One of my favorite things to share with Zentangle students is shading and highlighting the tangles. Creating the tangles is relaxing and inspiring. There are endless designs we can lay down on paper with pen and ink, focusing on one pen stroke at a time. But the amazing tangles can inspire wonder when they become three dimensional with shading. We use graphite pencil and then blend the graphite with a paper tortillon to create the illusion of depth and shadows. Then we finish off the effect with white charcoal to add light and height to contrast with the graphite shadows.
In addition to the variety in tangles, we use white tiles, tan, grey, black or we can create a colorful background and tangle on top of that. Whether creating art with others or doing it on my own in the garden or on my couch with a drawing board in my lap, I always find Zentangle relaxing.
