Zentangle Archives - Tiny Troll Studios

The Zentangle Tiles of July 2017

July was a good month. I had a great birthday, my husband took me to Austin for the weekend and we explored and ate lots of good food. July was also a lazy month for me. I was feeling sentimental and downloaded Everquest II from Steam and ended up playing a lot more than I had originally intended. Sometimes it’s fun to just lose yourself for a while – in a game, a book, or binge watching a favorite series on Netflix.

Flying around Norrath. — My little gnome flying around Norrath. She’s very steampunk.

Only Nine

Since I was goofing off so much in the world of Norrath in Everquest II I only got around to drawing 9 tiles. I suppose that’s not too bad, roughly one every three days or so. Still, not my best effort.

International Watercolor Month

Since July 2017 was International Watercolor Month I decided to do something I’ve not actually ever done before. Coloring one of my Zentangles as opposed to coloring a coloring page of one of my drawings. The pattern I picked is called Clem which I chose because of it’s nice floral look. I added in leaves for some contrast. I will admit I’m very happy with how it turned out and I hope to add color to more of my Zentangles in the future.

In addition to using watercolor on one of my Zentangles I also had fun with watercolor on some of my coloring pages and on this original creation. I took a sheet of multimedia paper and drew some circles in pencil and then laid down some watercolor washes. After it was all dry I went back in with a pen and doodled lines to go with the flow of the colors. It was so much fun and I want to do more of this.

A little Mandala

I know that sometimes my drawings have a circular theme but in this instance I actually set out to create a Mandala. It does feel different when it’s intentional as opposed to just a byproduct of how you draw. I can see why so many people like to draw them as a Zentangle. I find I can just look at them for ages because your eye keeps getting drawn into the center.

That was my July. Maybe not my most productive month for Zentangle drawing but I’m looking at it as my summer vacation. You can find more of my Zentangle tiles on my personal Instagram or on my tumblr. I forget to mention my tumblr account but I’ve been posting my Zentangle inspired art there since 2012.

The Zentangle Tiles of June 2017

June ended up being a good month for drawing some Zentangle tiles. We had house guests for a week – my mother and brother – but they didn’t seem to mind if I had the occasional doodle session while we were hanging out. I feel like I was all over the place last month but I was trying a lot of new patterns so it was fun. I started a Pinterest board just for patterns and I have been saving patterns I’ve tried in the past so I can find them again as well as new patterns I want to try. I drew 16 Zentangle tiles in total in June. Technically I posted the 16th tile on Instagram in July but I drew it in June so I’m keeping it here.

June 2017 - All Zentangle Tiles — All of the Zentangle tiles drawn in June 2017

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The Zentangle Tiles of May 2017

13 Zentangle Tiles

Last month when I wrote about the Zentangle tiles I drew in April I wasn’t sure I’d have time to draw as many in May. At the end of the month I was pleasantly surprised to realize I had drawn 13 new tiles. I tried some new patterns and revisited some old patterns this month.

The Favorites

One of the core tenets of Zentangle is that there are no mistakes. It’s true. I have often made “mistakes” only to continue on and find them beautiful in their own right. I guess in these cases the mistake truly becomes a feature.

My favorite tile I created this month is based on a pattern called ING. The pattern has a 3rd line added to each section going from tip to tip, but I messed up and only drew the two initial lines. By the time I realized my mistake I had drawn too much and had no way to “fix” it so I just kept going. In addition to my mistake I was going to add something in the background but when I got to that point I decided that I loved it so much the way it was that adding anything more would actually lessen it. Definitely a case of less is more. What I loved most was how it took on a sort of comic book art feel to it.

Instagram had different ideas about what Zentangle tiles were it’s favorites. While I do love both of the tiles that were Instagram favorites I sometimes see no rhyme or reason as to why one tile will get so many more likes than another. Both of these tiles garnered over 150 likes in May.

Instagram's favorite Zentangle tiles of May — Instagram’s favorite Zentangle tiles of May

Something New

I did try something new in May. Inspired by all of the art I see on places like Instagram and Pinterest I decided to try some color. I’ve had a set of colored Micron Pens for ages now but was always afraid to use them. I know it is absolutely silly to be afraid to use pens but it was one of those irrational things.

The first one is done in blue and green because they are my favorite colors and I liked how it turned out. Using the colors to accent each other. The second one was supposed to be purple and pink but my pink pen disappeared so I added blue and green to it as well. I’m getting the hang of it but in the end I’m glad I finally took that little leap. I still prefer black ink – there is a simple elegance to it – but the color is a fun break.

You can see all of these tiles and more on my personal Instagram account. For my Tiny Troll Studios Instagram go here.

The Zentangle Tiles of April 2017

I realized a couple of months ago that I had stopped doing any Zentangle tiles and all of my drawing was focused on coloring pages or other items for my Etsy shop. I enjoy drawing for coloring pages but they have a different vibe to them, so I decided to get back to what I love most about pen drawing. April turned out to be a very productive month for drawing Zentangles on little tiles so I wanted to share them all with you.

In total I drew 15 tiles. Some of them are pretty diverse.

All 15 Zentangle tiles for April 2017 — 15 Zentangle tiles!

I just go with the flow when I’m drawing and I was clearly feeling spring because several of my tiles throughout the month had a floral thing going on. Something about drawing all the little flowers just makes me feel good.

Flower Tiles of April 2017 — Feeling floral

I had a few favorites during the month…

Favorite Zentangle Tiles for April — Four of my favorite tiles

but at the end of the month it came down to these two.

Ultimately though, I just love the Borbz tile. I decided to try doing Borbz in a spiral – I’d never seen it done that way before – and at first I thought I’d made a big mistake because I struggled with it but in the end I just loved how it turned out.

Borbz Zentangle pattern — My ultimate favorite tile of April

I’m guessing my Instagram followers loved it too because it tied for first place with these two tiles for number of likes.

Instagram picks — Top liked Zentangle tiles on my Instagram.

I’m not sure I’ll get another 15 tiles done this month because we have company coming but I’m sure going to try. It feels good to separate my “fun” drawing from my “work” drawing. I enjoy drawing in general but drawing Zentangles is much more relaxing then drawing for an end goal. I guess that’s why they call it Zentangle.

You can see all of these tiles and more on my personal Instagram account. For my Tiny Troll Studios Instagram go here.