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 - 2024 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!
Make your contribution to keep TanglePatterns going in 2025

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.

ARCHIVES

How to draw TEKTONIK

Zentangle pattern: Tektonik. Image © Linda Farmer and TanglePatterns.com. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may use this image for your personal non-commercial reference only. The unauthorized pinning, reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.Tektonik is the second tangle today from Spanish tangler Tomàs Padrós. It is a more complex form related in concept to his earlier Broadway tangle.

Tektonik has SO many variations which Tomàs illustrates with several tiles of his own explorations with different forms.

For starters, lets take a look at his lively Zentangle® tile featuring Tektonik with the Zentangle-original Jetties, and CZT Margaret Bremner’s Krli-Q.

In this second tile Tomàs demonstrates Tektonik as a simple geometric form, a pentagon, enhanced with auras and shading.

This tile uses the same concept as above with much more complexity from using string lines as the basis for Tektonik‘s shapes. (With 250 Strings in our TanglePatterns Strings resource, Tektonik might be taken on some interesting adventures.) Again enhanced with shading and auras.

In this tile Tektonik is featured in an interesting “aperture”-like fashion with curved starting strokes.

And finally, in this last tile Tomàs illustrates Tektonik in combinations with curves and triangles added to Tektonik‘s rectangles and he shows how to get around corners with these shapes.

Tomàs writes,

In Tektonik, a basically rectangular zigzag line (although it can also present curves or triangles) intersects a linear direction. This procedure defines rectangles, triangles or semicircles on each side of the line.

There are two basic ways to propose this entanglement: the zigzag line can follow a closed or semi-closed path or can be organized in successive rows. The result changes considerably, but always has a constructive, solid and stepped aspect that can suggest stratified geological formations, but also walls or enclosures. Tekton is a Greek word meaning master builder. Tektonik therefore refers to the construction, but also to geology. So it seems to me an appropriate name.

An alternate Tektonik Basic deconstruction shows an ideal alternative deconstruction for the application of this resource in successive rows. In this deconstruction, cross addresses can be added to the guidelines that will define the width of the “steps”. These lines can also be cut and displayed in a more random arrangement. It’s a matter of having fun and trying.

Tomàs illustrates his first set of step-by-step instructions for drawing Tektonik below, showing how the rectangular zigzag line is formed on the base line, and also how to deal with the corners when using Tektonik with geometric shapes.

How to draw the Zentangle pattern Tektonik, tangle and deconstruction by Tomàs Padrós. Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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 offline reference only. Thank you for respecting these rights. For more information, click on the image for a discussion entitled “Artists for Respect” by several prominent artists.

In this second set of steps Tomàs includes many potential variations of Tektonik in both rows and with different geometric shapes. I used the top center version of Tektonik on the tile for my example above, the shading added gives such interesting looks to this tangle, making columns and dimension appear from the basic form.

How to draw the Zentangle pattern Tektonik, tangle and deconstruction by Tomàs Padrós. Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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 offline reference only. Thank you for respecting these rights. For more information, click on the image for a discussion entitled “Artists for Respect” by several prominent artists.

Check out the tag tomasp for more of Tomàs’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

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. Your comment helps motivate them to continue to share!

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." 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.
  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.

.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 How to draw TEKTONIK

  • Laura

    It strikes me that this can be considered an embellishment, similar to auras or perfs. You could add it to almost anything! Way cool, thanks!

  • Joyce

    I’ve enjoyed Mr. Padros’ work for some time now, and always find his patterns to be absolutely delightful and intriguing to execute. This one, as well as Broadway, will be further happy additions to learn to draw, and I’m looking forward to them both.
    Thank you for all your contributions, Mr. Padros! 🙂

  • Linda Dochtr, CZT

    Thank you for offering such a complete tutorial on lines and corners, Tomas. Your examples prompted me to experiment with Nipa (Zentangle original) and the Romancy technique as well. So versatile.

  • Linda Dochtr, CZT

    Such a versatile tutorial, Tomas. Thank you. It prompted me to incorporate some Nipa and the Romancy technique (both by Zentangle) as well.

  • Jules Mack

    But OF COURSE it is a Tomas!!! YAY!!!! Just scrolling through and another one caught my Eye! 😀 TY! Tomas

  • Oh my GOODNESS there’s so much to explore with Tektonik!! It’s such a simple yet fascinating concept with loads of possibilities. Thank you, Tomas, for this new tangle. I’m looking forward to hours of play. ???

Leave a 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.