The Tiga sketchbook is A5 sized (5.8" x 8.3", 14.7cm x ), has a hardcover, and has a unique sketch hot stamped in black foil on the front. On the spine is the artist's name (in this case, it's "Peisy Ting") stamped in black foil... Along with the tiga logo in gold foil, and on the back cover is the tiga logo in black foil. Inside are eight sketches by the respective artist printed in various ink colours on various coloured papers. The remaining 128 blank inlay pages are made from eco-friendly FSC certified 150gsm Italian paper. There's also an expandable pocket sleeve inside the back cover, a black elastic that keeps the sketchbook closed when not in use, and a silver cloth bookmark.
I still remember the sketchbook being packaged beautifully when it first arrived at my doorstep.
A copper toned wrapping with the Tiga logo printed on it.
I also bought a notebook (that I haven't used).
The little yellow card is a thank you note from the artists.
The short foreword by Peisy.
And the back that shows what papers were used.
Acid-free. Soy ink. Recyclable.
The logo printed on the back of the sketchbook.
And of course I'm going to show you what I've drawn in this sketchbook. This is a long over-dued video. I had filmed one part of the video in FEBRUARY... Can you believe it? Gold medal for procrastination goes to me. Woop woop! I'm already at the three quarter mark of my current sketchbook, so I'm probably going to be making a flip-through video of my current sketchbook soon. :) I was embarrassed whilst editing the video, so I think I've definitely improved in Art... Ahhh~ My new sketchbook is filled with a lot more better drawings than this one.
(This is also the first video where I show my face. teehee)
The sketchbook doesn't take watercolours very well. There's a lot of buckling even with just light washes. Coloured pencils are difficult to lay down too as the paper is too smooth. Basically, it has almost no tooth, which is great for pen and ink. After your ink completely dries, the paper holds it very well. I also like how you get a blank coloured page to draw on with each new "section" of the sketchbook. The pages with the artist's drawings also give you an extra boost of inspiration when you need it. I love the concept of it.
I bring my sketchbook out everywhere with me, so it has held up really well to the amount of abuse use I've given it. The elastic band is still really tight. The cover is a little banged up on the edges but it's holding up well and doesn't feel like it's going to fall apart or anything like that. And none of the pages have fallen out.
Would I buy it again? Yes, if they featured new artists.
As a lead up to my new "Draw With Me" video, I made three other "How to draw (this tangle)" videos. The first was how to draw "Cadent":
The second was a slight variation of Cadent. How to draw triangular-Cadent:
The last was how to draw "Paradox":
And if you know how to do all of that, you can then be confident that you will understand this Draw With Me video:
It's a lot more advanced than the other Draw With Me videos that I've done in the past, but I think it's great to push your comfort zone every now and then. If you attempt to re-create the Cadent-Paradox pattern, I'd love to see it. Leave a link in the comments section below that links to your Instagram/Facebook/blog post that features it.
I teach Zentangle classes in Singapore. Want to find out more? Click here.
Have you been working on your Tanglelendar? What is a "Tanglelendar"? It's a blank monthly calendar that I created for you to fill with pretty tangles. You can download the template of it by clicking here. There's even a Tanglelendar Facebook page where you can post your own creations.
Here's my progress for May. I'm a little behind, I think. It's difficult to tell because I don't fill the boxes in order... But I've not worked on it for quite a few days now. Oops.
I swapped some tiles with watercoloured backgrounds over on Travelling Tangles project. Travelling Tangles is a world-wide collaborative Zentangle project, and it's awesome and almost 500 members strong. So you should definitely check it out. Link to it right here.
Here's one of the five tiles I sent out last week. Pretty colours~
And another tile:
I received this from Janet Day...
And this is how I completed it. Fun, isn't it?
"Ellish", oh, Ellish... Such a pretty tangle, it is. I wasn't quite satisfied with just having it by itself. So I built upon it:
For this week's Diva challenge. A page in my sketchbook. I want to fill the grey area with some tangles...
I'd like to ask you: What tangle(s) would be good to add in the grey background? I was thinking perhaps Bales in white ink? What would you add if this page was yours? Let me know in the comments section below. Thanks for dropping by to see what I've been up to in the past week. Hopefully you'll pop in again next week. :)
Bai YunYun, a Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) from China, approached me in September last year asking whether my mother and I would like to be featured in a book that she was writing. I was thrilled, and agreed in a heartbeat. It took these many months for the book to be completed and printed, then sent from China to Singapore, but I must say that it definitely was worth the wait.
