A New Tangle; the Fractal Curl
- Marie Browning
- Jan 26, 2018
- 2 min read
Welcome to my blog! Here is a fun New Tangle for you to try. Read all the way to the end to see a fun new enhancer for your tangles! I will have lots of exciting new Tangles, Tangleations and Zentangle Inspired Art Techniques for all you tanglers out there so follow me to make sure you don’t miss anything! For those of you who have not discovered this beautiful art form, find all about Zentangle® here!
Full disclosure! I work for Tombow USA as their Signature Designer. I am financially compensated for this consulting job and receive Tombow Products on a regular basis to review and write about. The opinions here are completely my own based on my experience.
For the tangle posts I need to apologize if you have already created a similar tangle. It’s hard to keep up with all you creative tanglers creating new and wonderful patterns! This is a New Tangle for me and the first time published!
I named this Tangleation ‘Fractal Curl’. A fractal is defined as a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. So, this tangle is a curl that is drawn smaller and smaller to create the tangle!
For the modern calligraphy in the title, I have used Tombow’s Fudenosuke Brush Pen, Hard Tip. You can download a FREE Lettering Practice Workshop from the Tombow website to learn modern calligraphy with this pen!
For drawing this tangle, I also used the Fudenosuke Brush Pen. They come in Hard Tip, soft tip and Dual Black and Grey tips. Look closely at the Fractal Curl Tangle. You will see lines that go from thick to thin as you create the curl. Press with firmer pressure for the thicker part of the curl, then gradually ease up on the pen pressure for the thinner part of the curl. Don’t be afraid to press on the brush tip, they are designed for this type of line variations.
For shading the tangle, I used Tombow MONO Drawing Pencils. These artist grade, extra-refined graphite pencils produce superior shading of your tangles. They come in 14 point strengths from soft 6B to a hard 6H. The shading here was done with B and 2B MONO Drawing Pencils.
Make sure to check out Eni’s video workshop on Fractalized Tangles.
Here is a Fractalized version of Cubine, one of my favorite original Zentangle Tangles.
The idea of “A New Tangle; the Fractal Curl” is fascinating—those repeating, self-similar patterns feel like a perfect metaphor for how small problems can multiply when left alone. It honestly reminded me of how a rat infestation in home can start as a tiny “tangle” and quickly become a complex mess of hidden pathways and consequences. Loved the way you framed the concept, and I’d be interested to see you connect the fractal theme to more real-world examples like this in a future post.
Beautifully written https://www.jimandsonsplumbing.com/ and deeply reflective. The way you connected art, form, and meaning was engaging throughout. I was reminded of a creative commentary I read on a jim and sons plumbing-based blog that also explored unexpected connections with the same thoughtful tone.
Beautifully descriptive https://www.pantherplumbing.com/ and creative, with a strong sense of artistic exploration. The imagery really stayed with me. I recently read a similar creative reflection on a pantherplumbing art blog, and this was equally engaging.
Creative exploration in this post was both visually and intellectually engaging. The explanation of fractal forms made the artwork feel approachable rather than abstract. It brought to mind an artistic feature on https://countonsheep.com/ that also focused on patterns and process.
Creative and engaging reflection on pattern and form that invites curiosity. The way you described the fractal curl made it easy to imagine visually. I read a related https://cabriostructures.com/ art review recently and it aligned with how cabriostructures often approaches design through repetition and balance.