Zentangle Basics: A Creative Art form Where All You Need Is Paper Pencil & Pen

by Suzanne McNeill

Decrease stress and increase your creativity and focus with the intuitive art of Zentangle®. Pen and paper are the only things you need to begin creating these simple, yet intricate designs. Discover how various shapes and textures fuse together to become tangles all your own. Zentangle Basics introduces you to the hottest trend in decorative doodling. Using only pen and paper, you will learn to make 24 basic Zentangles as well as inspiration for incorporating these designs into your art. Zentangles can be used to decorate wearables and home decor objects as well as cards, scrapbook pages and journals. Best of all, you can do this even if you have never drawn anything before.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Crafts, Drawing, Self Help, Design

16 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Cataline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, not impressed with this book. I learned more from blogs that gave better instructions and visuals for the exact same tangles. To see if I might be too much of a critic I had someone else read through the book...they gave me an exasperated look and said they didn't even want to give it a try. That furthered the disappointment.

My personal suggestion - if you are really just starting out visit Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas's website for the traditional, you don't have to be an artist, stress relief version of how to start tangling.

[Terri · Rating 1 out of 5]

I normally read the reviews...Didn't on this one, wish I had. This book has very few pages. Some designs are shown with others so you really have to look to see how each separate design is made. Very much a waste of dollars.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A zentangle is a very creative artform where the artist starts with a simple line structure such as a zigzag line, half-moons, a symmetric design of small squares or even simple crosses. From this beginning, the pattern is either repeated or filled in to create a completed black-and-white design.
The end results are simplistic yet elaborate. While they require a steady hand, none of the images are beyond the skills of even the minimally talented with pen and paper. If the simpler ones are selected, they can be the subject of even the early years of the K-12 education.
Like all good books that introduce new art forms, it is easy to imagine variations of the patterns contained in this book. I highly recommend it to all people that love drawing and want to try something different.

[Dawn Livingston · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book seems too complex for basics. It's covered in all kinds of zentangles that it doesn't show you how to do. I think the idea is that you can do anything, make up anything and make it a zentangle. It does show you how to get started and that's helpful but I would have preferred more examples of drawing particular zentangles. I am a slow starter and I need to see how something is drawn one step at a time in order to do it, and be able to look back at it as often as needed in order to remember it.

If you are going to get a Zentangle book than this seems like a good one to start with, but I would also consider going on line and typing in "Zentangle basics."

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice book that explains how to make zentangles, even has pages in the back for trying out the different styles.

Book also explains the difference between Zentangles and other artwork along similar lines.

[Sandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Untangling Zentangling

Loved this book! It breaks down the basics of zen tangling so well! Learning and reproducing the these complex designs is very therapeutic. Can’t wit to make my own designs!

[Elaine Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good stand alone for beginner Zentangle basics. It is a workbook with plenty of room for you to practice, you can copy sheets to practice at home with out marking up your book and try mixing the designs. Seeing all the different combinations you can make.

[Sean Morrish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve never even considered doing zentangles before. Hadn’t even heard of them. I saw this book, by chance, in my public library, and picked it up.
It’s a very short read, and a good way to dip your toes into Zentangles, though I can imagine there is far more information out there.

[Nadina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good simple book to start out with Zentangle's. I liked that it gave suggestions for younger kids and how to use it in an educational context.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some basic zentangle designs with plenty of work space to give them a try yourself. Also some ideas of what to do with this skill.

[Dr Wheatley · Rating 1 out of 5]

No information at all

This “book” is totally useless. Only a few pages and no detail at all. Save your money and don’t waste your time.

[Taylor Ashbrook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, basic introduction

A solid overview, a lot of good examples and suggestions, and a good number of good beginner tangles. Really a simple but comprehensive introduction.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific book for beginners to the Zentangle art form. Well written and helpful. However, I would have liked more stepouts of the patterns. The book is rather short for the price.

[Riki Neilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great place to start if you wanna learn more about Zentangle! This is a beginner book for sure, if you don’t even know what Zentangle is..start here!!

