I’ve decided that I miss strassing shoes. Last week I spent some time strassing my cover for my Windows Surface and I just love how it turned out. I’m going to have to take some pictures. But in the mean time, I’ve decided to reopen my etsy shop with strassed shoes! Just as a refresher, here is a quick view of my gallery.
I’m not really sure if you call this a Zentangle or ZIA (Zentangle Inspired Art.) When I first drew this little mushroom, I was thinking of going the traditional route with a red cap. But then I wanted to do something Alice and Wonderland-ish, so I was going to try purple and pink. But when I sat down to color it, it just didn’t work. So I just went rainbow. And how can you ever go wrong with rainbow?
Drawn with Sakura and colored with Copic.
Patterns used:
And its DeviantArt page. And if you want your own to color, it’s on my etsy page!
This one started out much differently in my head. I wanted to go for something kind of woodsy with snails and butterflies and other assorted critters. But that’s not what the Zentangle told me was going to happen. And I always listen to what my drawings are trying to tell me! So instead, this is what I ended up with. Though, if you noticed, a snail did sneak its way in.
Pattern wise I used:
Drawn with Sakura Micron Pens and colored with Copic Markers. This is also one of the patterns for coloring that I posted here and it available from my etsy shop.
And last, but not least, the DeviantArt page.
I really wanted to play with the Tipple Pattern and shading. I stuck with a pretty simple color palate because the pattern itself is pretty busy.
The patterns used:
I’m pretty happy how it turned out. Next time I do something like this (because the Tipple Pattern is fun) I’ll probably use more colors. How do you like to use Tipple?
You may have seen this picture before. I posted the black and white version without shading here. If you want your own to try coloring, you can snag one from my etsy shop.
And here’s the DeviantArt page.
I went shopping this weekend. I wasn’t supposed to end up near the Blick Art Store in Seattle this weekend, but happened. And since I was there, I just had to get something, right? So I decided it was time to pick up the pack of Copic Multiliners. They come in a whole slew of sizes, and I wanted to play with weight of the lines.
It turned out darker than I planned, but I still think it looks good.
The patterns used:
For this zentangle, I was inspired by two different pieces.
The first by Mariët Dronten from Studio ML and the second by ksenija.
And you can see it on DeviantArt too.
So what tools do you like to use to draw?
I drew this phoenix years and years ago. I was thinking about getting a tattoo, I knew it would be of a phoenix. I ended up never getting the tattoo (ouch, needles!), but I did draw a whole slew of phoenixes, which someday I’ll actually fine and scan in. But for now, here’s a black and white inked drawing. I may color it in the future.
And it can be found on my DeviantArt page.
Seahorses are such strange looking critters. I love to watch them at aquariums either zipping along with their little fins or trying to find something to cling onto. Just their shape is fascinating, as it just doesn’t seem like the most efficient body structure. But hey, who am I to argue with Mother Nature? I’m sure seahorses have a very specific task to fulfill.
None the less, I wanted to draw a seahorse. So that’s what I did. I elongated the spikes a bit, and I think it turned out like a warrior seahorse. Maybe King Triton should use them to pull his sea shell carriage instead of dolphins. Thought it would probably take a ton of little seahorses to achieve the proper aquamotion locomotion. But I digress….
I used Sakura Micron Pens and Aquabee Manga Paper. And he’s also up on DeviantArt.
I’m thinking I’ll probably color him in the near future. What color do you think he should be?
This is my first zentangle that was drawn on paper that is created specifically for Copic Markers. I knew I was going to be coloring it, so I spent some time thinking about where I wanted what colors as I sketched it out. I think it turned our fairly decently, if I do say so myself.
The tangles used:
I learned a few things while coloring.
And of course, the DeviantArt Page.
So what do you think? What colors would you have chosen?
I went overboard. Oh yes, very much went overboard. But that’s okay! I spent a bunch of time inking a whole bunch of zentangles. I was about to sit down and start shading and coloring when I had a thought. Maybe others would like to have something fun to color. It can be quite time consuming to draw things and if that’s not something that floats your boat, it isn’t very fun. Fortunately, I like drawing and coloring so that’s next on my list of things to do. But in the mean time, here’s the black and white drawings.
So these are now available on my etsy shop. So, what do you think?
I love to draw. I always have. I’d spend hours doodling and creating patterns. I always wondered if other people did it too, and I wanted ways to expanded my skills. Just last winter I was cruising my favorite art site, DickBlick.com, and I saw a link for a book called “One Zentangle A Day: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration, and Fun” (here or here.) I was instantly intrigued. So onto my holiday list it went. And I was luck enough to get it. It’s awesome.
So what is Zentangle? To quote their website “Zentangle is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns.” It looks complicated, but you just start out with a square, a string, and go from there. It’s very relaxing. Oh, and fun!
Now, I know that it’s a 6-week course, but patience has never been my strong suite. So very soon I was doodling like crazy, and skipping chapters. At first I was just copying drawings in the book. I loved this one.
And of course I started wondering what it would look like in color. So naturally, that had to happen. It looks different because I redrew it and change the scale and a few elements.
I love it! The colors are a lot more vibrant in person. I’m still figuring out the whole scanning process. A learned a few things about this. First, I love my Copic Markers. Second, paper type really matters. I was using a paper that had a lot of tooth, which is great for pencils, but the bleed factor with the markers was off the charts. But that’s okay, because it was just an experiment.
But it means I’m hooked on Zentangle. And even more so once I hopped onto Pinterest and found massive quantities of examples. You can follow my Zentangle and Zentangle Pattern boards, if you’d like. Do you have similar boards? Share your links!
The patterns I used are:
And of course, Black and White on DeviantArt and Colored on DeviantArt.
