New Tangle/Reticulum: Dreamcatcher

I'm really excited about this one! ^_^

It started with a Traveling Tangles Project with Sabrina Kirjavainen all the way over in Finland, on nail polish - the shape I finished with reminded me of a dreamcatcher.

Tangles used: Sabrina - Sanibelle, Me - Tipple, Locar, Shattuck, Zinger

So I decided to play with a pattern reminiscent of those in traditional dreamcatchers.

Here's my first effort, with a six-sided shape that I treated as a regular expanding-flower pattern and filled a la Suzanne McNeill's Bloom.

Tangles used: Dreamcatcher, Bloom

Second, I tried an 8-sided shape - this worked out best in my opinion and so in the stepout below it's what I start with. I also realized at this point it could work as a reticulum just as well as a filler or floral pattern, and decided to try filling it with Bales.

Tangles used: Dreamcatcher, Bales

Then, of course, I had to try fitting in my own Knightstar - it got really tiny and confusing near the center but I still like the end result. This one started with a four-sided shape.

Tangles used: Dreamcatcher, Knightstar

By this point, I was hooked - Dreamcatcher wormed its way into my second TTP with Sabrina...

Tangles used: Sabrina - Staura, Angeleafe, Tipple Me - Tipple, Shattuck, Springkle, Flux, Angeleaf, Dreamcatcher, Zinger

...Got into my watercolor pencils and turned all blue...

Tangles used: Dreamcatcher, Knighstar, Brax

...And jumped from a white tile to a black ATC! ^_^

Tangles used: Dreamcatcher, Yincut

Here's the stepout. Hopefully it all makes sense. It takes some practice to get it to look all nice and even (and, as you can probably tell, I certainly still need some ^_^) but it's pretty forgiving if used as a reticulum - the dense patterning, especially near the center, disguises wobbly or uneven lines ^_^

...Of course, if you're not a perfectionist like me, I guess that doesn't really matter. ^_^

Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^

Planetanglin'

So, I have another really looooong plane flight coming up soon, to go from my grandparent's house in California to my home in Oklahoma. I'll post my inevitable tangling from that flight here when I get back and get settled in...but for now you get the piece I did in my Moleskine journal when I flew out to Cali in the first place ^_^

Tangles used: Marasu, Tipple, Static, Pokeleaf, Evoke, Tortuca, Mooka, Crescent Moon, Hollibaugh, Flux, 'Nzeppel, Beeline, Opus, Emingle, Diva Dance, Bunzo, Eye-Wa, Ing, Bales, Verdigogh, Printemps, Knightsbridge, Shattuck, Rain, Pokeroot

...Deep breath. ^_^

If you want to see more of my work, more regularly, you can find and appreciate me on Mosaic (DanielLamotheCZT24). Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^

Courage

School's finally out! Yay! I can actually post stuff semi-regularly! ^_^
For this week's Diva Challenge, Beads of Courage, I decided to do a fairly simple Rixty-inspired string of beads. We're leaving for New York tomorrow (!!!) and also going to Rhode Island for my CZT seminar (!!!!!) so I still haven't had a whole lot of time to draw but without AP tests and finals and the ACT hanging over my head I can finally really start focusing on it.

Tangles used: Rixty

And, now, to a rare moment of somberness here.
I think Laura has a special skill for creating challenges that aren't just inspiring and fun, but also can really reach out to people and be genuinely meaningful under certain circumstances. This week was one of those circumstances for me.
Most of you have probably heard about the horrible shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday. If you haven't, I'll direct you to this NY Times article. Around two years ago, before I had this blog, I emailed Laura in early October about National Coming Out Day, asking if she would create an LGBT-themed challenge to help support the community. She did, and I've always been grateful to her for it. We've come a long way in the US since October 11, 2014, but events like these are sobering proof that hatred and prejudice still exist. The strength and courage of the LGBT community is incredibly moving for me, and I want to add my voice to the chorus of people supporting them. And I want to ask everyone who reads this if they are willing to as well.

Thank you.

-Daniel

Diva Challenge #259: "Touch of Irish"

No, I'm not dead! I'm just living under a mound of schoolwork.

^_^

I have been posting a bit on my Instagram, though...so check me out there if you want (aquario5678) ^_^ Anywho. This challenge was fun - I decided to go the not-creative route and just tangle in green. Oh, and stick some shamrocks down at the bottom. And some dots with a Gelly Roll Moonlight. ^_^

Tangles used: Flukes, Betweed, Chartz, Keeko, Static, Mooka, Sh'rock 

I've also been trying to get a little more into realism, mostly with the help of how-to-draw videos. Here's a koi fish, which I'm actually quite proud of (thank you Mark Crilley ^_^).

Blub blub.

I also drew a sparrow with just a photo reference...but I won't show you that here and instead direct you over to my YouTube channel to see, because I'm a shameless self-plugger ^_^

Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^

Diva Challenge #251: "Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day"

I couldn't miss this one...