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new craft tool I'm trying out. Probably got more info from the website but there are steps to some basic designs. I checked the ebook out from the library so I would have an offline reference for an upcoming vacation.
Short - part of a series which I will also check out but will probably only include this on my read list.
don't recommend looking at on a small screen- the descriptions and the designs dont show up together and the end list of designs is all garbled.

[Heather Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zentangle Basics by Suzanne McNeill has remained my favourite even though I own four other related book. She starts from the beginning listing the few materials that you need to get started and what ages this art form would be appropriate, ages five and up. Very quickly, Suzanne gets you started with your first drawing. She shows step by step illustrations of how to draw each tangle, both as a full square of each and then as part of a mulit-tangle drawing. In all she show 24 step by step tangles.

One of the best features of the book, are the images of completed tangles drawn using the illustrated tangles. She also gives lots of ideas of how and where to use Zentangles in your daily activities.

No matter that I own several other Zentangle books, this is the one that I keep coming back to time and again. I highly recommend Zentangle Basics for anyone wanting to start this type of drawing. This book is widely available from most book retailers and even from some quilt shops and art stores.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently took a Zentangle class and I loved it. And it is true that anyone can do it. It is fun and relaxing if you enjoy doodling or drawing or any type of creativity. This first workbook can give anyone a start on learning to do Zentangle and it is fairly inexpensive to begin. The book is under $10 and you only need some paper, a pen and a pencil to begin. If you want to go fancy, you can get some of the fancier pens and paper but there's no need if you can't or don't desire to do so. I would recommend this to anyone who want to find a way to get lost for a little while. This creative work will help you to feel better, relax and show you that if you want to you, you can be creative.

[Recynd · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the title states, the book covers the very basics of Zentangle, a form of focused doodling.

I would recommend this 20-some page workbook to anyone interested in learning the Zentangle way (frankly, it's much cheaper than the $50 starter kit offered on the Zentangle website, and includes most--if not all--of the information in the kit, though not the supplies: a decent art pen, good paper, and a pencil).

If you are looking for a REALLY terrific doodle guide, I would suggest "Totally Tangled" by Sandra Bartholomew.

[Arwen Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book that offers patterns. Some you get to tease out yourself while others are laid out for you. This is a book adults and children can learn from.

It is called "basics" because that is what it offers. The basics of Zentangle. I do highly recommend taking a Zentangle class as well. The value of an in-person learning experience cannot be emphasized enough.

Still this book is one that I turn to again and again for inspiration in my own tangling work.

[Inga · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one gives a nice but short introoduction to Zentangle drawing and a few example of Zentangle patterns. It is quite expensive for its 20 pages and there are not that many patterns. But you can look at some example drawings in the book and find some more. So as a basic first book this is useful but sure you would want a bit more to go on.

[Gevera Piedmont · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kids' book. Less than 20 pages. The only useful information is a few tangles to try, but those are everywhere online. Save your money unless you're a teacher who wants to use this for an art project.

[Gigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you remember how you used to doodle when you were a kid sitting in a boring classroom with a teacher droning blah, blah, blah? And sometimes your doodles were a work of art? Well, Zentangle proves that doodling is a work of art and not only that, it's a meditation too! Wow!

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for some explanation about how/what is Zentangle. There is a ton of information on the web but no detailed instructions. I got a bit more info from this book but not enough to clear it up. A lot of how great it is but no details. Book 2 of the search

[Ann L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great basic beginner book for the art of Zentangles. If you know absolutely nothing about drawing Zentangles, this book is for you. You will need to get another book for more advanced ideas and skills though.

[Roseanne]

I'm hooked.....what can I say?

[Annieb · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars because it is so thin

[Kel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My new crafting obsession.

[Ami · Rating 2 out of 5]

The whole concept of zentangle is so weird to me because while it's perfectly obvious, I also can't figure it out on my own. Probably not the best book though; a thin volume.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably best for a true beginner when it comes to drawing. If you already have some basic drawing skills, you will want more than this book offers.

[Joanna Slan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect starter book for anyone wanting to learn the basics of Zentangle.