Wednesday, February 6, 2013

One Zentangle a Day: Day 4, part 2

This just in from Martha and Maria.

Marty Deckel writes:
 
First of all, thanks to Ellen for hosting today!  I really like how your shading came out.  I also, love Shattuck...it"s been one of my favorites since I first saw it! 
 
I think I got carried away with my shading, focusing too much on being sure that my light source was visible...ugh!  But I really enjoyed the exercises and the tangle patterns today.
 

Day  4 OZAD

Martha, I respectively disagree. I like what you've done with the shading.  I think it is very dramatic. 

Maria Vennekens says:

Day 4 already, with 3 fun tangles to do.

I don’t know about the shading information  Beckah gives.  I never heard Zentangle shading works with a light source on one side of the tile. Shading is used to lighten/ lift some parts of the drawing, to darken/ push to the background some other parts, to create movement, to create rounding etcetera.

The two example tiles on page 31 do not follow the rule of light source on one side; shadow on the other side. ( in both nipa orbs – festune have opposite shading) Also in the whole book I can hardly find a tile which is shaded using this rule. I think this is very confusing for someone who tries to learn to draw Zentangle with this book as a guide.

What do you, as the shading expert that you are, think about this?

IMG 8173

Maria, I agree with you about shading for all of the reasons you mentioned, but I also don't think about a light source when shading my Zentangle art. I find it unnecessarily confusing.

If the truth be told, I was about half done when I got Beckah's book and read her advice on shading and was very upset. I value her opinion and know that she is very talented and has years of experience in the art world. And I totally disagree with this. I was convinced that I didn't know what I was talking about and almost quit working on my book. Thankfully, my supportive friends and family (thank you Diana and Alexa) convinced me that this is an opinion and not a fact and that neither one is more valid than another.

I also opened lots of books and searched many blogs to see if others use a light source when they are shading. Like you, I find that the vast majority do not.

I am glad that there is no right or wrong in Zentangle and that we can welcome differing opinions.

4 comments:

  1. Glad to have this point raised - I'm committed to a few other things at present but desperately want to work through the book too - perhaps I can do that later on using your posts as a guideline??
    I've been snatching moments to glance at Beckah's book & was rather confused by the light source....... I thought shading tangles was precisely not according to light source.
    Paula (PEP)
    PS. find I'm eagerly looking for your posts to see what is being discussed though I'm not able to join in & hoping my birthday in August might include Made in the Shade.

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    Replies
    1. Paula,
      Thanks for your comment. I'm glad to know that somebody out there is reading what we are working so hard on. :-)

      The posts aren't going anywhere. Join in whenever you want.

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  2. Funny how we are all reading the same page, and have different opions about it. The shading while using a light source for me was just an exercise. An idea about how you can think when you are shading. For me it was just an extra for those who wants to take shading to another level. And I know that a lot of my students don't shade because they find it hard to see where and how. And then I use an actual light source and show them where a shade can be. And most of them find that very usefull, just to start with shading.
    Hope to learn more about it in Cris' book.

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  3. Marty: You're welcome and thank you for the compliment. Blush!

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Your comments brighten my day. Thanks.

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