How to draw KROKUS

Following on her unique and very popular Lee-Bee tangle, Pittsburgh CZT Sue Schneider is back today with Krokus and some Spring inspiration to brighten our days.

Sue begins by sharing “a long-time favorite poem“:

First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us,
And now before the eye can focus —
Crocus.

Lilja Rogers

A little credit to Lilja from Martha’s Vineyard Vineyard Gazette with a beautiful photo of Spring crocus,

Lilja Rogers, a modern poet from New Hampshire died in 1998. … Her most famous work is a brief poem from an aptly named book, More Laughter than Tears, that honors the fickle spring weather and inspiration of the crocus.

Here is Sue’s lovely Krokus tangle on two Zentangle® tiles:

Krokus, with Pixioze, Oybay, Finery, Fescue

Sue writes,

Spring brings delightful surprises. This morning my entire front yard is bursting with pale purple, miniature wild crocus! ‘Tis the season for fresh growth and new explorations.

Here’s my newest tangle pattern to celebrate. Based on the concepts of “fragments and reticula” from the Zentangle® Primer by Marie Thomas and Rick Roberts, Krokus offers lots of ways for you to play with arrangements of a design unit within a grid.

Enjoy the glories of Spring.

As we’ve noted in the past most grid-based tangles can be varied by using one of the grid squares (= fragments) in various combinations of arrangements by duplicating, mirroring and rotating that square/fragment within a grid. Varying the type of base grid (= reticula) adds to the potential variations.

In her steps below illustrating how to draw Krokus, in the right-hand column Sue has used a red dot to show the base for each potential position of the Krokus fragment. The center column outlined in red shows the fragment unit and how it’s constructed. At the bottom she demonstrates it as a border or ribbon-style tangle. And the “tile” in the upper left shows some potential variations to explore.

Krokus offers lots of options for filling and shading in addition to the variations created by different arrangements of the tangle fragment.

Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Please feel free to refer to the steps images to recreate this tangle in your personal Zentangles and ZIAs, or to link back to this page. However the artist and TanglePatterns.com reserve all rights to these images and they must not be publicly pinned, altered, reproduced or republished. They are for your personal reference only. Thank you for respecting these rights. Click the image for an article explaining copyright in plain English.

As you enjoy any of the tangles on the site, please leave a comment of thanks and encouragement to show the artists you appreciate them for sharing their creativity to inspire yours.

Check out the tag sues for more of Sue’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

.oOo.

Free Download: How to draw four basic grids (reticula) for your Zentangles

Like some help drawing grids? (In the Zentangle PRIMER Vol 1, Zentangle HQ is now referring to grids as reticula and give 30 examples.)

Here is a free TanglePatterns PDF download showing how to ink a basic Freehand Squared Grid, Freehand Diamond-Shaped Grid with a Triangle variation, and a Freehand Ogee-Shaped Grid.

You can always locate this tutorial again by visiting the TUTORIALS tab on the pink alphabetic tangle menu bar.

.oOo.

Related Links

1. 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.
2. What is a Zentangle? — if you are new to the Zentangle Method, start here for the fundamentals.
3. Zentangle terminology — a glossary of terms used in this art form.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. "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." 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?
7. How to submit your pattern deconstruction to TanglePatterns
8. For lots of great FREE tutorials on TanglePatterns, click on the TUTORIALS link in the pink alphabetic menu bar below the tangle images at the top of any page.
9. Strings! Have we got STRINGS! Click on the STRINGS link in the pink alphabetic menu bar below the tangle images at the top of any page for 250 different (free) Zentangle-starters. More than enough for any lifetime!
10. Never miss a tangle! FREE eMAIL NEWSLETTER - visit the SUBSCRIBE page on the top menu bar of any page on the site and sign up to get notices delivered free to your inbox.
11. If you have questions about the TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE, visit the BOOK REVIEWS tab on the top menu bar of any page on the site for COMPLETE details!

.oOo.
Enhance your Zentangle experience while supporting TanglePatterns:
NEW! TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE, 2025 Edition
	The 14th Edition of the TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE is an instant-download 117-page interactive digital eBook/PDF containing over 2,000 tangles on the site from May 2010 through December 31, 2024. 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.
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.
	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.
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.