The theme of my Zentangle drawing is the Mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos. I chose a magazine image of a woman sitting nonchalantly on a couch wearing a skull shaped mask. It drew my attention because of its conflicting creepy yet relaxed tone, and I was inspired to continue on this eerie tone for the rest of my drawing.
I began by cutting out the magazine image and mapping out my ideas for the Zentangle on tracing paper. I drew some ideas from images related to the Day of the Dead, and decided to include the elements of flowers, bones, and smoke.
I used the flowers growing out of the pot as well as some flower designs in the paisley to symbolise the fragility of life. Traditionally, marigolds are used in the holiday to guide the spirits to the altar, but I decided to vary the types of different flowers and leaves. I had some difficulty wrapping my head around the concept of reversing the blacks and whites, but I understood and was able to emulate that style after Mr. Laurence showed me an example of a leaf with its colors reversed.
The smoke symbolised the dead and their spirits as well as the more literal smoke from the copal incense that transmits praise and prayers and purifies the area around the altar. I decided to include the element of a more abstract type of smoke on the right side of the image, as its curves matched those of the pot from the magazine image. I contrasted this with the more 'unstructured', but realistic smoke on the top left of the image, which seems as it is a part of the skull that is being 'evaporated', connecting those two elements together.
The skull on the top left and the bones that provide the 'base' for the cutout were inspired by photos I found on the holiday while researching, and also connected more directly to the magazine photo and the skull mask. Skeletons are a very literal representation of death, so I chose to draw the skull more realistically, and did the same with the bones under the cutout by finding real images of vertebrates and copying my design from that.
The drawings below the cutout were unintentionally canted, but I fixed that in Photoshop, so it is more straight in the digital version.
Most of the drawings above the magazine cutout were more rounded, compared to the straighter and more rigid lines I used below the cutout. I also used the contrast of positive and negative space by reversing the standard color scheme. I varied the thickness of the lines more on the top half, to represent the more abstract freedom of the spirit. I chose to include more details on the top half of the drawing, as that was where I wanted to direct the viewers eyes to first, so the design on the bottom was more repetitive, while the designs on the top had more variety and detail.
I left some empty space on the sides so that the viewers were less distracted, and also because I felt that death was best represented by an emptiness, a lack of something, yet Dia de los Muertos is a holiday that seems to be full of life and celebration, so I chose to balance the blank and filled spaces in my drawing.
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| Cynthia Lu |
To make the drawing, I first looked through many magazines to find multiple pictures that I liked, and chose one that I liked(the camera). Next, we mapped out on tracing paper where the magazine cutout and zentangles would be. Then, we glued the cutout on the actual paper and drew the designs. We used multiple thicknesses of ink pens and the Zebra Marker to create contrast and more creative patterns on the paper.
Inside my drawing, I incorporated many important elements of China that helped shape China, and many small elements of China to represent the majority and minority inside China, which is also represented by the stars in China's flag. I included the city of China and the flag inside the camera to show that what most tourists and people around world see only the the city, or Beijing. If one looks closely at the buildings, one can see a hidden 中(means center) to show how they center China on the city, and not the rest of its provinces, history, and elements. In a way, the camera represents the lens of the people who only see the outside of China, and outside the camera lens is the rest of China that they missed out on.
In the lower right-side corner of the drawing, there are two types of flowers. These flowers are two of China's most well-known and respected flowers. The flowers on the branch are plum blossoms, which bloom in the winter as well, which makes it known in China for perseverance. It symbolizes peace, good luck, longevity, and a smooth life. The other flower in the very corner is a peony flower, which symbolizes wealth and fortune, luck, and also happiness. Both flowers are a major part of China because they are included in many of China's art, music, poetry, and history.
Above the flowers, there are clouds and a musical instrument. The clouds are drawn in a style that was popular in ancient China, and the design inside the clouds are a design used on ancient chinese clothes. The instrument on the clouds is a 琵琶(pipa), and it is an ancient chinese instrument that produces amazing music. It is on the clouds to show how its music can lift one to the skies, because it is also described as a "godly" instrument in China. The design flowing out from the top of the pipa is actually music notes. The ovals inside the design are the music notes, and they are all connected to show how the music flows smoothly while each note can be clearly heard.
Next to the pipa, is a major representative of China, The Great Wall. The Great Wall was built through millions of people's hard work, and represents the power of people working together. The sides of the Great Wall in the drawing are meant to be bricks, but at the same time, the design inside is supposed represent a dragon's scales and the shape of the Wall is supposed symbolize a dragon as well with all the curves. As the Great Wall fades into the distance, it begins to look more like a dragon's tail.
To the left of the Great Wall, there is a blank spaces and a design next to it. The blank space is supposed to represent a river, the Yellow River to be exact. The Yellow River is a enormous part of China, because it was a major waterway and source of water and resources. The design to the side of the river is meant to represent grass fields and the flower on the grass is a lotus flower. Lotus flowers are another important symbol in China. They symbolize purity and are thought of as graceful and pretty in China.
On the very left of the drawing, there are bamboo stalks. Bamboo shaped China greatly. Before the Chinese invented paper, they wrote on bamboo slabs and bamboo had many other uses back then as well. I included the bamboo stalks because they are in a way, part of China's identity.
Through observation, one can see that I didn't leave much blank space in the drawing. This is because I wanted the viewer to have a sense of not knowing where to look or focus on first. Because China has so many wonders and things to see and there isn't just one spot to focus on, I wanted the drawing to display that.
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