Variant Title has been added to your shopping cart.    View Cart   or   Checkout Now

Get our Free Newsletter Find a Zentangle Class Become a CZT Get the Mosaic app

The Zentangle Method

The Zentangle Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. We call these patterns, tangles. You create tangles with combinations of dots, lines, simple curves, S-curves and orbs. These simple shapes are the "Elemental Strokes" in all Zentangle art. These patterns are drawn on small pieces of paper called "tiles." We call them tiles because you can assemble them into mosaics.

Zentangle art is non-representational and unplanned so you can focus on each stroke and not worry about the result. There is no up or down to Zentangle art. If fact, you can most easily create Zentangle art by rotating your tile as you tangle -- always keeping your hand in a relaxed position. You don't need to know what a tangle is going to look like to draw it. You just need to know the steps. The result is a delightful surprise.

The Zentangle Method works because

  • It is fun
  • It is simple to learn
  • Each stroke is easy to draw
  • There are no mistakes
  • There are no preplanned outcomes, yet
  • You always know what to do next
  • The result is unexpected and beautiful . . .

. . . and all this occurs with gratitude and appreciation.

It may look simple but there is a lot going on here. Savor this time as you discover and enjoy all that the Zentangle Method (and you!) have to offer. As you use the Zentangle Method to create beautiful images, you likely will enjoy increased focus, creativity, self-confidence and an increased sense of well-being.

 The best way to begin is to:

  • Explore our website with the menu on the left
  • Create your first tile with a guided lesson
  • Read our books
  • Tangle With Us
  • Take a class with a Certified Zentangle Teacher

Below is a sample of feedback we have received over the years. To explore more the benefits of a Zentangle practice can have, please explore our Studies page and get to know the Zentangle community.

I was lacking something and then I found Zentangle. My empty spot has been filled. My confidence to create art and, well, do anything I put my mind to, has increased tremendously thanks to Zentangle. 
– Terri

As a kid, school student, I loved sketching, I believed I would live the life of an artist. I would draw in my mind all the time, but my favourite place was on my eating plate; yes, funny it is, but for several minutes while chewing I loved the way I moved the gravy with fingers. But even before I grew 13, I lost my confidence, I lost the belief in the artistic approach . Today, after 17 long years of gap, with absolutely no drawing or sketching, I am once again living my artistic dream fully, daily, tangling on all the tiles. Such is the energy, the flow of tangling, that I end up thanking each pen and paper I come across. Thanks to Zentangle Method.
– Aishwarya Bharadwaj Darbha

Zentangle was the key to the door I thought would never open for me. I longed to be able to create art, and did so in several mediums (jewelry, décor, fabric) but never on paper. My mother said she cannot draw, and I grew up believing that I could not, either. I was even "scared" to try Zentangle. I would buy the books, but I was convinced that I would not be able to follow the instructions, and I would again feel like a failure. I waited and waited until I could take a Zentangle class. Love and creativity BLOOMED!! I have such a feeling of confidence and excitement, and I eagerly share it with whomever I meet. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Zentangle method and the person I have become. I am forever appreciative.
– Jamie Herron

Tangling has set my creativity free! With no preconceived idea of exactly how a piece will finish up, that allows my creativity to flow in ways that any other artwork doesn't release for me! I enjoy being "in the zone" when I'm tangling. It's like a mini vacation for me, taking me away from any cares or concerns of my day! Thank you Rick and Maria for all your wonderful inspiration and encouragement!
– Linda J F

I always had told people that I wasn't creative. I could do what others told or showed me to do and loved crafts for that reason. Not until I discovered Zentangle did I realize that I WAS creative, and that I WAS an artist. It has totally changed my life - I now have a positive self-image, and don't worry about making mistakes. I am thrilled to be able to pay it forward by teaching the Zentangle process to others!
– Lynn Noga

I am profoundly grateful for finding the Zentangle Method. It brought me back art that I thought had been all but lost. I had been a commercial artist and jewelry designer for many years, when I was stopped on my tracks by stage 4 cancer. During the treatment years, I thought it was all lost, I could not create anything for work, let alone for pleasure. Then I found Zentangle, and it brought back art in the most unexpected way, in a calm, soothing, meditative way, not the high strung way it had been before while working for clients. Thank you SO much for bringing that joy to me.
– Eni Oken

Â