How to draw KELPIE

By Linda Farmer, CZT ~ August 15th, 2025

Hi there!

Looks like we’ve reached “that” time of year again. And it looks to be a bit of a wet windy weekend along Florida’s east coast as Hurricane Erin heads generally towards the state and turning north before it gets here. The system is large enough that we could get some effects from its outer bands. Fortunately it seems Erin won’t make landfall but will likely generate a few wet days all up the East Coast before heading into the north Atlantic. Rainy days = a good time for tangling!

Kelpie, our tangle for your next Zentangle® explorations, is from California CZT Yoko Kageyama. Kelpie is Yoko’s sixth tangle on the site, be sure to check out the rest of her creative contributions here.

To my eye Kelpie kinda-sorta shares DNA with the Zentangle-original Punzel although Kelpie is perhaps a bit more complex with the band weaving through it.

Yoko writes,

This tangle, Kelpie, was created when I needed something more organic-looking—similar to Noom and Coofia —that could be used to divide sections (like a string). I realized I was always reaching for the same tangles, because I love how elegant they look. But I wanted something new, so I decided to create my own.

My new tangle ended up looking a bit like kelp in the sea, so I added “-ie” to the name to give it a cuter feel like a living, flowing tangle. To me, “Kelpie” sounds like a mythical sea creature’s name, and I love that.

For the ring version, I like to draw the ring shapes with a larger base, but you can also draw them evenly rounded all the way around if you prefer. The “drawing behind” technique is used to create a multi-dimensional effect. You can also try the “heart” or “square” versions.

All you have to do is change the shape of the space you draw in the first step: use a “V” shape for the heart, or parallel lines (like an equals sign) for the square. Then, draw either a heart or square shape accordingly. For the heart version, I prefer drawing a circle for the second shape to make it look less crowded.

I hope you enjoy tangling Kelpie as much as I do!

I know Kelpie will be a piece of cake for many of you, and for that I applaud you 🙂 – I confess I found it a bit of a challenge. I believe the trick is in visualizing where all the shapes continue behind and for some reason my brain got quite muddled determining where some strokes began and ended. After quite a few practice runs and studying Yoko’s beautiful tiles very closely, I think I got it figured. Have fun with the variety of ways Yoko shows us how to explore it. She clearly has it mastered!

Yoko illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Kelpie below and features it in a gorgeous Renaissance tan tile.

How to draw the Zentangle pattern Kelpie, tangle and deconstruction by Yoko Kageyama. Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. These images are for your personal offline reference only. Please feel free to refer to the images to recreate this tangle in your personal Zentangles and ZIAs. However the artist and TanglePatterns.com reserve all rights to the images and they must not be publicly pinned, altered, reproduced or republished. (Small side note: if you look at the legalese in Pinterest, you are legally responsible for obtaining permission to post every photo that gets ‘Pinned’. Giving credit or sharing the source link doesn’t count.) Thank you for respecting these rights. “Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.” ~ Franz Kafka

In this illustration Yoko includes her heart and square variations and features them together with the original on a Renaissance Tan Phi tile.

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! And please share a link to your favorite tangles on social media. Republishing images isn’t allowed. Thanks!

Check out the tag yokok for more of Yoko’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

Related Links

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.
What is a Zentangle? — if you are new to the Zentangle Method, start here for the fundamentals.
Zentangle terminology — a glossary of terms used in this art form.
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.
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.
"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 ?
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