Zentangle Untangled (15 page)

Colored pencils are about the easiest art material to get hold of, and they don’t have to be expensive. Many brands have excellent student-and kids-quality colored pencils that are sufficient to get started. Wait until you know you’ll use them before investing in an expensive set.

Colored pencil are a fantastic way to add color to your Zentangle art; because they can be sharpened to a fine point, they’re also great for detail. Each of the big brands have their pros and cons: Prismacolor pencils blend superbly, but I find the leads break easily if I apply any pressure. Faber-Castell are beautiful but expensive. Derwent are also very good but can sometimes be a little too waxy. It’s all about personal preferences. Play with each (all can be purchased singularly) and get a feel for what works best for you. You really only need a small set (maybe twenty-four) to get started.

I remember a few years ago seeing an ad for Inktense pencils in a magazine. They looked sublime but were not yet available in Australia. So I ordered the 72-color tin online—a huge gamble, but one that paid off beautifully. They are every bit as awesome as I’d hoped, and I think the best product in the Derwent range. When dry, they become waterproof and lose none of their pigmentation.

The vibrancy of the colors and their versatility—you can use them wet or dry—make them a must-have.

Derwent has released Inktense blocks—sticks shaped and used like hard pastels, but still water-soluble. They bring a new use to Inktense, especially in covering larger areas. My art-materials addiction has been further assisted by these beauties!

Having that variety of applications makes Inktense a fantastic companion to Zentangle. The combination of the waterproof Sakura pens and the vibrant Derwent colors is a treat; the colors can be as bright or subtle as you want to make them. The thicker the color application, the more opaque it becomes. Play with your Inktense pencils; do some test pages of half-wet, half-dry color to get a true sense of what these pencils are capable of producing.

Ahh, ink—a material for the ages and one of the loveliest to use still. There is a reason it has lasted through the centuries.

The beauty of time and technology means that inks have developed in opacity, lightfastness and quality. This is great news for tangle enthusiasts (many have high-quality skills with ink because they have a calligraphy background), and the relationship between the two art forms is clear.

In these pieces, I’ve used a variety of inks. Look for high-quality, pigmented inks to use; the color will be more consistent and vibrant. Use a watercolor brush, high-quality pens (try using calligraphy nibs for drawing lines) or a waterbrush filled with ink. Be sure that when you’re using pens with your liquid inks, they have waterproof ink (like the Sakura Pigma Microns or Copic Multiliners), or things will get messy fast!

Another type of ink many crafters will know is the Tim Holtz Distress Ink line by Ranger Industries. Tim has a range of Distress Ink pads and now stains. You can use these in a variety of ways. I often use them as the bottom layer of color, and they give a beautiful background, foundation and dimension for gorgeous Zentangle art.