Testimonials
Zentangles have been the focus of a number of peer-reviewed studies showing that they can support wellbeing by, e.g., reducing anxiety and feelings of stress. Participants in our workshops have noted how absorbing it is to concentrate on Zentangle patterns, and how doing to helps create distance from distracting or unpleasant thoughts. They have also remarked that working on the more detailed patterns, in particular, forced them to stop rushing so much – and to value the process of doing as much as the final product; this represented a significant (and much appreciated) shift from their normal mindset.
What it is
The Zentangle method was developed by a husband-and-wife team who noticed how both meditation and drawing could help people feel calm and achieve a pleasant feeling of focus on nothing but the task in front of them [1]. Working together, they created a style of drawing that was simple enough to be accessible to everyone, but complex enough to initiate the enjoyable, rejuvenating ‘flow’ state [2]. Zentangle patterns can be drawn individually or in combination, using pen and paper or incorporated into projects worked in other media – even clay or jewellery. This enables ‘tanglers’ to spend as much or as little time as they want working on their drawing.
What you need
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Paper. Regular printer paper is fine, but it is common to work Zentangles in squares (more suitable for creating mosaics), so you may want to cut or tear rectangular paper to size, or you could invest in some ready-made ‘artist tiles’.
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Pen or pencil. Many more advanced Zentanglers use a specialty toolset that contains implements for drawing, shading, and highlighting; you may also enjoy using something like coloured pencils or markers to add colour. However, this is optional.
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If you prefer working digitally, you can also create Zentangles on an tablet – for example, on an iPad in the Procreate app.
What you do
Experiment with the Zentangle technique using the videos below, or the step-by-step instructions in the downloadable linked above. If you enjoy the experience, you can find countless more patterns (and combinations of patterns) in books such as Rebecca Krahula’s One Zentangle a Day [3] or the ten-book series by Suzanne McNeill [4]. There are also many Zentangle artists who post daily drawings and demos on platforms such as Instagram (for example, see @zen.linea, @zendoodle_academy, and the official account @zentangleinc).
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Zentangle how-to videos
Citations
[1] https://zentangle.com/pages/how-did-zentangle-begin
[2] https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-flow-2794768
[3] Krahula, R. (2012). One Zentangle a day: A 6-week course in creative drawing for relaxation, inspiration, and fun. Quarry Books.
[4] The first book of which is: McNeill, S. (2013). Zentangle Basics. Design Originals.