Zentangle Weekly Challenge #2

Hello and welcome to the Zentangle weekly challenge!

Here's how it works:

Every Monday I:

- choose a technique or style of drawing

- include some examples and guidelines for the challenge.

Throughout the week:

- when you have completed your artwork, return to this post to Link Up a photo of your artwork.

Note:  if you don't feel comfortable sharing your drawings then please let us know you are participating by leaving a comment.

Please only share photos, posts or Pins that you have done yourself AND match the week's challenge.  Every week I will have a new challenge so you will have plenty of opportunities to share your art!  Please remember this is a child friendly site.  Use the comment section to tell us about your drawing or to ask questions.  Offering support to your fellow artists is cool too!

Note:  I am not a 'strictly by the book Tangler', I find that drawing Zentangles awakens my creativity which often leads to other drawing techniques and styles.  I will be combining several drawing techniques in these challenges so that each challenge will be fresh, stimulating and rewarding. 

 * * *

Welcome to Week 2!
First of all I want to say how much fun this first week has been for me!
There was a lot more traffic than I was anticipating on the premier challenge post and I enjoyed meeting some of you through your comments and emails. (Thanks to Susan for helping me improve the mobile readers display and access to the link up!)
I hope you enjoyed the challenge and learned something about yourself in the process!

The most enjoyable part of drawing for me is before I even pick up a pencil!  Traditional Zentangle practice is to first clear your head by letting go of all of the days worries.  Close your eyes, breath in slowly through your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth.  Clear your physical workspace, select your supplies, touch the paper, arrange your pens so they are in easy reach and give thanks for this time that you have found to draw.  Create a ritual that will signal your body that it is now time to allow your mind to enter a state of creativity and calm.  It truly makes a difference, do try it!

Today's challenge is this fun 'bubble' technique!
Isn't it fun?!  It reminds me of stained glass.

 edit:  original photos sourced from Pinterest have been removed by request of the artist who abruptly notified me that I was violating an unknown copyright.  Before posting examples of the photos I did exhaust all methods of finding the original artist to give credit.
The above artwork is my own.

Though this example is not a traditional Zentangle drawing, using circles and filling in the background with black is a technique frequently used in Zentangle artwork.  I chose this challenge as it not only provides lots of practice drawing a variety of sizes of circles, but also offers many opportunities to try different ways of fitting the circles together effectively.
  
Supplies:
pencil, black pens (005, 01, 03), coloured pencils.

Technique:

* Start with a simple sketch of a flower, insect, animal, symbol, word, etc.  Remember that the image must be fairly simple and 'solid' meaning that every detail must be outlined.  A single line (ie: antennae on an insect) will not be seen in amongst the bubbles unless you draw it so that it can be coloured in.

* You may wish to add zentangle patterns to your sketch. (ie: within the flower petals or leaves)

* Fill in the surrounding space with a variety of sizes of circles.

* Colour in your drawing with coloured pencils. (experiment with blending 2 colours or applying different pressure to soften or intensify the colour)

* Trace all of the lines and fill in the spaces between the circles with black pen.  Use your 005 for the tiny spaces, the thicker pens for outlining and filling in the larger spaces.

When you are done, photograph your work and come back to Link Up your bubble artwork to the Gallery below. (instructions at the bottom of this post if you need them or email me with any questions.)

My kids, who are 9 and 11, and are also participating in the weekly challenges, are really excited about trying this technique.  Invite a child to learn and draw together!

I'm really excited to see your designs!
Creatively yours,
~ joey ~ 
 See previous Zentangle Challenges here.

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