Swarm is one of the 102 Zentangle®-original tangles introduced by originators Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas.
I have to admit I have a tough time with this one, I get confused when I’m turning the tile as to which way the next bit goes. However, after more attempts than I’d care to reveal, I think I finally came up with a representative sample I was willing to share.
My original attempt is shown on the right, replaced recently with an updated version.
The link to Maria’s illustrated instructions for Swarm is here.
UPDATE December 8, 2018 – Project Pack #04. As part of the Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2018 Edition series, in this Day 6 video starting at (1:03) Maria’s daughter and CZT Martha Huggins demonstrates how to tangle and shade Swarm.
“the key to this tangle is to keep your spacing as uniform as possible.“
Check out the tag zentangle for more Zentangle®-original tangles on TanglePatterns.com.
Related Links
- Looking for tangles by Artist or Type? For details visit the ABOUT > HOW TO FIND TANGLES BY ARTIST OR TYPE page on the top menu bar of any page on the site.
- What is a Zentangle? — if you are new to the Zentangle Method, start here for the fundamentals.
- Zentangle terminology — a glossary of terms used in this art form.
- How to use the site — an excellent free video tutorial showing how to use the site as well as pointing out lots of useful features you might have missed.
- Linda's List of Zentangle-Original Patterns — here is the complete list of original tangles (aka "official tangles") created and introduced by founders Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, including those not published online. If you are new to the Zentangle Method I highly recommend learning a few of the published Zentangle classics first.
- "A Zentangle has no up or down and is not a picture of something, so you have no worries about whether you can draw a hand, or a duck. You always succeed in creating a Zentangle." Thus patterns that are drawings of a recognizable naturalistic or actual object, figure, or scene, are not tangles. A pattern is not always a tangle — here's what makes a tangle. TIP: tangles never start with pencil planning.
- Un motif n’est pas toujours un tangle — Qu’est-ce qu’un tangle ?
- Un diseño no es siempre un tangle — ¿Qué es un tangle?
- How to submit your pattern deconstruction to TanglePatterns
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May 8, 2010 | 
More like this: 
I had trouble with this one too, until my clever husband leaned over watching me said “…..if you always work in a clockwise direction on the bottom of the bit you have just done, it’ll work”…….it sure did ! He’s the logical one of us!
Hope it helps others like me who got bamboozled with swarm!
I’m reading this again ten years after it having been first put on the website, and I’ve often wondered over the years…how many trial drawings do Maria and Rick have to do before they end up with a design/pattern they’re satisfied with? I’m sure nothing just falls from their pens, for the most part—after all, much of the pleasure of the end result is in the entire creative process in the first place (or, as my minister says often, “The reward is in the effort,” applying that to pretty much everything).