How to draw EYEDAZZLER

When you’re cooped up in the house in the winter it’s a perfect time to dig out those patterns you’ve been putting aside and deconstruct them so they can be ‘drawn as a tangle’.

From a “way early” Zentangle® blog post from 2012:

“Drawn as a tangle” means that you repeat a series of elemental strokes in a certain structured way so you inevitably end up with a particular pattern without needing to know what the pattern you are creating is supposed to look like.

Usually the number of elemental strokes needed are 3 or less. Often, you only need one or two. By “elemental strokes” we mean a dot, a straight(-ish) line, a curve (like a parenthesis), a reverse curve (like an “S”), and an orb or circle.

EyeDazzler is another fine tangle from Canadian tangler Cyndi Knapp and it uses only one elemental stroke, “a straight(-ish) line”.

Cyndi writes,

The inspiration for EyeDazzler came to me when flipping through a magazine while waiting for winter tyres to be mounted on my car. I came across a small wallpaper image that I thought would make a great op art zentangle pattern.

Cyndi’s deconstruction is an adaptation of her inspiration image where stroke placement creates the final effect. Another approach could be the method used, for example, in Barbara Finwall’s On Target, where alternating solid inked-in spaces creates a similar eye-dazzling effect.

Recently I received this lovely notecard in the mail from Cyndi. It’s a great example of how the minimalist use of a tangle can be so effective. (Unfortunately the scan doesn’t do justice to the rich kraft brown of the cardstock.)

Cyndi continues,

This grid based pattern is named for it’s eyedazzling effect and works equally as well on a square grid as a diamond grid.

It’s a combination of two slightly different squares that are alternated and integrated. The squares may seem alike but there are two main differences between them.

First, one square has a double line cross in the centre (Step 2) and the other square has a single line cross in the centre (Step 4). This is what allows subsequent lines in each quadrant of every square to be integrated.

Second, the square with the double cross has it’s corners filled (Step 3) whereas the square with the single cross does not (Step 5).

EyeDazzler does require a little concentration as it can play tricks on your eyes but it’s easier to tangle than it looks.

Tips:

1. In each quadrant of every square, draw subsequent lines from the centre outwards to the corner. (Do so as straight as possible and spaced as uniformly as possible.)
2. Alternating them in your grid, draw all the double cross squares first. (This provides the structure to draw the single cross squares and allows for better focus.)
3. In the remaining squares of your grid, draw all the single cross squares. (Make sure each line is positioned in-between the corresponding lines of the double cross squares.)
4. Note that the thicker the lines, the more dramatic the effect of this pattern. (An 05 Micron was used in both illustrations.)

I think one of the most important tips Cyndi gives is contained in her first one: make your aura strokes “spaced as uniformly as possible”.

Cyndi illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Eye Dazzler below where she demonstrates it in two eye-dazzling examples.

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 thanks helps motivate them to continue to share!

Check out the tag cyndik for more of Cyndi’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

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