I recently posted this tile with the Dew Drop tangle enhancer (AKA tanglenhancer) on one of the many Facebook pages featuring Zentangle tiles and artwork. There was such a positive reaction to these dew drops that I’ve decided to post a tutorial on how to do them.
First of all let me explain what a tanglenhancer is. It is a technique which can be added or combined with a tangle to change or enhance it’s appearance. In the case of Dew Drops it gives the appearance of water drops on the surface of the tangle.
Here are the steps to reproduce Dew Drops.
Using pencil, define where the dew drops will be when drawing your string.
Using pen, draw your tangles as usual except stop and start the lines at the edges of the dew drops.
Shade all sections except the dew drops.
TIP: Tangles that are mainly constructed of lines are easier to create as Dew Drops. Remember this when choosing tangles for this purpose.
Using your pencil, shade the dew drops as described below:
Leave an area white for the highlight.- Add a dark thin line to define the upper edge. Note: DO NOT outline the dew drop in pen.
- Lightly shade the middle of the dewdrop going almost to the the edge.
- Leave a lighter area along the edge opposite the highlight.
- Add a shadow to the outside of the dew drop opposite the highlight.
Variation: If you stop at this point the shapes will appear like pearls sitting on top of the tile.
The final step is to add the lines indicating the tangles underneath. Make sure NOT to draw over the white upper highlight.
TIP: You do not have to duplicate the exact number of lines from the tangle underneath. Start with the line(s) that would cross the middle of the dew drop. As you add lines just increase the space between them to be slightly more than the pattern underneath giving the illusion of magnification. Stop the lines just short of the dew drops edge.
With a little practice you too can enhance your tangles with Dew Drops.