15 February 2011

Hug(gin)s for Artoo

This week's challenge from I am the Diva was to draw a Zentangle or ZIA using her brand new tangle called Artoo!  What fun this was.

Here's the finished tile, and then I'll tell you its story:

Click on image to enlarge.

I started playing with Artoo, just on its own – with just a teensy touch of green for the Artoo berries (you will see that I used Mimi Lempart's beginning of Cat-Kin for the 'branches'):


Then I thought that, perhaps, it might be fun to put Huggins into the background — since that would be like a hug for Artoo (an idea which I saw used last week in the 'hearts' challenge).  And so I started laying down a grid for Huggins... "in Sepia," I thought to myself, "so it won't overwhelm the Artoo tangle."


Unfortunately, when I finished drawing behind with Huggins, I felt it had done exactly that (overwhelmed my original Artoo tangle).  So I went back in and added more to my ZT [grin].

Now, this is the fun part!

With most of the art forms I have tried my hand at over the years – whenever I thought, "that's not right, I'll add a little more" – I often ended up ruining the whole thing.

However, with Zentangle, I've found that 'adding just a little more' sometimes not only changes the design for the better, but has the potential to create something entirely 'other' – a new design (not just a 'retouched' old design)!

So, while sitting across from Gillian at Tuesday Tanglers this afternoon at the coffee shop, we discussed the various options
  1. we wondered first, perhaps, if a little more shading behind Artoo might strengthen its impact.  And then, 
  2. having quite liked that effect, we further wondered if making the edges of that shading darker and stronger might bring Artoo 'forward' of Huggins.  Yes, it did!  
  3. I decided that I wanted to add a dark centre to each Artoo 'leaf' — not bad... and then, 
  4. of course, the 'branches' weren't quite strong enough for the leaves, so I thickened them just a touch!  
  5. Finally, I decided that it probably would be okay to add the tiniest amount of shading to Huggins (I hadn't done that yet).  
And that is how I got from Artoo to Hug(gin)s and back again!
From here...


...to here (with a tile rotate – isn't there always one of those?!).

Click on image to enlarge.

By the time I was done, the sun was beginning to set... such a pretty light over the city this warm Summer's eve.  What a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.  Thank you, Laura for your lovely new tangle!

And hugs from Australia for Artoo.
xoxo

19 comments:

  1. This tile is really beautiful, Huggins works well with Artoo. Thank you for sharing your design process, complete with photos! Your leaves remind me of a plant in our garden called "wandering Jew".

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  2. Beautiful tile, Kit! What a beautiful place to live! Thanks for sharing.

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  3. This is a beautiful and peaceful tile – the shading makes it very dimensional. ARTOO is lying on a perfect fabric. Smooth and yet durable…

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  4. Kit, this is gorgeous! Very effective and 3-D.

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  5. the start it is so captivating that the final result cannot be less.still i love both-final and initial! i love the fragility in the first one and because the plants you've drawn are so unique and amazingly beautiful it seems a bit too "present" the "huggins".but that's only my humble opinion...

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  6. Very nice work....I am having a hard time with this tangle....yours is wonderful!

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  7. Beautiful concept and glad to see your Huggins turned out so well! The shading has really lifted Artoo off the weave. Great job :)

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  8. Thanks everyone!

    I agree with Ildiko. I do like the end result, but I also wish I'd done it differently. Next time I'll seriously consider a pale grey Copic marker for a solid weave behind such a delicate tangle.

    All your feedback is wonderful - thanks for taking time to stop and write your thoughts.

    Hug(gin)s to you all.

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  9. Kit, wow wow! It is spectacular as it is, sit back and appreciate!

    Hopefully I will down next Tuesday to share tangle talk and coffee!

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  10. Oh, Michele... yay!! We'd love to see you. Bring loads of tiles with you - I know you don't have very many to choose from (joking!) - and I'd love to see one of those A4 pieces in person too! [bounce]

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  11. LOL! I just replied to your comment on my blog with 'anyone can do this stuff' remark, and then I come over here to see your wonderful and accomplished creations. Gorgeous! Bevx

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  12. Morning Kit.. wow.. turned out fab.. thanks for all the info on how you did it too.. love that huggins.. will have to try it now too..lol..
    love it..
    Kath
    xx

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  13. Beautiful! I'm reminded of leaves over rippling water!

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  14. Just beautiful. I feel like I'm look at some fallen plant life on a brick patio.

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  15. Fabulous!!

    What a gorgeous piece. It turned out beautifully!

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  16. Kit - this came out Fantastic! I love the dropped shadow that you added behind Artoo!

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  17. I love how the color gives it t totally different look! Like artoos in a basket :o)

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  18. So beautifully done! Thanks for visiting my blog. I am glad I found you.

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