Monday greetings, y’all.
If you can manage the curly bracket, you’re all set for today. Because that’s all it takes to create Jenna Black’s Whalestail tangle.
From North Carolina, this is Jenna’s first tangle on the site …
I’m the author of more that 20 novels in various speculative fiction genres, from paranormal romance, to urban fantasy, to young adult.
I got into Zentangle® almost exactly a year ago and was instantly hooked.
As someone who makes a living through writing fiction, it’s such a pleasure to be able to create without any sense of judgment and without ever having to worry about whether it’s “good enough.”
Zentangle drawing is the most negativity-free artistic endeavor I have ever encountered, and I love it! Now a year after starting, I’m finally venturing out into creating a tangle of my own here and there.
To learn more about Jenna and her publishing career, visit her site at JennaBlack.com.
Jenna describes her inspiration for Whalestail:
This pattern was inspired by my recent cruise in Alaska. I got super excited every time we saw a whale, no matter how many times I’d seen them before, and I especially loved it when they dove and flashed their tails into the air. This pattern is inspired by the sight of those tails.
The only stroke in the whole pattern is curly brackets, and there are tons of ways to fill both the “tails” and the center. For those who have trouble drawing without a grid, you can also create a basic pen grid and then incorporate the lines into the design, as I did on the lower left of the tile. (Personally, that’s my favorite of the variations.)
Whalestail is one of those tangles that reminds us to turn our tiles to accommodate our hand’s drawing position. It’s possible to draw this entire tangle using a single stroke direction while turn – turn – turning your tile. For my example I used Jenna’s variation at the top of her tile.
Jenna illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Whalestail below and in her monotangle Zentangle she shows about six different ways you can vary the basic tangle.
Image copyright the artist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Please feel free to refer to the step outs to recreate the tangles from this site in your Zentangles and ZIAs, or link back to any page. However the artists and TanglePatterns.com reserve all rights to these images and they should not be pinned, reproduced or republished. Thank you for respecting these rights.
As you enjoy any of the tangles on the site, please do leave a comment of thanks and encouragement to show the artists you appreciate them for sharing their creativity to inspire yours.
Check out the tag jennab for more of Jenna’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.
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August 1, 2016 | 
More like this: 
A year ago I was in Alaska,on a cruise along the inland passage…I know exactly what you are talking about, Jenna. Such a thrill!!
Thanks for sharing. And are your books written under your name?
The books are published under Jenna Black, which is my pen name. I’ve used my pen name for my tangling adventures with the beginning because that’s my only online presence, and because I wanted to be able to share images with my fans.
Love it! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks!
I like this pattern and while reading your description, Jenna, I felt as if I were right there watching those magnificent creatures. Congratulations on creating this Tangle pattern!
Thank you! I had a lot of fun creating this one.
Oh, wonderful! I’ve been on a “curvy” Zentangle pattern binge lately, and this one will be so much fun to do with the other patterns I’m devouring.
Jenna, I’ve seen your work, mostly during the brief time I was in a Facebook group a few months ago, so I know how beautifully you draw; I would never have known that you’ve been drawing Zentangle patterns for just a year–your attention to detail and precision give your drawings such an exquisite beauty, I thought you’d been drawing them from “day one”!
LOL. I may practice a little obsessively. When I fell for Zentangle, I *really* fell for it.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Zentangle Jenna! Love your first pattern as much as our wonderful Humpback whales which travel past our city on the East coast of Australia on their way to warm tropical waters to breed. Townsville has been so lucky, as we often see them “showing off” as they go past and then on the way back South they have their new babies with them!
They are amazing creatures, aren’t they? I’d never pass up an opportunity to go whale-watching.
Oh I love this one, and should be easy for me to master as it looks like it’s made from music brackets. I can definitely see the whale’s tail inspiration!
Glad you like it! The only tricky part is making all the brackets go the right direction. Sometimes it’s easy to get confused when you’re doing the same stroke over and over. (I’ve messed up my own pattern plenty of times.)
Ha ha ha I can imagine, thanks for the warning, and your reply!
What a wonderful source of inspiration, Jenna. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
You’re welcome! I’m glad you like it.
Thank you, I love the 3D effect.
Thanks! Glad you like it!
Fun, but is tricky to get all the brackets going the right direction. This one will take some practice.
I’ve made many a bracket in the wrong direction myself. I find it’s easiest to keep myself oriented if I work the outside brackets one square at a time (as opposed to the order I showed in the step-out). You don’t get into as zenlike a rhythm that way, but that’s also what keeps you from getting lost. Hope that makes sense!
I love the whalestail. I think it will be my new favourite. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks! Glad you like it.
GOOD +++++++++++++++++
Thanks!