice these patterns in your sketchbook until they feel familiar to you, then create a Zentangle tile using the new patterns and any previously learned patterns. Remember to follow the eleven-step process when creating your tile.

    The white-toned highlights keep the eye moving throughout this piece.

Creating ZIAs on Bold Colors
    Today we are going to explore working on bold-colored paper with an achromatic color scale and using colored pencils for highlights and shadows. The highlight requires a pencil in a high-key shade of the paper, while the shadows require a pencil in the low-key shade of the paper. On bold hues, graduated shading in the highlights is important for the composition’s balance and harmony. When you are working with bold-colored papers, you will find they affect the tones of the patterns just as when we went from white to black paper. Yellow can cause problems because it does not let the highlights stand out. Green and red make it more difficult to achieve harmony between the tonal values of your drawing and the tonal value of the paper. Working on dark blue is similar to working on black tiles and may require a white pen or a pen with a high-key colored ink in the hue of the paper. Start by going through your previously created Zentangle tiles. Look for tiles that contrast with one another. Choose a tile with open, airy graphics and one with busy graphics. Choose a tile that has the majority of the tone values in the high-key area and one with a majority of dark tone values. Photocopy the tiles on a piece of red, yellow, blue, green, orange, and purple paper. Cut out the tiles and use your white and graphite pencil to give the tiles highlights and shadows and then use colored pencils on another copy. As you experiment with creating ZIA on the colored tiles, keep notes on what you learn in your sketchbook for later use.
    Creating the highlights and shadows requires a heavier application of both the white and graphite pencils. Blending out the edges of the highlights often dulls the brightness of the highlight. After blending, touch up the center of the highlight with the white pencil.

DAY 21 REPETITION CREATING TRANSFORMATION
    MATERIALS
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Micron 01 or sepia pen
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pencil and/or sepia-colored pencil
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sketchbook
    •
two white tiles
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small brush
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water

Daily Tangles
    Try these two patterns. Keep the lines spaced evenly when drawing Rick’s Paradox and always turn the tile between strokes, in the same direction, when drawing this pattern. When drawing the pattern B’Tweed, if you start the first stroke from the left bottom corner it will work in harmony when used to fill a grid or repeated to fill an area.
    Some patterns create one look when used singly but transform their look when used in a grid or in multiples. Rick’s Paradox and B’Tweed are examples of patterns with many looks. B’Tweed is an organic pattern that can easily bring interest to a small area or harmony to an area with contrasting patterns. When used in a circular area that is divided into pie shapes, the design becomes a star-centered organic shape. When an area is divided into equal widths and filled with B’Tweed, the pattern looks more woven and man-made.
    The pattern Rick’s Paradox was created by drawing a column, dividing the column into squares, and then dividing each square into two triangles. The pattern was then drawn into each of those triangles.
    Practice these patterns in your sketchbook until they feel familiar. When you are ready, create a tangled tile using Paradox and B’Tweed. Use any other patterns you wish to finish the tile.
    The interweaving tendrils of Squid and Mooka playfully lead the eye throughout this tile.
    Both of these examples were created using a square divided into triangles and filled with the pattern Rick’s Paradox. The difference is achieved by altering where the pattern starts on the side the triangles are touching when you begin the second triangle. The first alters them; the second mimics the first stroke of the pattern in the first triangle.

ZIAs Created from Sepia Ink
    We cannot wrap up a chapter on organic shapes without using sepia ink to create a ZIA. Sepia ink has a beautiful, rich, warm earth-toned brown