Zentangle

Art I project

In this project I introduced the students to zentangles. The basic idea is simple. A Zentangle is designed to increase focus and creativity. Instead of planning out everything with sketches and rough drafts, students have to focus on random drawings that deal with pattern designs. It's lots of fun. Some students will find it difficult to focus on a repetitive drawing but others will become so absorbed in their drawing that the whole room will fall silent. There are lots of websites with Zentangle patterns. http://www.zentangle.com/ This is the official zentangle website

Materials:

• Drawing paper
• ink pens

Process:

1. First, put a dot in each corner. Then draw a line to connect each corner and form the edges of the Zentangle. The rule is that you can not use any rulers because that's not what Zentangles are all about. So, it doesn't matter if the edge is straight or wavy.
2. Next, divide the space up into sections by drawing random lines across the paper. 
3. Inside the sections begin drawing random patterns and designs. 

My Example

Student Examples

Pen and ink drawing

This was an Art I project where students were learning about different shading techniques such as stippling, hatching, crosshatching, and scumbling. 

Materials

• Ink pen
• Drawing paper
• Something to draw ( I used assorted fruit and plastic flowers)

Process

1. Each student had a textured flower and some sort of fruit or vegetable at their table. Each student had to create a drawing from observation of what was on their desk. 
2. The drawings had to be done by an ink pen. Each drawing had to be large enough to touch three sides of their paper and they had to use three different shading techniques. 
3. I encouraged them to look for both texture and value when they were shading.