Art Journal #6 - ZIA - Zentagles Inspired Art

To be honest I was less than thrilled with today's technique.  You see, I'm not much of a doodler...I never have been.  BUT....and yes, that is a big but ~ I don't think anyone should shy away from a particular technique just because they've never tried it before.  So in the spirit of our art journal I though it was appropriate that we all give it a shot!

Today's technique is ~

Zentangle Inspired Art (ZIA)*.

I wanted to explain a bit about Zentangles vs. ZIA - Zentangle Inspired Art....

First and foremost Zentangles is an art form created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas (Zentangles is a registered trademark btw).  Be sure to check out their web-site for some amazing art work.

Now to be considered a real Zentangle there are a few hard and fast rules.....

• Zentangles are made on a 3.5 x 3.5" square tile.
• There is no "up" or right side. 
• It is not a picture of a "thing".
• Zentangles are made up of patterns that can be viewed from any angle.

Anything deviating from this set of rules is referred to as Zentangle Inspired Art or ZIA.

Aside from the official Zentangles web-site I found another great reference site called - ZentanglesPatterns by Linda Farmer.  She has amassed a vast collection of Zentangle Patterns ~ some of which have directions on how to complete the design for inspiration. 

Now I did find a page on the Patterns site about copy right issues and copying and/or posting instructions of specific patterns.  This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine... but I won't get into that right now.  I'd suggest doing your own thing which is what I did today which you'll notice that my patterns aren't nice and neat...all of the lines are perfect and don't line up exactly but it's mine and all ME :)

So, I started off with my black and white pen/paper along with some stencils to help with my letters.  I also decided to type out the definition for my particular value and the experience I wanted to talk about in advance so all I would have to do is copy it down.  I figured by doing so I would limit the chance for making mistakes or leaving out something I wanted to include.

I started off by outlining the letters of my word.  I broke it up as it is in the dictionary for a bit of interest.

Next I started copying down the definition and my story about my integrity being tested.  It's a long story but it has really changed my opinion about being well-known and how fame and fortune change a person.  I know that I will never become a "star" because I'm not willing to sell my integrity for the all mighty dollar.

And here is what the letters look like filled in...

Next, you will need to draw a frame around your value/experience... This will give us the beginning boundaries for our ZIA.

I did want to show you how the Souffle pen dries....yesterday I was telling you how cool it is to watch the ink transform from a milky looking fluid to an opaque image.  You can see some of the lines that have already dried and how the ink on the two thicker lines is beginning to dry from the outside towards the centers.  It is AWESOME ink!!! 

Now you will need to draw a second frame around the outside edges of your paper.  Between the large frame and the border around the letters is where our ZIA will be created.  Once you have this space defined you should start breaking it up into smaller sections.  Each of these sections will be filled with a different pattern. 

When I have all of my sections defined I went ahead and drew a small portion of each pattern I wanted to use for that specific area.  I tried to keep in mind what patterns were in the surrounding quadrants when choosing the next.  For example I didn't want a circle pattern by another circle pattern.  I tried to space things out so there was something different going on to keep the eye moving.

 

And then I went back and filled in each section!  I have to tell you once I started in on the various designs I REALLY had lots of fun with this.  I never thought I'd get into this type of art but I'm thinkin I may have to try a real Zentangle and definitely more ZIA.

Now it's your turn!!!

Choose a value that is important to you....

Pull out your paper and pen(s)

and get to work!

You'll be surprised at how much fun it really is once you get going.