How to draw CONTACTED

Welcome to 2016, y’all!! And very warm greetings to the Zentangle® newbies who’ve joined us over the holidays. Let’s get going …

We start the year off with a cool grid-based tangle from San Antonio, Texas, tangler Allyn Johnston and Contacted is her first on the site.

Grid patterns are great tangles to get into tangling because they fill sections in your tile easily and get you into the rhythm of deliberate stroke-making that’s at the heart of the Zentangle Method. Almost all of them can be varied significantly for different looks and they also make fine ribbon-type tangles.

Another grid option to bear in mind is that you can usually “warp” your grid for another interesting and fun way to draw the grid-based tangles. If you’re new and you’d like help figuring out how to add a grid to your tile section, check out this tutorial on TanglePatterns. You can always locate this and many other helpful articles on the TUTORIALS tab on the pink alphabetic tangle menu.

Allyn introduces herself,

I took a local Zentangle class on November 4, and ever since then, I have been hooked. I have jumped in with both feet and love the peace that tangling brings me. I spend time with my four rescue dogs, and they’re content to keep my lap warm while I tangle on the couch. It’s a comfortable way to relax for sure.

I came up with this while playing with grid patterns. I named it Contacted for two reasons: the eye-shaped figure in the middle of each diamond, like a contact lens, and also because the end result looks a bit like a beam of light coming from a UFO – they’ve made contact with us!

Allyn illustrates the steps drawing her Contacted tangle and demonstrates it in a lovely Zentangle. Allyn’s shading of Contacted in Step 6 shows what wonderful dimension a touch of graphite can add to your creation.

Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may use this image for your personal non-commercial reference only. Republishing or redistributing pattern deconstructions in any form including pinning is prohibited under law without express permission of the copyright owner. For more information, click on the image for the article “Pinterest – How could something so right be so wrong?”.

For help shading your Zentangles, check out the excellent free 2-part Shading Mini-Clinic on TanglePatterns contributed by CZTs Marizaan van Beek and Sandy Bartholomew starting here.

Check out the tag allynj for more of Allyn’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

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A word about rulers

Many great tangles begin with an underlying inked grid (reticula) and they are always drawn freehand.

"Just as we point out that there's no eraser in a Zentangle Kit, there's also no ruler. ... With a relaxed focus and leaving rulers and preconceived notions aside, expect to be surprised and delighted." ~ Zentangle blog.

I've noticed quite a few "Zentangles" — and even tangle instructions — around the net where a some type of straight edge, stencil or other mechanical aid has been used to draw the underlying grid. Or even (egad!) to draw straight lines (or circles) making up the pattern within a Zentangle.

As CZT Sandy Hunter writes, "there is no zen to be had in the preoccupation with perfection."

Here's what I say ...

Zentangle is all about you and your pen

So put away the rulers and experience the Zen.

and you may quote me. 🙂

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