Tangles used: Pokeroot, Msst

Copics are fun ^_^

 Also, if you want to see more of my art, check me out on Instagram - it's more convenient than posts on Blogger so hopefully most of my general drawing will go up there. Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^

Merry Late Christmas!

Merry (late) Christmas to all! I meant to write this post on Saturday, but then lack of motivation got in the way...^_^ Pretty much all my Christmas gifts were art supplies (of course), including two six-sets of Copic Sketch markers...which made me really, really happy ^_^ So here's some stuff I did with said new art supplies.

Tangles used: Paradox

Paradox in spirals, done with Staetdler Triplus Fineliners in Olive Green, Gray, Van Dyke Brown, and Magenta (I think.)

Tangles used: N'zeppel, Weave, C-Stem, Tipple

Tangles done with a Zebra Disposable Brush Pen - Super Fine. Color added with Akashiya Sai brush pens.

Tangles used: African Artist, Cadent, Mooka, Zinger, Antidots, Beadlines

Uni-Ball Signo Broad - White. It works better on smoother paper, but I think the Gelly Roll works better on the official tiles.

I started on this one by taking my black Copic, closing my eyes, and scribbling. It's not done yet, as you can probably tell ^_^

Tangles used: Drupe. Also not finished.

A random Copic background with some tangles that ideally will grow up to be a monotangle of Drupe. I've set myself another challenge to try and do monotangles of all the official tangles that have online instructions - and after this summer all of the others too, since I signed up for CZT Seminar 24! So excited ^_^ I actually did sign up a while ago, but never got around to sharing it. Now you know ^_^ There aren't any CZTs in my city, so I'm looking forward to being able to spread Zentangle a little more.

Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^

Diva Challenge #248: "Give the Gift of Zentangle"

Ah, what a wonderful time of year...and a wonderful challenge to go with it. I almost never give away my tiles, but here's a good place to start...I would leave Random Acts of Zentangle around my school but I shudder to think what the average high school student might do to them ^_^ Here are 4 tiles, the first two of which have been given away at the time I'm writing this (I promise I'll do something with the others besides keep them...) ^_^

Tangles used: Meo, Flux, Tripoli, Verdigogh, Diva Dance, Xyp, Knightsbridge, some weird thing in a grid

Tangles used: Mooka
I spilled a bit of tea on this one...so I grabbed a spoon and dribbled some more on there.  Waste not, want not ^_^

Tangles used: Diva Dance, Ennies, Organza, Mooka, TootsieMoon, Shattuck, Opus, Sooflowers, Lola, Xyp, Cadent, Confettus, Beadlines, Antidots, Printemps, Crescent Moon, probably at least one thing I forgot
Gem in the center drawn using this wonderful tutorial

Tangles used: Meringue, Printemps, Yuma, Garlic Cloves, Indy-Rella, Shattuck
The green is some nail polish that my friend brought to school...for some reason.

Oh, and a very happy note...school's almost out for the year! ^_^ Winter Break starts a week from now...so I'll try to post at least a few times here and on my YouTube channel (link somewhere in the sidebar).
Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^

A video and some drawings

I got a new sketchpad and had some time on my hands...

Maybe I do spend a little too much money on new art supplies (when I don't really need them), but I try and justify them to myself by saying at some point in the future they'll all be filled with incredible drawings (suuuuuuuure, Daniel...suuuuure.) ^_^ I still maintain that buying new art supplies does, however, ignite a brief spark of creativity as you just have to use them right away.

...See? ^_^

Also, a couple tiles for a Christmas-themed-thing in the making.

Tangles used: Wist, Antidots, Sprigs, Punzel, Opus, Pokeroot, Verdigogh, Printemps, Pendrills (first tile), Antidots, Flux, Mooka, Verdigogh (second tile)

Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^

Diva Challenge #232: Betweed AND Tangleation Vocation #20: Opus by Zentangle

Hello all! ^_^ I don't use Betweed that frequently, but it certainly is a wonderful pattern...that will probably be finding its way into more of my pieces as a result of this challenge ^_^

Tangles used: Betweed, Zenith

 I decided to try my hand at some marker shading with this one...without realizing how dark my "light" blue marker was. Oh well, full speed ahead! A clear Stardust (which you should totally get because it's amazing) found itself in there at the end too ^_^

Tangles used: Betweed

And, on a much less cheerier note...school is in. Which is fine and all, but it means less time for tangling...which means no Tangleation Vocation results this week. Sorry :-( Although this certainly is a special Vocation...the 20th! *happy trumpet noises and confetti* And we have ourselves another official Zentangle pattern that shows up pretty often in my drawings - Opus.

Oh, and cat pictures.

Hmm...what could this be?

Can I wear it? Yeah, I can wear it.

Can definitely wear it...

^_^

Enjoy and be inspired...and link me some cat pictures too! ^_^

Diva Challenge #231: The Undulating Tangles in C and S Minor AND Tangleation Vocation #19: Crescent Moon by Zentangle

Several unsatisfactory attempts preceded this one for the Diva Challenge this week...

