How to draw ZENPLOSION FOLDS

Zenplosion Folds was named by Danni O’Brien from a pattern called Spinning Star Scrolls by Cara Gulati from her 3-D Explosion: Simply Fabulous Art Quilt Illusions book of patterns and templates. Danni requested and received Cara’s permission to recreate the copyright pattern with drawing instructions.

When she looked through the quilt-making book Danni writes, “I saw a lovely tangle form coming to life… I can’t sew well, but I love fabric and quilts, and, I can tangle! This tangle has a nice even flow with lovely curves. It is also versatile and has several versions that compliment each other. The folds are created with simple straight connector lines.”

This tangle pattern is so much fun to draw! Compared to Danni’s lively example with her step-by-step instructions for drawing Zenplosion Folds here, my version is very simple and I readily admit to using pencil guidelines to keep things aligned. Danni adds some great pen shading to her versions — a technique I have yet to attempt so I stuck to my trusty pencil and blender.

In addition to the basic pattern on the same page Danni shows two tangleations — S-Curves (the one I chose here) and Ribbon-Curves. Ribbon Curves is very similar to Sandra Strait’s How to Draw a Ribbon tutorial here on TanglePatterns. Together these will send you off in all kinds of curvy flowing directions.

Danni was registered to take the CZT® training in February but one of the (many) winter storms prevented her traveling from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Whitinsville, Massachusetts. However she was rescheduled for the May class and in a couple of weeks she’ll be able to call herself a CZT!

Check out the tag dannio for more of Danni’s patterns on TanglePatterns.com.

Related Posts:

1. TanglePatterns Shading Mini-Clinics – everything you need to know about shading your Zentangles and ZIA. Forget about the art rules for shading, this is Zentangle! Part 1 by CZT Marizaan van Beek, and Part 2 by CZT Sandy Bartholomew
2. How to Draw a Ribbon – tutorial by Sandra Strait (and heads-up, another Tutorial by Sandra is coming up later this week)

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