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