Draw With Me… Flower Variations

Today is one of them days when I really needed some flowers in my life. So, I decided to create a bunch of them in my sketchbook!

I started with the one in the top left and just worked on variations as I went. I’m absolutely positive that I’ve not created all the possible variations, but these will do for now. Any number of them are starting points for more variations at another time.

There is a simple contentment in drawing simply. Focusing on the essential lines. Adding stylised and simple details, one by one. Using colour to add shadow and volume brings the line art to life.

I invite you to join me, drawing your own versions of these flowers by watching today’s YouTube video tutorial.

A Seed Pod Design

Well, what am I going to do with all the seed pod variations in my sketchbook? Well, create a drawing of course, including even more variations!

I also used a couple of Zentangle tangle patterns to add interest to the seed pods – between, purk, tipple and diva dance. The tangle Toodles created the foliage at the bottom of the page.

I had a lovely time this morning creating this design. I made use of a Tombow Fudenosuke, and black and brown 01 Micron pens.

It’s unusual that I use a second colour in my pen drawings, but today seemed a fine time to give it a go again.

I didn’t add shadow or colour to this drawing. Well, not this morning. I drew on marker paper so the ink does take a little longer to properly dry. I’m likely to use alcohol markers to fill this one with colour, and shadow, eventually. But not today.

If you’d like to follow how I drew this, step by step, then here’s the link to today’s YouTube video tutorial.

Draw With Me … Seed Pod Explorations

Click on this link to see today’s tutorial on YouTube.

I’ve had a lovely time this morning working in my sketchbook, creating variations of one of my favourite things to draw – seed pods. I just love them! And they often appear in my drawings.

So, I thought a video tutorial on YouTube would be a good idea, sharing my thoughts and showing you step by step how to draw these variations.

No doubt, some of these lovely pods will be finding their way into other artwork of mine this week for sure.

Draw with me … Part 2 of the Siros Zentangle Inspired bookmark. Also, a peek inside my lettering sketchbook.

Please click on the ‘Watch on Youtube’ button to view this video on YouTube. It helps my stats. Cheers!

Today, I finish the bookmark with some subtle colour and shading. Indigo blue for a suggestion of water, and sepia for the shadows.

In the video, I also give you a peek inside my lettering sketchbook 🙂 I’m actually quite proud of some of the pages!

Draw With Me … A Zentangle Inspired Bookmark using ‘Siros’ – Part 1

Today, I start to draw a bookmark using the tangle pattern “Siros” by Simone Menzler CZT. I’ve yet to decide what I do with the background, which is why I’ve stopped part way through.

It was lovely to spend some time drawing variations of Siros, as well as gaining confidence in the steps needed. The reverse ‘fengle’ version vexed me for a while, but I think I’ve now got it!

The large, open spaces in each Siros were perfect for adding pattern to.

Here’s today’s video on YouTube. Please click on the ‘Watch on YouTube’ button, if you’d be so kind.

Draw with me… “Siros”, a Zentangle pattern by Simone Menzel CZT

Please click on the ‘Watch On YouTube’ option.

Siros is a lovely, stylised flower Zentangle style tangle pattern. It was deconstructed by Simone Menzel CZT.

It’s a totally new pattern to me, so in this video I share how to draw it, along with some of my explorations of the pattern.

Draw With Me … Zentangle Tangle Patterns Ginili and Gingo

In today’s video, I do a little pattern exploration of two lovely, organic tangles. Ginili is by Randi Wynne-Parry, and Gingo is by Lisa Chang CZT. The deconstruction of the tangle patterns can be found on TanglePatterns.com.

On the face of it, they may appear to be rather different tangles. However, there are some commonalities between them. This means it was quite natural to look at them together.

I particularly enjoyed using the brown 01 Micron pen for the textural lines in the patterns. It really helps to separate the different ‘petals’ or ‘leaves’ of Ginili from each other.

Gingo, based on the lovely Ginko leaves (my favourites of all!) also benefited from the use of the brown pen. It gave a light, airy feel to the pattern.

Also, I made use of a white gel pen to add dotty highlights. Sometimes, however, I used a finger to smudge the gel ink while it was still wet to give a softer, more natural highlight.

This was a lovely way to spend a little while in my sketchbook this morning. I hope you have a look at the video and try drawing these patterns and variations too.

Draw With Me … Shattuck and Flurry Tangle Pattern Variations

I always enjoy exploring tangle patterns and motifs. I never quite know what I’m going to end up with. Today, I stumbled upon ‘Flurry’, a tangle pattern by Suzanne McNeill CZT. It reminds me of ‘Shattuck’, which is one of my favourite tangle patterns to use as a border or ribbon filler.

So, I took a look at variations of Shattuck that I often use before having a little exploration of Flurry.

You can see these explorations, which are the top row of drawings, in today’s video on YouTube. Just click on this link.

So, as the video was uploading and processing, Used the time to draw some tripoli-style gridded patterns.

The one to the centre-right was not a happy outcome. The one to the left is much happier! It reminds me of the view through the Millenium Falcon’s windows when jumping to hyperspace, just a bit, not exactly the same. That was a fun realisation.

I didn’t do as many variations of the patterns as usual. I like the triangular shapes of the basic fragments too much.

On another positive note, I finally figured out how I can draw the tripoli style arrangement of triangles! I don’t know how long I’ve struggled with it, but finally, the penny dropped today. Huzzah!

Flor-In-Square by Anita Hou CZT – A monotangle

Oh, I had a lot of fun drawing this lovely tangle pattern for the first time! It combines both geometric and organic elements most delightfully.

I kept the colour simple and chose not to add any shadow. This one will end up as a greetings card for sure.

There is just something so satisfying in drawing such a geometrical, repetitive pattern. It’s both relaxing but needs focus.

As I was drawing it, I started to see possible variations on this tangle pattern. Those will be shared in the goodness of time!

Until then, here’s today’s video, where I show, step by step, how to draw this monotangle. If you’d be so kind as to click the ‘Watch on YouTube’ button, I’d appreciate it very much. (It helps with the algorithm that shares my videos with others!).

A Zentangle Inspired Card

Today, I made a greetings card! The top layer can be seen in the picture.

I chose to create a Zentangle Inspired tile for the card. I’m actually fairly happy with the end result. I even managed to mount the tile on the cardblank centrally. Now that’s a first for me!

I had the devil’s own job getting the video sorted and uploaded. My head is full of mush still. This time as a result of a not nice upset tummy yesterday afternoon and evening.

All the same, I got there in the end. And that is all that matters methinks.

Here’s today’s video. If you would be so kind as to click on the Watch On YouTube, I would be very appreciative as it helps with YouTube’s arcane algorithm!