Shapes of Doodle Art

Doodle Art is a free form meditative art, which means that every line is freely drawn using the hand. You do not need to use rules, compasses or protractors in creating your tangles and definitely not mechanical aids to lend you those perfect edges. All you need is a pen and paper, literally.
In getting you started with your Tangles, I have roughly presented in the previous chapter that there are different types of patterns that are commonly used in Doodle Art. I will be presenting in detail a few of the basic patterns in this chapter, along with simple steps on how to create these designs. Remember once again that these patterns are meant to simply get you started with your Doodle Art and not to be the central design of your every Art Piece. Use these patterns as initial designs to help you get started, from there you can easily create patterns of your own in order to achieve that personalized your Doodle Art.

1. Basic Freehand Squared Grid
This is a basic shape to base your tangles on, all it takes is to draw repetitive parallel lines horizontally and vertically. These lines do not have to be drawn exactly straight, they may be curved or distorted. The steps for this tangle grid include:
1. Base your shape by drawing a primary horizontal line right in the middle of your outline.
2. Form a cross in the middle of your outline by drawing a vertical line right in the center of your outline, intersecting your previously drawn horizontal line. These steps does not have to be in the exact order, you can establish your vertical line first prior to your horizontal or vice versa.
3. Determine by visual estimation where you would want the rest of your lines to fall. Make sure that as you draw your lines they are parallel to each other and are equally spaced.

Do not worry too much if your lines seem to be in a disarray and are not as straight (or curved) as you would want them to be. Just continue with your work and as you add more details into your doodle, these minor “imperfections” can just as easily be drowned by and hidden (or enhanced) by your details.

2. Freehand Diamond-Shaped Grid
This tangle is basically almost the same as creating freehand square grids but instead of using crosses, we will be using X’s to establish the basic repetitive patterns in the sections. The simple steps to create this Zentangle are:
1. Right in the middle of your outline, draw a diagonal inclining from left to right.
2. In the same manner draw a similar diagonal in the middle of your outline, but this time inclining from right to left. These two diagonal base lines should be mirror images of each other. These first two steps can be interchangeable and you can choose to do Step 2 first the Step 1, whichever you choose the final output should be the same, which is an X right in the middle of your outline.
3. Draw repetitive lines that are parallel to one of your base lines, making sure that the lines are drawn equally spaced to each other.
4. Do the same to the mirror image of your base line.
5. You can choose to vary the diamond tangle by adding additional horizontal or vertical lines passing through the points where the diagonal lines intersect.

3. Freehand Ogee-Shaped Grid
This tangle involves the repetitive formation of fluid curved lines that are not in parallel with each other. The final product of this tangle pattern offers a sort of “scaly” concept and can be drawn in a variety of techniques. The method I will be providing you in this books involves the use of dots arranged in an orderly manner on your outline.
1. Place four dots in your outline, mimicking the vertices of an evenly cornered diamond, right at a single corner. The distance between these dots would determine the size of your ogee, the father apart they are the wider your ogee would be while the closer they are to each other, the smaller is your ogee.
2. Completely fill your outline with these dots and make sure that they are evenly spaced.
3. Connect the dots you have made by creating S-shaped lines that pass through a diagonally lined up set of dots. These S-shaped lines should be parallel to each other.
4. Do the same procedure as in Step 3 but this time, do the diagonal opposite to Step 3. You must now have a complete repetitive ogee-shaped grid.

Good Luck !