Adventures in Doodling

I was messing around with some Zen Doodle ideas and decided to make a sign for my sister and brother-in-law with their last name and lots of doodles. I did this a few months ago, but since it was a Christmas present for them, I couldn't post it and ruin the surprise. I had several trial and error pages and made changes up to the final copy, but got it done eventually. I made the draft on regular sketch paper, then used a light board to transfer it onto good paper in pen so it would be clean and crisp. Below is the final product.

I always do a show-and-tell type deal with my co-workers, where I bring in my "creations" to show everyone. One of my co-workers liked the sign and asked if I'd make one for him. So I did. Same idea, but a little less trial and error with this one. The image is below.

I like doing the signs, maybe make some posters with lyrics or what have you, but that is still an idea in progress.

Zentangle

So, lately I've been getting into Zentangle. It started with the adult coloring. I really liked coloring the mandalas, so I figured I should learn how to make them. I bought a book at Barnes and Noble called " Mandala Zentangle: The mindful way to create" by Jane Marbaix. I started with a few tangles and just took off from there. These are my first attempts at tangles.

As with I am with most things, I get obsessive, so of course I bought some more books, a sketch pad, some pens, a ruler, protractors and stencils. A bit overboard, but I've been enjoying it! Since the first two practices shown above, I've created quite a few tangles. 

Practicing with lettering. Could be a coaster ;)

More practice. Some are better than others!

Paw stencil!

This next one came out really cool. I was just playing around with some different ideas.

A friend wanted me to make him some bookmarks, you know, for real books, not the ebook kind. So since we're both Ironmen, I figured I'd go with that theme. The M-dot is a TM symbol though, so I couldn't sell anything made with it, but I can still create with it! I made 4, these are my two favorites. 

This latest tangle turned out pretty cool. Just intersected a few circles of the same size and went to town. I've found a lot of tangle ideas on Pinterest, so I'm going to play around a bit more with those. You can tell the tangles I like most and/or am most comfortable with. I'm looking forward to practicing with some new ones.