I’m sharing with you today a drawing method that I like to follow from time to time and I thought you might enjoy it too. I call this Repeat Pattern Stacking. It’s super easy to do and a fun change of pace every now and again. I created this drawing method when I was just a young gal. Drawing these zendoodles anywhere I could in a graffiti like fashion. More on discovered white space on papers than on walls, but I must admit the janitor did have to paint over a few of my creative endeavors in the school bathroom. Shame on me!!!
Pattern Stacks are whimsical drawings with shapes webbed together with added silliness along the way to create a sort of structure. The stacks are not meant to make sense. As a matter of fact they are much more fun when they are caddywompus and falling over sideways.
How to Draw a Repeat Pattern Stack
1. Start at one edge of your paper and draw a basic shape. Keep it simple by using a circle or square or some other really super easy shape. Draw the same shape directly above the first one you drew so the two are touching. Continue drawing your shapes stacked one on top of the other until you run into the other side of your paper edge – or you just get tired of stacking.
2. Then draw a curved line from the bottom shape to the next one up or down all along the outer edges of your stack. Continue doing this until all your shapes are webbed together.
3. Next – darken/fill any open spaces between your shapes and within the webbed areas.
4. Add a base to your stack so it appears to be sitting on something.
5. Then add any additional embellishments or colors to suit your fancy.
Avoid This Major Mistake!
I know I have quite a few Tanglers who read my blog and one of the themes in tangling is that there are no mistakes. Well in building Repeat Pattern Stacks there really is a wrong way and a right way. The wrong way to draw a stack is to set your mind towards high quality strokes, or strive for perfection in your work. Being serious is also a mistake. The correct way to draw a stack is with the mind of a child, keeping to the basics, and totally having fun with it. My motto with stacks is: Keep it Simple! Have Fun with it!
How-To Video:
Creative Challenge Fun!
Now it’s your turn. Draw a stack or two…. or more! And after you give it a try I hope you’ll consider jumping in to our Repeat Pattern Stack Creative Challenge at the Line Weaving Community too! Earlier this week I posted three ideas in our forums to tickle your muse into having a bit of fun.
- Draw a garden, a row, or a crowd of stacks hanging out together. Each stack with it’s own personality.
- Create a stack using the letters of a name, along with at least one other shape that represents the persons name.
- Create a stack that is so bent over and misshapen-ed that there’s no way it would actually be able to stand on it’s own if it were made up of real objects.
Meet the challenge by using these prompt to create something whimsical in your sketch pad, post it into our gallery, and you’ll have your name entered into our gift package drawing! Wahoo! Freebies! You can get all the details in our Grand Opening Event #3 posting.
Worksheet for Repeat Pattern Stacks
Here’s a downloadable guide showing you the steps to take for Repeat Pattern Stacks. Feel free to pass it along to others too. It might be just the thing to put a smile on their face today!
Click here to download the PDF worksheet.
~ Cindy
Comments are Always Welcome!
I Love this, so excieting, going to do a bit of studying, Thanks. xx
The stacks are fun. I hope you enjoy having some play time with them too! Let me know how it goes.
This is so fantastic and so funny. Thank you for sharing “how to” 🙂
Wow! <3 it!!! Very creative! I would like to try this concept myself.
Nice website too. Thank You for sharing.
just love this technique, and thanks for jumpstarting my Zentangle (TM) lull!
Thank you so much. I’ve seen this before and after a few years of doing other types of art I wanted to tackle “Stacking”. I love it!!! I JUST started doing it yesterday but I’m having a blast. It has renewed my yesteryear of wanting to do comics. This reminds me of that. Only more simple but yet super fun!
Your site is AMAZING!
Your art is AMAZING!
Your attitude is … Well … AMAZING!!!!!
Your willingness to share and inspire without threat of a lawsuit should we teach, publish, etc. is so VERY refreshing. I’m a lifelong doodler who never considered it art, nor did I ever think to expand or combine my simple doodles into anything remotely art-like.
You have inspired me greatly and I’m having a blast with all of these new ideas.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you!!!!!
I love this concept! Thanks so much for sharing. I teach a little art class in my home and used your ideas in my class. Thanks so much!
You can read about what we did here: http://tmatthewsfineart.blogspot.com/2012/11/first-friday-art-class-november-2012.html
Hi Cindy:
I just found your blog. Love your repeat pattern stacks! I just did a post on it:
http://cinnamonpink.typepad.com/cinnamon_pink/2012/07/repeat-pattern-stacking-from-my-rainbow-elephant.html
I love your stacks, you are so talented Cindy.
Cindy – I LOVE your stackers – is there a way I can “save” your video to my pc so i can refer to it often? are we even allowed to do that?
TY,N
You are welcome to save it to your computer. I use an add on with my Firefox browser for downloading/saving vids. But I do believe you can also do a save directly from YouTube?? I’m not sure. If you need assistance with saving it, just let me know and I can send the file to you via email. Thanks for the kudos.
Cheers
~Cindy/PChip
I really, really like the stacks! The directions are great. I look forward to a ZIA swap. I’ve been making ZIA’s using each grandchild’s name and was stumped about what to do for the boys. I think this will be perfect! I can stick some sports, guitars, or other boy things in there and they will look great.
Hi Cindy,
I watched your stack video on YouTube and would like to know how you made the video. Thanks.
Jennifer, Thanks for watching my vids. I explain my process in my blog posting: “Creating How-To Videos, Start to Finish”
You can find it in my article archives (Aug 2011). Here’s a quick link to it:
http://rainbowelephant.com/creating-how-to-videos-start-to-finish/
I gave it a try..LOVE it!!
See it Here
Keeping in Touch
I took a look at your tacks Susan. They are oh so cool! Thanks for sharing them with me/us.
SO very glad I found you! Just came across you last night, and already have tried a couple of your doodles. Do you have a button to link to you with?
Do you have any other pages where it shows this kind of art….more examples??
What fun the repeated pattern stacks are. I found a link to your site on Martha Lever’s site. Thank you for sharing your creativity with us. I did one last night in my art journal and got lost in it for a couple of hours. Addicting, I agree.
How totally wonderful! Cannot wait to try these!
what fun and you have created some gorgeous stacks too…thanks for showing how you created them!! Love it!
WOW! I have to try this! Thank you. 🙂
Whimsical, fun and lively.
Cindy I really like these! Can’t wait to try them.
Oh good. They are lots of fun and I think you’ll enjoy them. Lots of examples from other weavers in our gallery to inspire you as well. 🙂
Thanks so much Cindy. How fun!!! I love the mega 3d look~~ I’ll be tangling in between kitchen chores. Turkey has to rest right!! Happy
Thanksgiving!!
OMG, that is just so darn cute once done!!! TFS your art w/ us!!!