Blended Sharpie Tangle

Sometimes spending a little extra time is really worth the effort. Blending Sharpies can be a time-consuming process but I don't think I have ever regretted putting the extra time in.

Just like with shading with pencil, it adds dimension to the drawing. I actually like shading/blending with Sharpies better than just shading with pencil because of the bold colors. There are times where I might be criticized for the colors that I choose because they don't match or "go together." Putting miss-matched colors together is one of my favorite things to do because you never see certain colors together and doing so makes my art stand out...or at least that's what I tell myself.

Lately when I've been blending Sharpies, I choose just a few patterns to blend instead of all of them. This makes it so that the patterns I choose to blend stand out more than the other patterns. Also, another benefit to doing it this way, is that it doesn't take quite as much time to finish the drawing.

In the video below, the drawing probably only took about an hour but the blending of the Sharpies added at least another two hours. I really like this little drawing, and apparently it's well-liked around the internet as this is one of my most viewed videos!

Tangling with Shading

When I was creating this drawing, I was thinking of different patterns that look much better when they're shaded. There are some patterns that are detailed enough where it doesn't exactly matter if they are shaded. The patterns I chose this time have gaps or overlap so the shading really adds dimension to the drawing.

Another thing that shading does is help to cover up small imperfections that happened while drawing. The shading draws your eyes away from those imperfections so you can enjoy the drawing as a whole.

I used a very basic mechanical pencil and a blending stump to shade this drawing. Shading this way is easy and is sometimes frowned upon by those in the art community. Most prefer a more technical way of shading such as crosshatching. In my opinion, to use crosshatching in a tangle, takes away from the beautiful patterns that were created.

Here is the drawing for today:

Sharpie Tangle Bookmarks - Cutting My Art

This freeform tangle I created with Sharpie and Bic Markers is a very popular video on my channel with over 500,000 views. It's one of my favorite tangles that I've done. It took maybe 2 or 3 hours to draw. I like this one a lot because I didn't overthink this drawing at all. I put colors together that probably shouldn't go together. I didn't think about shading or creating depth. Honestly it was a very simple and free tangle.

What's funny about this video is that I did cut this drawing into some bookmarks and the comments really reflected horror in me doing this. I am not one to become attached to my drawings and I knew this one was going to be cut up when I started it. Although I did like the final look of the drawing, I didn't feel upset when I cut it up for bookmarks.

There's only a few drawings that I feel any kind of emotional attachment to. My daughter asked me one time how I would feel if my drawings all caught fire or were stolen and I told her I would be grateful I no longer had to find a place to store them all. I draw because I like to draw. I don't really care about the end result which is why I sell, abandon or give away a lot of my original art. I still have several boxes of original artwork that I keep in my closet. With 4 books and 500 videos, that's a lot of art! So, cutting them up and re-purposing them is not a big deal to me.

Pretty Purple Mandala - Derwent Pencils

This mandala is actually a Zendala and was created using my Staedtler compass with a black Sharpie and my Derwent Coloursoft pencils. The colored pencils were a recent purchase and I was looking for a way to experiment with them a little bit. These are my favorite colored pencils I've ever worked with. They blend nicely and have a really good coverage unlike some less expensive colored pencils. Sometimes I think paying a lot for art supplies isn't really necessary but when it comes to colored pencils, I really recommend investing in a set that is going to be a little pricier.

Now that I've worked with these pencils for over 3 years now, I have found other techniques with these pencils that yield better results than what you will see in this video. For example using a blending marker will help the pencils blend together flawlessly.

This Zendala is one I am very happy with. There's a red and orange mandala that was very similar to this purple one that I didn't record the drawing. Here is a photo of that mandala and the video of the purple one.

Zendalas and Filming Time

Once I started learning how to mandalas, I had a goal of figuring out how to incorporate patterns within the Mandalas. The result is a product called Zendala. I had done a few of these Zendalas before but while I was sick one day, I wanted to work on a piece that was a little more intricate and technical. I decided to fill a page with these Zendalas that are both overlapping and intersecting.

This video is different as it's just a series of scanned images instead of a timelapse drawing. Being sick at the time, I didn't want to draw at my desk so I just sat on the couch huddled under my blanket and scanning the progress of the drawing every hour until it was finished. I don't like this way of filming but it is convenient when I want to draw and upload a video but I'm not feeling well enough to sit at my desk for hours.

When I talk about how long it takes to draw a piece, you can usually double that time for how long I am actually sitting at my desk. This has a lot to do with the fact that I have ADD and it's very difficult for me to focus on a project for an extended period of time when I'm not on medication.

This type of Zendala project is one I've done a few times but it does take a long time so it's not something I do very often. Watching this video again has made me want to try doing another project like this sometime soon.