"World of Zentangle" is a beautifully printed book. The pages are set out wonderfully. It doesn't look cluttered, the text is easy to read, and all the pictures in the book are lovely and sharp. The cover is a sturdy cardboard material that is the colour of Zentangle®'s renaissance tiles. It has a nice border of tangles and the Chinese title of the book is printed in white ink that makes it seem like it is slightly embossed.
The pages have a slight gloss and the book is printed in full colour. Each chapter is colour coded, which I find really useful for finding a particular section when I want to.
First chapter... And with the Zentangle motto: "Anything is possible, one stroke at a time."
The book starts off by telling you about the origins of Zentangle, then moves on to talk about different styles in Zentangle art. It briefly touches on materials used to create Zentangle art (even including markers and watercolours). And only after, does it teaches you the 8-steps method and shading techniques. The final few pages gives you ideas on different crafts you can do as Zentangle-inspired art, and the last chapter has tangle exercises with empty boxes that you can draw in. (How smart of YunYun to do that!)
The book is filled with plenty of pictures of YunYun's own art works, examples of patterns, and pictures related to what she's talking about on any given page. Eight other artists were featured in the book, of which my mother, Joni, and I am included. We truly are honoured to be included in such a wonderful creation.
Here's the section that I was included in.
And here's Joni's section.
Line exercises...
And a spread from the last chapter, where there are step-outs to a few tangles and empty boxes that you can draw in.
Flip-through video of the book:
It's truly a blessing for us to have received a copy of this book because we're planning to teach Zentangle classes in Mandarin soon and we wanted to be sure that we would be teaching the Zentangle method using the correct words. This book will really help us.
I hope you enjoyed reading my review of "World of Zentangle". If you have Mandarin speaking students, this book will be a great purchase. Or if you're like me and just like to collect books about Zentangle, you can currently purchase the book through Dang Dang or through China's Amazon.
I'll be honest and say that in the last few weeks, I've been feeling a little "off" with my drawing skills. I think it's because I've been trying to push boundaries in my artistic talents, and I hadn't quite felt satisfied with what I'd created. It's only been in the last week or so that I've shaken that weird feeling off, and I'm pleased to say that I'm now feeling super inspired. This is just in time for Singapore's June school holidays, which is like America's summer break, but only lasts one month long. We have another month long school holiday in December. I get more sign-ups for Zentangle classes during the school holidays and I'm excited for the wonderful students I'll meet over the coming month. ^-^
I made a "Draw With Me" video of me drawing my half of this tile. You can watch it by clicking this link.
Another tile for Travelling Tangles. This one was done with Anoeska Waardenburg.
I am very pleased with how it turned out.
Here's my submission for Joey's challenge:
There's an XIII string on this tile. I used Verdigogh, Ipso, and Garlic Cloves. I really like how Garlic Cloves looks like. It looks like a mixture of Socc and Munchin. Such a lovely tangle.
And here's my submission for Diva's Challenge:
I tried drawing a water droplet on the top left hand corner of the tile. Let me know in the comments section whether it looks convincing enough.
It's almost midnight here in Singapore. But I had lots of fun completing the above tile. I'm off to sleep now. Thank you so much for popping by to look at the pretty things I created this week. Until next time. ^-^ Keep tangling~
There's a new colouring book being sold at Art Friend. It's "Unwind in the Wilds" by Derwent and the illustrations within it are by Sarah Taylor. It's retailing at $18.50 (or $16.65 if you have membership). Go buy yourself a set of Coloursoft coloured pencils while you're at it. (What do you mean I have an obsession with Coloursofts... Shhh~)
It's a colouring book based around a theme on nature... Lots of little critters- bunnies, bugs, owls, deers, song birds, swans... Lots of leaves and trees... There are some pages with just repeating patterns.
The first few pages are really interesting, too. There's a little guide on how to blend coloured pencils to achieve different tones of colours, and some super basic colour theory. And then you also have two fully coloured pages to give you an idea on what you can do.
