Monsoon Zen India 2021
Monsoon Zen India 2021, is an annual event when all Tanglers and CZTs from India come together and celebrate Zentangle moments of rejoicing our journey so far and also cheer our fellow tanglers. This year, we chose Tangle Patterns designed and deconstructed by all the Tanglers of India.
A month-long festive in Zentangle is quite challenging yet fun, giving that Zentangle(R) is a slow process artform. It is obvious that this method of art is going to take time to complete the challenge. The very first challenge I participated in was in the Year 2017. That challenge was for 9 weeks; wherein each week, the CZT would share some tangles and we worked on a string. It was a lovely “ensemble challenge”; wherein we were asked to a string through 9 Zentiles. I chose to use ATC size Zentile for this challenge. I shared the string-pic here. The same year I even participated in the annual Inktober Tangles Challenge; wherein every year we use tangles from the selected list prepared by CZT Stephanie. Inktober Challenge stays on for 31days of October. I have successfully been able to complete a month-long challenge was only from the Year 2019, after I watched few youtube videos on how people plan before they start a challenge.
It is definitely not easy if you are to work on the step-outs of a challenge on the same day; when you are supposed to complete the Day01 Challenge. That is the reason, we start and plan at least a week ahead of time.
Here are my ideas on how I keep up with A Month Long Challenge:
It is always wise to keep the same set of Zentiles or Journal or sketch-book or same sheets of paper. In case you are starting a new sheet of paper or journal just for this challenge; then it is advisable to carry a test on the back sheets with the tools and materials you are going to use for the challenge.
Keep the size of the book or zentiles small and easy. It is not possible to draw longer hours daily; it will cause exhaustion and you may end up lacking some sleep or anxiety will make a hole in your creative zone. I generally choose a 3.5-inch Zentile, but I have seen artists using only a 2inch Zentile or a small accordion book to draw.
I use the same tools and materials and keep these things handy; so I don’t have to keep searching for them; or arrange them on my desk daily. For eg: This time I chose to use Sakura GellyRoll Moonlight pens and few coloured pencils for colours; and I kept them handy along with my graphite pencil and micron 01 black pen.
I created the list of step-outs of all the tangles that I planned to play with; few days before the challenge; even if it’s handy and available, I still prefer to ink it down roughly on my journals. Here, I also take time to try out some ideas beforehand so I don’t have to sit down and wait for inspiration. This little planning is needed; especially when you know that you won’t have all day long to spare for a 31days challenge.
Here are some of the artworks using Prompts!
Here are the Tangle Prompts for Monsoon Zen India 2021. Some of these step-outs are freely available on the web.
I hope you enjoyed this long read and hope the tips here help you to prepare for the upcoming Inktober Tangles 2021 - 31days Challenge. More about this in my next blog. :)
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