The Zentangle Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns.
Contrary to popular belief, tangling is not synonymous with doodling. It is much more than that. It is not as simple as picking up a pen/cil (while on the phone or being bored to death by a lecture) and just drawing to kill time.
As a dancer, the only analogy I can think of at the moment is, naturally, dance related. Doodling vs. Tangling is, to me, the same as swaying unconsciously to some music while chatting with friends and having a drink vs. actually putting in the time and effort to formally learn a dance form. Yes, you’re moving your body in both cases, but the experiences are nothing like each other.
Yes, Zentangle is a method. It is structured. It is deliberate. It is meditative. It is immersive. It is timeless. It is liberating. It is forgiving. It takes time and effort to master (the zen part of) it. And it is totally worth it!
Zentangle art is done on tiles that are 3.5″ squares. These tiles can be assembled into mosaics. The repetitive patterns used to create the tiles are called tangles. Tangles are made up of 5 elemental strokes : dot, line, c-curve, s-curve, orb/circle. Tangles (and their names) are intentionally non-representational. Tangles (and as a result, the tiles) are also always non-directional and have no right way up. Tangles are always about “the repetition of a stroke, not the repetition of a drawing”. They do not need dotted, grid or pencil guidelines, rulers, erasers, stencils, or any other kind of mechanical aids. The only tools needed to complete a tile are a tile, a pencil (to draw a string at the beginning and shade the tangles near the end), a pen (to draw the tangles) and optionally a tortillon (to soften the pencil shading). A tile is always unplanned, spontaneous and deliberate. The focus is on each stroke of the pen rather than on the end result. Much like life itself, there are no mistakes in Zentangle, only new opportunities.
To learn more about The Zentangle Method and its history, please head on over here .
tranquiltangles.com 