One Zentangle A Day: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration, and Fun (One A Day)

So far it's been a good learning experience. I really like doing these. Not sure if I'm exactly getting into the mediation mode that the author is hoping I'd attain, but I do consider what designs I want to use where. Ms. Krahula is good at trying to explain some of the drawing concepts such as shading, light placement, depth etc. There's also the use of words such as tanglenhancer, tangleation that I find bothersome but may in fact be normal words within the tangle community. The book is filled with step by step drawings for the patterns you're to learn. In the later lessons she starts to show you other ways to do tangles by adding color and how to apply tangles in other areas of art, jewelry, fabric, ornaments etc. There's also various art work from other artists that are beautiful to look at and can help you get ideas for your own work. Overall, I think this is a pretty good introduction to zentangles. It doesn't overwhelm you with material to learn. She does have a list of supplies, which I took as more of a suggestion. I didn't want to spend the money for special tiles, pens, markers etc. without knowing this was something I'd like or not. So I've just been doing these in a mixed media sketchbook. I did buy the Sakura micron pens, but they weren't that expensive. (update: Dec 2016, the sakura pens didn't last as long as I'd hoped. I ended up replacing them with Faber Castell Pitt artist pens. The tips on these are larger, (longer?), so it seems that they should last longer. They are very smooth and I haven't had any bleed through. They come in similar sizes as the microns so these are a good substitute IMO.) I'd say give this a try it's fun to do. Not very time consuming, unless you want it to be. A nice outlet for creativity and for those of us who like to doddle

This is a perfect first-timer Zentangle book. It really motivated me to start drawing again. After this book I got The Art of Zentangle: 50 Inspiring drawings for the meditative artist, which was a great second book after this one! I did love Krahula's approach to zentangle. She makes you appreciate the moment, the pens you use, and the paper or tiles you're using. It's all very relaxing and fun. Now I'm doing how to draw books and getting better and better. When I first started I hadn't drawn in years and very much felt like a non-drawer. I have a lot more confidence now and it all started with this book. I even think I might do this book all over again and I would still create different tiles. She recommends you use artist tiles, I did for some, but later I started doing it in a journal using high quality paper and I loved it. I'd like to add that I bought this book when my mom was fighting cancer and I was devastated. It did help me calm down and find some peace while I was going through a tough time. It wasn't a magic cure, but it made some moments better. I also got the book for my mom, but she was mostly too sick to enjoy it. She didn't make it and the loss was/is devastating but I still have the art to help me through. I feel like this book helped my path.

I own several books on Zentangle. This is the first one I got and the one that got me into it, and it is the best of the lot, but there is certainly room for improvement. First the pros: I like that it is organized as a series of daily lessons that build upon each other. This si the book's greatest strength. This encourages you to make Zentangle a daily practice, or at least a frequent/regular one. I did more than one lesson per day early on and later had to skip days or take longer to do some of them, partly due to my schedule, and partly because the projects became more time-consuming (and costly) later in the book. This also encourages you to try things--media and patterns and techniques that you might not otherwise try. The other books are not structured this way, but are more like random collections of stuff with a bunch of tangle step-outs (visual instructions for how to draw the patterns) appended. That said, there is generally something worthwhile in the random collections of stuff, but what is lacking is structure. This book takes the newbie or experienced tangler through various principles and techniques of art while introducing new tangles at a pace that makes it easy to integrate them into your practice. It also has you keeping a sketchbook as a place for practicing new patterns and techniques and working out ones of your own, another valuable art practice. The cons: As I mentioned earlier, the materials used in the projects get more costly as the book progresses. If you are buying everything recommended, it could get a bit pricey. That said, you will then have a nice collection of materials with which to continue your practice. I wish that the author had given some time to sustainable art materials. Some of the things she recommends, such as Gelatos and all those disposable markers and pens, are just grossly over packaged and lead to more plastic waste. There are various refillable technical (i.e. Rapidosketch, etc.) and fountain pens that use bottled inks and which are more affordable and less wasteful in the long run. And, as others have mentioned, the book would be better with better editing. Overall, this is the best introduction to Zentangle that I have seen and would give someone new to this practice a firm foundation in the discipline, and would fill in gaps and expand the horizons of someone who started tangling with a more random approach. To those critics who say that Zentangle is some evil, corporate patented form of doodling designed to profit those who founded it, I have this to say: that is nonsense--you can practice this art form without ever buying any Zentangle-branded merchandise--all you need are technical pens of the appropriate nib sizes, permanent black ink for them (and other colors as you see fit), ordinary graphite art pencils of any brand you want, a couple of stumps available at any art store, and quality paper. The branded Zentangle tiles are made from Fabriano Tiepolo paper, which is available at any real art store in big sheets that you can cut down to 3.5" squares for a lot less money, but most any quality printmaking paper (such as Stonehenge) or 90-140 pound watercolor paper cut to size will do. You can use a library card to borrow a book for free, or just visit any of the numerous websites now available (Tangle Patterns, for example), thus starving the alleged corporate beast. Or you could just keep complaining rather than trying out what may prove to be an accessible and enjoyable entry (or re-entry) point into the visual arts.

