FREE and Easy Zentangle® Step-by-Step Patterns

how to Zentangle patterns for beginners

We are a big fan of practicing anything meditative, and that can include creating art as a way to unwind and relieve stress.

That’s why we’ve put together this FREE eBook full of Zentangle patterns for beginners with step-by-step instructions!

If you’re open to it, you’ll find the peacefulness that comes with creating Zentangle art. Go ahead and download this free eBook, take a trip to your nearest coffeeshop, and give these beginner Zentangle patterns a try. After you give it a go, you might be surprised at how refreshed and rejuvenated you feel afterwards!

Zentangle can be a healing art, and that’s why we’re happy to offer you our FREE guide: Easy Zentangle patterns for beginners step by step instructions from the experts!

Download Your Free Zentangle® Patterns and Instructions Today!

What is Zentangle?

Example Zentangle pattern
Zentangle pattern by Kass Hall

“In 2005, the Zentangle concept was born when calligrapher Maria Thomas described to her partner the sense of focus, well-being and relaxation she felt while creating background patterns on a manuscript,” writes Hall. “A former Buddhist monk, her partner, Rick Roberts, recognized this state as one of meditation. Together they worked toward creating a system that would teach and encourage others to experience the same sensations.”

What’s the difference between tangling and doodling?

“There has been much debate over what Zentangle really is,” says Trish Reinhart, author of Creative Tangle: Creating Your Own Patterns for Zen-Inspired Art. “There are those who think it’s nothing more than ‘mindless doodling.’ Which then escalates to asking, ‘Can doodling really be considered an art form?’ I view doodling and Zentangle as totally different exercises, each serving a specific purpose.”

Doodling = Personal

Learn how to use Zentangle: FREE tutorials!
Blue Fleur (Sakura Pigma Micron pen, colored paper, Sakura Gelly Roll pen, Flourish stencil) by Geneviève Crabe, Certified Zentangle Teacher. Featured in Creative Tangle by Trish Reinhart

“Ordinary doodling serves two purposes,” Reinhart says. “The first is just to mindlessly pass time. This type of doodling is what students draw on the cover of their notebooks when they’re bored during a history lecture. The images and wording on the cover of that notebook appear random and disconnected. Doodling’s second purpose is to serve as a form of journaling, which is commonly found in scrapbook pages. In journaling, the text itself becomes art.”

Zentangle = Purposeful

Reinhart goes on to explain: “A Zentangle’s intertwining patterns have a definite flow and rhythm. You could draw a Zentangle on a notebook, but it wouldn’t look like an ordinary doodle. Although it’s not in the standard square format, it does connect and relate to the confines of the page, either flowing from the top to the bottom of a paper’s edge or unfurling from one corner. Journaling can be incorporated into a Zentangle as long as it lies within a quadrant or becomes part of the overall pattern, again, with purpose and connectivity.

“Some of the best ways to successfully apply a Zentangle in scrapbooking are to draw directly on the corner or edge of the scrapbook paper or decorate mats to frame the pictures on the page. With scrapbooking, you can certainly throw a Zentangle into the same arena as doodling, but you wouldn’t consider a doodle suitable for framing and hanging on your wall. Some Zentangle patterns are so interesting and beautiful, you’ll want to showcase them as works of art!”

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