How to draw ALL STARS

Today’s All Stars is from Spanish tangler Tomàs Padrós and it’s another wonderful and, despite appearances, a very easy tangle to explore.

Tomàs writes,

I designed it playing with “Ninja Stars” by Margaret Bremner. The motif that is repeated retains its rhythm. I wanted to keep the reference to Ninja Stars in the name.

This pattern is based on the technique “take off and land“.

All Stars can develop in the form of a regular pattern, with the first-step strokes equidistant, but it is also fun to organize those strokes with greater freedom or following a certain progression.

Tomàs included several examples with his submission:

These show other possibilities of All Stars. In this tile I have the small strokes much freer and with many possible decoration options.

To my recollection one of the earliest tangles to use this type of construction was the very popular MI2 by CZT Mimi Lempart. Karry Heun’s Summer Sitter and CZT® Jane Eileen Malone’s 8’s explored similar territory some time later. There are a number of great dot grid tangles on the site that are fun to explore.

My example of All Stars is on a small scale which didn’t leave room to explore any of the marvelous and inventive decorative possibilities shown in Tomàs’s tile, but I know you’ll have fun with them.

Tomàs illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing All Stars below where he features it as a gorgeous monotangle with both brown and black Micron pens. He added delicate graphite shading together with highlights using a white charcoal pencil to produce a very dimensional end result.

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. “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” ~ C.S. Lewis

In this alternative approach Tomàs demonstrates how to tangle All Stars using a dot grid as the first step and he features it in a lovely tile with the Zentangle®-original Florz.

“This alternative deconstruction adds a previous step for those who seek more control. It consists in drawing a grid of dots, either in a regular or more random arrangement.“

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. “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” ~ C.S. Lewis

Update December 7, 2019: As part of Project Pack 7, Zentangle co-founder Rick Roberts tangles Tomàs’s All Stars in this Day Two video. In the video Rick and Maria also refer to CZT Mimi Lempart’s Mi2 tangle.

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!

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

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Share your tangle on TanglePatterns

Everyone is invited to share patterns on TanglePatterns.com, you do NOT need to be a CZT. In order for patterns to be considered for publication they must be submitted to me by email. In other words you have to let me know about them.

For a submission to qualify as a tangle it must be a genuine pattern (“a repeated decorative design”) and not “a thing to draw”.

From The Book of Zentangle:

“Keep it Non-representational. Zentangle artwork is intended to be non-representational. Zentangle’s elemental strokes are also non-representational.

We don’t teach complex elements such as hearts, stars or flowers. Tangles are also non-representational.”

Remember that tangles never start with pencil planning.

"A tangle has no pre-planning with pencil guidelines, grids or dots, no erased lines."

If you need a refresher on what makes a tangle, read the A PATTERN IS NOT ALWAYS A TANGLE page on the ZENTANGLES menu bar at the top of any page.

For details on how to submit your pattern for consideration visit the SUBMIT YOUR PATTERN page on the top menu bar of any page on the site. On that menu you will find these two pages:

1. 1. How to submit your pattern deconstruction to TanglePatterns, and
   2. Why hasn't my pattern been published?

The first page includes instructions on how to prepare and send your JPGs. (Please save me time and do not send PDFs). It also includes a link to this PDF submission form.

When your examples include additional tangles from the site, please list them in your email. (This saves me time and my memory some wear and tear.)

If your pattern is posted on your blog, attach your steps and tile JPGs to your email and be sure your email includes the direct URL so I can link to it.

And remember, to quote Zentangle's co-founders Rick and Maria: tangles should be "magical, simple and easy to create", non-objective patterns of repetitive strokes that are easy to teach and offer a high degree of success to tanglers of all ages.

"Keep the tangles as little like 'drawing something' as possible."

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