Zentangles–Journal Pages and Art Work “La Bella”

(Post edited for copyright reasons.)

I’ve been drawing again! I’ve finally got round to uploading my most recent journal pages – sketches and “step-outs” (step-by-step instructions) for various patterns I’ve found online which I like. It’s easier to draw these in my journal than trying to find them online when I am doing a drawing.

After a lot of struggles, I’ve decided that scanning the images works a lot better than photographing them. I’ve also decided not to do any more art work in my journal because the pages are cream-coloured and wrinkle slightly at the spine, which makes photographing or scanning them difficult – it’s almost impossible to get rid of the wrinkles and shading on the paper – so the journal is now being used exclusively for reference purposes, collecting step-outs and doing various sketches.

Here are my most recent pages, mostly concentrating on fills, but with a few borders thrown in, or fills that can be adapted to borders. I am gradually working my way through the Tangle Patterns site and sketching the ones I particularly like, and there are always more being added, which I get emails about, because I’ve signed up to their mailing list.

This first picture is a series of miscellaneous sketches, none of which need step-outs because it’s obvious how to do them.

I have searched high and low for the step-out for the pattern “Y-not” and have been reliably informed that it does not exist online. I don’t really want to buy a book as I’ve got plenty of inspiration on the Internet. I wish somebody would upload this one as it’s gorgeous – it looks quite a simple pattern of interlocking “Y” shapes, but I can’t seem to get it started and need a deconstruction of it.

Note: The following images were deleted for copyright reasons.

…a good example of just what a difference a bit of shading makes – it leaps off the page in 3-D! On the subject of shading, up until recently, I’ve been smudging my soft pencil shading with my finger (frowned upon!) and my hubby bought me some paper stumps the other day, and these simple little tools have revolutionised my drawing! With a fine tip, you can control the shading so much more, and even use a “dirty” stump to create very subtle shading without the addition of extra pencil on the drawing.

I must say I do like patterns with a bit of dimension to them, as they give real depth to a drawing.

And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for (well, I live in hope!) – my latest Zentangle Art piece. I wanted to do a face and add masses of adornments in the form of a head-dress, jewellery and hair, and this is the result. I have called her “La Bella” – “The Beauty.” Enjoy!