And scattered throughout the book are a couple of little Complete-It-Yourself pages. For example, one has an owl and you have to draw its feathers and hat. I haven't attempted any of those kind of pages cause when I am drawn to my colouring books, I usually am just craving to handle some colouring materials. So I wouldn't be in the mood to draw. There are other fun activities in the book, too.
Like mazes...
And item hunts...
Some of the drawings are two-pages spread, and we all know what happens when that's the case... The middle part of the drawings get swallowed up by the binding. *sad face* But I'm happy to say that most pages are single spreads, and some even have nice borders so they'd look wonderful if you cut them out of the book to frame. I prefer to keep my pages IN the book, but to each his own, eh?
And here's a quick flip-through of the book:
I coloured a really cute mouse with just less than seven colours:
Yep. Mostly greens, blues, and a yellow. The mouse is actually orangey-red. No browns were used. Even the background is red plus dark blue. No browns or purples..
And here's a song bird. One of the advice that Sarah gave was to not be afraid to leave certain areas white. That's why I left the flower-y patterns on the bird's throat white.
I rather like the page left this way. Pretty birb.
Wanna' see another awesome colouring book? Try Enchanted Forest.
Future World is a 1500-square-metre digital universe set in the ArtScience Museum and holds 15 wonderful art installations that you can interact and play with. The exhibition is split into four parts: Nature, Town, Park, and Space. Entry fees to Future World is $17 for adults; $14 for seniors (65 years and above), and $10 for children. Being a Singapore Citizen will allow you to get cheaper ticket prices. I had so much fun at the exhibition and definitely recommend you going to check it out.
The first exhibit was a field of lighted flowers. There was a sweet, barely floral scent to the exhibit (I swear. Please tell me I wasn't imagining it.) The interesting to this exhibit was that the flowers on display are seasonal and will change as you visit the exhibit at various times of the year. How cool is that?
The next exhibit was one that looked like a Japanese painting. It's purpose was to show the consequences of rising sea levels.
There were beanbags strewn around the room!
Onwards! I really liked this installation of lighted cubes.
The cubes interact with each other! As you place them beside one another, their colours will change.
I'm sure kids (and "big kids") will love this installation.
Here's mum half-heartedly posing whilst being distracted by something else.
Someone returned the peace sign to her. hahaha
If you face towards the blocks, you get pretty colours on your face. Which is nice for cool selfies.
This installation was from the "Water" segment of the exhibit. I recommend taking a panorama picture to capture the entire panel. The cool thing about it is that the water droplets in the animation follow laws of physics.
Digital hopscotch! You can even create your own game.
And yes, of course I had a go at it, too. I just never took pictures. It was lots of fun. The shapes disappear when you step on them. And the more accurate you are, the more colourful the display will be.
And right beside the hopscotch is this playing area:
The balls change colours as you move them. And there was a nice ambient melody being played from above us.
There were a bunch of rowdy boys so I didn't want to get into this play area.
However, I did go to the toddler play area. It was filled with much smaller balls. I pushed the balls to some kiddos and shared some laughs with them. Here's a video of me throwing one of the balls in the air just to show you the light changes:
The video had its original audio removed because I felt there was too much white noise in the background. Also, my mum was trying to get my attention cause' she was the one filming.
Lighted balls hanging from the ceiling!
There also were interactive projections on the walls.. You could create towns in other installations... Or draw your own sea creature (I wanted to draw a mermaid but they had templates to follow so I gave that a miss *sad face*). Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of those things... I'm planning on going back to Future World soon, with some friends. So I'll take pictures then. ^-^
And of course, the last installation of the exhibition... (You should walk out of the walkway to get better pictures of all of the lights.)
And of course, the obligatory selfie whilst standing on the walkway amongst all of the lights:
Wait for times when more of the lights are on to take selfies.
And wow... My contacts are really visible in this picture.
Ahhh~ I look like I'm in a Disney film. *starts humming "I See The Light"*
If it's any show of how much I loved the exhibit, I'm going again within the next month. I'm so glad it's a permanent exhibit, and I can't wait to see how it evolves over time (some of the installations will be changed as time goes on). Visit the ArtScience museum to experience the magic yourself. And if you go there anytime from now till' the 14th of August 2016, there also is a Art & Science of Gems exhibition happening there too. If you buy tickets to both exhibitions, it'd cost $28. Or if you're a Singapore resident, it'd be $21.