Tangles used: Dansk, Onion Drops

I have a massive, massive stack of cheap "rice paper" to use up, so I did this Zendala on some of it. I like the texture. ^_^

And speaking of nice textures...this watercolor sketchbook I got in California, the Global Arts...um...Travelogue, I think. Er...I don't know. If you're curious just search "Global Arts watercolor book", I guess. ^_^ OhmygodIfreakingloveit. And it was 30% off when I bought it... *salivates* ^_^ Here are the three things I've done in it so far.

Tangles used: Jeewels, Flux, Betweed, Pokeroot, Sand Swirl, Emingle, Mooka, Hibred, Crescent Moon

Tangles used: Shattuck, Crescent Moon, Fescu, a wavy thing, Featherfall, Sand Swirl 

With black ink from an inkstone and Prismacolor colored pencils

Just looking at that last picture I'm sure you can see the incredible texture ^_^

And finally, what I did for the Tangleation Vocation challenge, Shattuck...which involved Mooka. Again. Maybe I should just rename this the "Mooka Challenge." ^_^ 

Tangles used: Shattuck, Mooka

Tangles used: Shattuck

Also - I'm thinking about just having participants email me their entries so I can post them directly here and link back to their blogs or wherever else (if at all) they're posting their art if they want. It'd make for easier viewing of the wonderful stuff I'm getting and let people without blogs or the like to show off their stuff too ^_^ If you think this is a good idea, tell me in the comments. Thanks! ^_^

And now moving on to this week's Tangleation Vocation: Crescent Moon, the tangle everyone knows and loves. Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^

Oh, and make sure to check out my YouTube channel for occasional drawing videos! Link's in the description ^_^ Thanks!

New Tangle: "Undu"

I'm...uh...not sure exactly where the inspiration for this tangle came from. Topographic maps, maybe? Either way, I'm glad it did! ^_^ Undu (named so because it's very undulating - I know, I'm not creative) is pretty easy and forgiving, although it definitely requires some focus if you want to get all the auras juuuuuust right. The steps are simple:

First, draw a squiggly line going across your section.

Aura it a few times (I did 3).

Then add more auras...but have them "diverge" from the previous ones (this picture got flipped 90 degrees somehow, but you get it. I hope.)

Then aura the "sections" created by those a few times.

...And repeat.

Here it is finished - and looking quite bold with some of its lines filled in! This works really well to cover up those little "hand spasms" or whatever you want to call them (not mistakes!).

Hope you enjoy using Undu! Be inspired! ^_^

Diva Challenge #227: Circus Life

I don't really have much to say about this week's challenge, except...fun fun fun! ^_^ Also, Fescu. <3

Tangles used: Tropicana, Cack, Fescu

Oh yeah, and the YouTube project has (surprise!) been canceled. Not because I'm too lazy to shoot videos, but because my iTouch is being a butt and not properly deleting said videos. Even though I've gotten them off of my photo stream, they're still in the "Photo Library"...which I apparently can't access. If anyone has any idea as to how to remedy this, please tell me. ^_^

Joey's Weekly Tangle Challenge #63

OK...so, I shall just pelt you with a bunch of images now. No more words required ^_^

For Joey. Tangles used: Japan Diamond

Tangles used: Msst, Crescent Moon, Shattuck, Flukes, Fescu, Puf, Knightsbridge

Tangles used: Ladybug-me, Diva Dance, Vega, Hurakan, Flux, Leaflet

Tangles used: Florz, Finery, Pokeroot, Zenplosion Folds

Tangles used: Sand Swirl, Mooka

Diva Challenge #220: UMT: All Boxed UP by Alice Hendon, CZT AND Tangleation Vocation #14: Veezely by Sandy Hunter

Ah, another Diva Challenge...the one-stop shop for anyone's Zentangle needs ^_^ I ended up not participating in last week's mostly because my first few attempts were such awful catastrophes I just needed to stop risking an aneurysm over it ^_^ I can't do all straight lines...I just have to fit in some curves somewhere. Or everywhere.

Anyways, this challenge was yet another fun one...All Boxed Up is a wonderful tangle, and shading just makes it so much more amazing.

Tangles used: All Boxed Up

Tangles used: All Boxed Up, Prestwood, Striping, Opus, Mooka, Pokeroot

I did the bottom one with a fountain pen, as I did with last week's Tangleation Vocation challenge.

Tangles used: Phicops, Meringue

And speaking of the challenge, this week your tangle to play with is Veezely by the incredibly talented Sandy Hunter. Enjoy and be inspired! ^_^ 

P.S. I just have to say...the object of this challenge is to create a tangleation of the focus tangle, not just use it. All the submissions are lovely and I appreciate all of them, of course, but they're not all true to my original intents. Sorry if I'm coming off as rude or something, I'm just saying. Thanks ^_^