Attention Left Handed Tanglers - This is a Test!

I am a left handed person but was corrected and retrained as a child. Always work counterclockwise but encourage my students to do it their way. High focus tangles are always a hazzle. On the other side I immediately notice when someone is a left handed person and always wonder how they can do everything with their left hand. I prefer watching a video from a right handed person, definitely.

I am not a left hander but what a great exercise this is to help slow down and super-focus!!! I had a blast 😀

I am left-handed. I appreciate you flipping the videos.

Thank you SO much. I am a left-handed person who was “corrected” as a child and am now firmly right-handed. I find that when I am tangling (right-handed) my orientation is that of a lefty so my lines and curves are sometimes in the opposite direction of the online artist. It can be very disorienting. I do challenge myself to periodically draw with my left hand but this new video is very helpful to me in being able to follow what my eyes are seeing when my brain wants to do the opposite.

Very cool idea and maybe that option could be built in to the demo videos in some way?

Thank you for thinking about us, lefthanded people. I am always struggling with tutorials, because they are for the righthanded, so this is perfect for me. Please continue doing this. Thank you

I’m a righty but my dad was left handed. He had beautiful cursive handwriting, that slanted to the right, just like mine did. He also drew and painted left handed. As a child, I noticed he turned his paper in the opposite direction from me when writing or drawing. So I’ve always been aware of the differences in spatial orientation between right and left handers. I think he would have liked these videos! Great idea with the flip!

As a life long leftie, and taught by nuns to turn my paper the opposite of righties, I didn’t find it difficult to adapt. It was interesting to watch the video and compare how I draw to how Maria was drawing. I make my orbs and lines from left to right, but I noticed Maria was drawing right to left. I know some lefties hold their hand “upside down”. and their hand covers their writing, they might draw in a different direction than the video. That might be something to explore. When I was teaching I told my students to draw in the direction most comfortable for them. Thanks for making me think about this.

Thank you for mirroring the screen. That really helps me as a left-handy zentangler😊🙏

This is a great idea! Maybe I’ll start watching all your videos in a mirror! 🤔 It’s refreshing to see a left handed demonstration, and not have to go through the mental gymnastics that come so naturally to us lefties! I’ve often had to pause to consider if I’m working in the right direction. For example, I followed the original video and drew Quabog in a clockwise direction, rather than counterclockwise as shown here. So I couldn’t see what I’d drawn as my handed covered it up. Graphite would have smudged, as well. Great insights for me! Thanks!

I’m a southpaw ,and found this flip of day 1 very interesting. After watching the above, I reviewed your right hand version, and then watched the above again. There is such a big difference in hand movement—-right side to left, rather than left to right. Occasionally we can use suggestions for leftys,that will help us keep our hands off our work. Thank you for your consideration.

Brilliant concept. As a lefty, I often struggle with following videos and have to watch them through before I start, and then I still tend to mess up if I don’t practice (I know, no mistakes, but my brain often struggles with this!). I loved seeing this flipped video. It definitely put a new perspective on things. I guess I never realized how hard I was working at this before! I thought I was just a slow learner! 😂 That said, I appreciate you thinking about us lefties, but I have learned how to adapt. We lefties don’t that! 😁

As a lefty, it makes no difference to me. I can learn either way. As several have said, I learned to adapt long ago and I can make it work either way.

I AM a lefty, have been tangling since 2012, and for the life of me can’t figure out why left-hander tanglers would need special instruction. True, I taught myself in high school to write vertically so I wouldn’t draw my hand across the ink, but haven’t had a problem with Zentangles.

I am a lefty and some tangles are certainly more challenging. Usually I have to watch the videos two or three times and some tangles I have to practice on scrap paper so I don’t ruin to many tiles. Thank you for considering this.

Must admit, I’m not a left-hander, but even us “righty’s” would endorse anything to slow Maria down when she’s on a roll!! 😳 (We love you just the same, Maria! 💝)

As a clumsy leftie who is often confused by right-handed instructions, this is great. Movements that come naturally to a right-handed person are more difficult for me…I can do it, but such movements have to be carefully pursued or I go the “wrong” way. I usually have to use a succession of pauses to make sense of video instructions. Trying to make a result look like what was intended vs. a mirror image is a different story, tho’…which may make a difference in a finished project.

Like so many others said, being a lefty in a right handed world means adaptability and it just comes naturally. I never really thought about seeing the instruction left handed but I was amazed to see how you flipped it. Very cool technique Rick.

Thank you for taking the time to do this. Hmm this is very interesting! As a left handed CZT, it has given me a terrific perspective into how my right handed students might view what I do. I have however never had any issues (in reverse) and it may well be that one of my mantras is “to rotate the tile and always draw in a direction you are most comfortable with”. This is something very precious to me and something I have now successfully transferred to learning the once thought impossible calligraphy. (I am perhaps echoing Maria in reverse in more than one way it seems ;) ) I letter with paper rotated 90 degrees using a dip pen and completely upside down with brush pens. I have always felt this freedom (to be able to rotate tiles) a part of the very essence of the Zentangle method but perhaps it always resonated with me because it provides such an elegant solution to my lefty challenges.

Oh my! This was fabulicious! When I am teaching, I often need to re-orient my work so that my students can see what my models are, as well as creating my lines from both sides…I am lucky to be ambidextrous but have often wondered about this. I can mirror my Zoom main image, but have yet to debunk how to mirror my doc.cam! We need some more of these videos—for those of us in our “right” minds!!

This was a nice change. I am left-handed. It seems as though there is a better view of the tile.

Absolutely LOVED this. As a lefty – I have learned to adapt and do everything backwards or upside down too . . . BUT I have to say I watched this video right through and thought it was extremely helpful (and fun) to watch you tangle left handed. What a treat not to have to reverse what I was seeing. I draw my lines left to right just as you are showing here so seeing it done that way is very helpful. Thank you!

Yes, this does helps alot and shows the perspective of a left handed person. Everything is usually on the left. Lots of time when a right handed person says go right I naturally want to go left and if I don’t catch it in time when I zentangle it takes on a new look. At times it is hard to see a pattern from the left hand. The pattern Narwhal usually starts from the top. I could never get this pattern, however if I start from the bottom, Success!

Love the left handed video.
Thanks so much for the zentangle world!
Jan Galloni, CZT 18

I’m not lefty，but sometime I try to draw with my left hand. It’s so difficult. Grasp the pen, draw elemental strokes,I need focus on everything. But they invite me into the world of meditation.

I am not a lefty, but my husband is so I’ll show him. What makes a pen left handed, I wonder? Seems like most pens go either way 😉.