Zentangle Inspired Art Phase

 
I went through a phase starting around June 2013 that lasted until around September. I did a lot of these Zentangle Inspired Art. I would draw something I saw online and then put patterns inside the negative space. I enjoyed this phase quite a bit and learned a lot about how I liked to shade. I really wish the scans of the drawings would show the shading at true value, but it's very muted compared to real life.

A lot of the images I would use would be some clip art or photo I found online and I would redraw it and tweak it to something I liked better and then add some patterns. It was nothing I could claim as original so I was still trying to find my niche in the Tangle world.

I still love creating this type of artwork. It's fun and a great way to try new patterns without having to think about where to put the next pattern because the lines are already on the page.

These are not the only ZIA I've done. It's a fun, quick release of creative energy for me. These five are the ones I did consecutively (or close to it) on my channel as I was going through that phase. I really recommend trying this out. Even if you can't draw, you can trace the images and fill it in with patterns.

Here's some videos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1000 Subscribers?!

This drawing and this video still make me smile. I never thought I would reach 1000 subscribers and my goal for my channel was to reach 500 subscribers by the end of the year. The fact that I had doubled my goal in six months (June 29, 2013) made me realize that I was right to start the channel to begin with. It is amazing to me now that I have close to 35,000 subscribers. I can't even comprehend that many people watching my videos!

I remember smiling the whole time I was drawing this and thinking about how happy I was that I went with my gut and started the channel. I still hadn't gotten a first paycheck from YouTube videos, so it certainly was not the money that was keeping me going. It was the comments, the inbox messages and the words of encouragement that I would receive on all of my videos that kept me going. I was still trying to figure things out as far as how I was going to put my "Stamp" on what I do. I knew I wanted to be able to put a drawing out in the world and my followers to clearly see "Yes, that was done by Tiffany Lovering" but I hadn't figured out how just yet. It was around this time that I was starting to put tangle patterns inside of real life things like a dog, butterfly horse...(I discuss this more in my next post).

I am grateful for every single one of my subscribers. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be where I am now. I think about this a lot. If I had just kept my drawings to myself, if I hadn't uploaded that first video, if I hadn't put my work out into the world what on earth would I be doing right now? Editing books and writing novels is my guess, but I certainly can't say for sure. I had no idea what my YouTube channel would lead to when I started. There's no way I could imagine that I would have 3 DVD's released and a drawing book coming out soon. I also had no idea I would be teaching online classes for my drawing style.

I will never forget the feeling I had when I saw that I reached 1000 subscribers. It was a huge sense of accomplishment. Every single time I reach a milestone on my channel, I think back to when I reached 1000 subscribers because it was the first time I knew I was reaching people by doing something I loved. There's no better feeling than that I don't think.

Here's the video:

True Zentangles and CZT Status

When I figured out that I couldn't conform and stick to what a "true" Zentangle is, I was still labeling my videos as a Zentangle video. What I was drawing was different than a Zentangle but would still appeal to people interested in Zentangle. It was sort of confusing to me and to some of my viewers that what I was doing was not what the originators of the Zentangle art describe. Eventually I went with the label of Zentangle Inspired Art and I used that terminology to describe my art until I continued to branch out and figure out what I liked. I did create a video on May 10, 2013 called "True Zentangle and Clarification" to explain what I was doing. (As I'm writing this blog post, I am wondering if this was my last "true" Zentangle I posted on my channel.)

This was a quickie drawing taking only about an hour or so. I like the way it looks, and think it is a decent Zentangle drawing for a quickie. Granted, there's no shading but I specifically remember not wanting to spend any more time on a style of drawing I didn't particularly enjoy at the time. The string of the Zentangle that starts off the drawing always felt constricting and the lack of color to be used in a Zentangle always bothered me. I love color.

Labeling my videos as "Zentangle" also brought the question "Are you a Certified Zentangle Teacher?" I still get this question occasionally but not nearly as much as I did in 2013. If you don't know, I am NOT a CZT and do not intend on becoming a CZT. I did consider it. I looked into it and when I saw how much money it was going to cost, what would happen at the conferences to become "certified", and so forth, I quickly realized that this path was not for me. I was already losing the desire to fit into the Zentangle "Box" and so it didn't make sense for me to invest a large amount of money into becoming a CZT. I now have a line in every one of my video descriptions to answer this question. It states:
                              I am NOT a CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) nor do I intend on becoming a CZT.  Although some of my art can be considered a "Zentangle" - MOST are what I call "Freeform Tangles". Although I use a lot of the same patterns, my creations are MUCH less restrictive than traditional Zentangle.

Here's the video:

Using Negative Space

This was from May 2013. I was trying to think of something different to do and thought of having negative space for a picture and drawing tangle patterns (Zentangle style) around it.

This is not a very technical drawing but I must admit that I really like it. I used patterns that were kind of new to me and a few of my favorites.

I am constantly going back to this drawing and thinking I should do more negative space tangles but this is the only one I've done. I'm not sure why, maybe just because I get other ideas that override the desire to make a negative space tangle.

I did use a bit of shading with a Prismacolor marker. I'm not to pleased with how well it was done but I was very proud of myself for not being afraid to shade. It definitely looks better with the shading and that was the goal!

The video commentary was a bit different. I don't normally talk about things in the news, but I came across an article that made me quite angry so I shared it. Anyway here is the video....