Livre en anglais - Très bien pour aborder le Zentangle

Muy bueno

Das Buch hält, was es verspricht: in sechs Wochen lernt man nach und nach die Grundmuster der neuen Entspannungskunst Zentangle kennen. Leicht verwandt mit dem klassischen Formenzeichnen sind Zentangle zunächst in kleine Quadrate (im Buch werden 8x8 cm empfohlen) gemalte Muster, die "Schritt für Schritt"-Zeichenmethode führt dabei rasch zu Konzentration auf das Tun und damit zu geistiger Entspannung. Anders als bei Formenzeichnen haben die Muster also einen festen, kleinen Rahmen, was den Effekt hat, dass auch Zeichenanfänger nicht erst einmal wie geschockt vor einem großen weißen Blatt sitzen und Hemmungen überwinden müssen, ordentlich groß loszumalen. Die kleine Form erleichtert den Einstieg enorm. Jeden Tag lernt man zwei bis drei neue Muster kennen, zwischendurch wird das Erlernte vertieft, indem man z.B. Muster kombinieren oder Licht und Schatten einfügen soll. Auch bei völlig unbegabten Menschen (mancher kann einfach nicht frei zeichnen) entstehen so hübsche kleine Kunstwerke, man ist selbst verblüfft, mit welch simplen Mitteln man schöne Effekte erzielen kann. Am Ende gibt es noch interessante Erweiterungen wie selbsterstellte Mandalas, Buchstabenmuster und Malen auf schwarzem Papier. Man braucht dazu nicht die Menge an Materialien, die am Anfang des Buches dargestellt wird, eine Din-A 6 Kladde mit Blankoseiten, weiche Bleistifte und Buntstifte reichen völlig. Egal, ob am Abend nach der Arbeit (oder morgens im Zug auf dem Weg dahin), im Urlaub, am Wochenende oder sogar im Wartezimmer, hat man die Muster erstmal erlernt, kann man mit wenig Material und Aufwand jederzeit entspannend tätig werden.

Ottimo acquisto, arrivato nei tempi previsti, ben imballato, senza danni o segni di usura. Ben illustrato e con spiegazioni esaurienti.

As a beginner Zentangler, I asked for suggestions on what books to start with. One Zentangle A Day was the most suggested and I'm so glad I listened. It is beautifully illustrated and well written with concise, easy to follow instructions on how to create beautiful patterns and tangles. I found it easy to follow and not overwhelming. Each chapter gives an outline of what is entailed and has a week long daily activity with a pattern or patterns to learn. It is meant to be covered in six weeks with six chapters, each with seven lessons per chapter, but can easily be adapted to your own pace and schedule. It starts with an introduction to Zentangle and gives a list of suggested supplies but many people start simply with paper and pen. Along with the book, I bought some Zentangle tiles and micron pens, but found that I wasn't ready to start creating on tiles yet and instead picked up a small sketchbook to practice in. The tiles are beautiful though to be able to create a finished Zentangle on. I'm so glad I bought this book. For me, it is not a book to be raced through in six weeks. I am going through it slowly, almost savouring everything I am learning and enjoying the time to slow down and immerse myself in the experience. It's a book I will return to over and over again.