How to sign up for a free subscription - never miss a tangle!
What is Zentangle?
Linda Farmer, Certified Zentangle Teacher

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

All contents of this website are Copyright © 2010 - 2023 Linda Farmer, TanglePatterns.com, and artists where named. Copying content in any form other than for your own personal offline reference and inspiration is expressly prohibited. No content may be reproduced, pinned or republished without express written permission. This work is not allowed to be used in training AI systems. Commercial use of any content is prohibited. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Artists for Respect
Your support helps keep TanglePatterns available!

RANDOM SELECTOR

Use this Random Tangle Selector with your TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE to help you select tangles. See Pages 7 and 9 of the Guide for instructions. You can also use this to select random Strings: simply pop in any number in the range of 1 to 250.

RECENT COMMENTS

ARCHIVES

Guest Contributor: Sandra Strait’s Shade, Shape, Blend Color & Add Texture

Guest Contributor Sandra Strait offers our Gentle Readers another great how-to tutorial. This one is a technique using squirkles to shade, shape, blend color and add texture to your drawings.

squirkles1 When you color with pens you get an overlapping section that is darker. Many people find this disturbing. There is more than one way to eliminate it, and a few ways to use it. And in using it, you can achieve other good things as well—shape, shading, color blending, and texture. And it’s easy!
squirkles2 This technique can be done with the straight lines shown above, but it’s easier and gives more texture if you use squirkling—random circling lines that you layer over and over to achieve different levels of light or dark.
Note: I’m using the tangle “Bales” for this tutorial. Corners and edges should usually be the darkest area in a shape.
The eye will assume darker areas are farther away. Color in these areas first and you’ve started to add shape and shading.Don’t press hard and, don’t try to color the areas solid. You want the paper to show through.
squirkles3 Take another color and squirkle over the squirkling you’ve just done. Then extend the color towards the center. Don’t completely cover the area. You want some white (or paper color) left for a highlight. Your highlight should not be dead center. I’ve chosen red and green because they are complementary colors that make a nice brown.  Notice how well the color blends.
squirkles4 Now go back to your original color and squirkle over all the squirkling you’ve already done. (I know—this can get a little boring when covering large areas. But covering large areas is always boring, lol!)
At this point, I make the corners solid. I ended each section a little differently to show some of the effects possible. The darker the corners and sides, the more shape you imply. You could continue squirkling, thus changing the texture. Adding a third color (I often use 4 or 5 on larger pieces) makes a difference. I like to add a third color to the corners.
Note:  You can do this with only one color. But you still have to squirkle over, just as though it was another color, to get the shaping and shading.

PS – Don’t miss Sandra’s recent tutorial on How to Draw a Ribbon. You can also find these tutorials by clicking TUTORIAL in the links on the pink alphabetic tangle menu bar.

.oOo.

Enhance your Zentangle experience while supporting TanglePatterns:

CURRENT EDITION! TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE, 2024 Edition

TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE, 2024 Edition The 13th Edition of the TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE is an instant-download 109-page interactive digital eBook/PDF containing approximately 2,000 tangles on the site from May 2010 through December 31, 2023. It's a great resource and a must-have digital tool for using the site. Visit the STORE > E-BOOKS page and help keep TanglePatterns.com going by getting your copy now!

"Linda, Thank you! I was relying on too few and getting stuck after 3 years of daily working with Zentangle. This has inspired me to ‘begin again’ with renewed excitement." ~ Barbara R.

See the BOOK REVIEWS page for more details on its features and view a sample page. Note: this is a digital product you download immediately when you place your order, nothing will be physically mailed to you.
GIFT ORDERS FOR ANOTHER PERSON: To give the TANGLE GUIDE as a gift, visit this page to place your gift order.
If you're new to Zentangle® and tangling, my TanglePatterns.com BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO ZENTANGLE is just what you need to get started. Also available en Français and en Español.

Zentangle Primer Volume 1 This is the only Zentangle book you'll ever need: the fabulous Zentangle PRIMER Vol 1. It's your CZT-in-a-book by the founders of Zentangle®. Visit the STORE tab on the top menu bar or click on the image. For more about the content and to read the rave reviews, visit the BOOK REVIEWS tab.
NEW! Now available in KINDLE format for $9.99. Spanish Edition here. Japanese Edition here.
"Absolutely the best Zentangle Book yet! As an accomplished artist I used to think I did not need instruction on this art form. How wrong I was! My tangling improved by leaps and bounds after reading this book. If you think you have Zentangle down then you need this book more than ever!" ~ Kris H

.oOo.

 

6 comments to Guest Contributor: Sandra Strait’s Shade, Shape, Blend Color & Add Texture

Leave a Reply to Lisa Schwaberow Cancel reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

  

  

  

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.