TANGLE ART & DRAWING
GAMES FOR KIDS
JEANETTE NYBERG
A Silly Book for Creative and Visual Thinking
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: SIMPLE DRAWING GAMES Game 1: Geometry Tree
Game 2: Fish Loops
Game 3: Horizon Drawings
Game 4: Cube Connections
Game 5: Egg Heads
Game 6: Initial Designs
Game 7: Five-Dot Drawings
Game 8: Hand Monsters
Game 9: Upside-Down Drawings
Game 10: Draw with Your Foot
Game 11: Five-Circle Masterpiece
Chapter 2: GAMES WITH FRIENDS Game 12: Synchronized Drawing
Game 13: Totem Creatures
Game 14: Shape Interpretations
Game 15: Roll-the-Dice Shape Figures
Game 16: Frame Collaborations
Game 17: Finish a Figure with a Friend
Game 18: Robot Starters
Game 19: Blind Contour Portraits
Game 20: Weirdo Animals
Game 21: Explore Your Scribbles
Game 22: Shadow Drawing
Chapter 3: MIXED-MEDIA GAMES Game 23: Your Exploding Initials
Game 24: Magic Color Drawing Transfer
Game 25: Gravity Drawing
Game 26: Continuous Line Animal
Game 27: Fingerprint Discoveries
Game 28: Catalog Model Drawings
Game 29: Exquisite Corpse Book
Game 30: Kaleidoscope Circles
Game 31: What’s in an Ink Blob?
Game 32: Fruit Print Wheels
Game 33: Fingerprint Self-Portrait
Game 34: Crayon Resist Landscape Doodles
Chapter 4: AWESOME TANGLE GAMES Game 35: Tape Resist Watercolor Tangle
Game 36: Circle Tangles
Game 37: Double Cursive Tangles
Game 38: Chevron Design Tangle
Game 39: Reverse Tangling
Game 40: Abstract Art Ovals Tangle
Game 41: Rainbow Tangle
Game 42: Random Tangle Page
Game 43: Tangle Quilt
Game 44: Ice Pop Stick Tangle
Game 45: Hair Tangle
Game 46: Collage Art Tangle
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Also Available
Introduction
YOU ARE A CREATIVE KID. RIGHT?
Even if you don’t think you are, you have creativity running through your whole being, and you are totally cool because of it. Do you already like to doodle and draw? Maybe your homework looks a little like a sketchbook. Maybe you fill pages of paper with drawings. Or maybe you’re a little intimidated by drawing.
Whatever the case, we’re going to get you doodling and drawing all over the place and loving it. You won’t even realize you’re making art until it’s too late, and you look down at your page and see that you’ve been moving that marker across the paper like you just can’t stop.
Sometimes, we’re all at a loss for what to draw—even if you’re a voracious art-maker and you want every bit of drawing inspiration you can get your hands on.
Welcome to this book! On these pages, I present to you forty-six fantastic, amazing, mind-boggling drawing games and tangle exercises—enough to fill your days with creating forevermore.
Many of you have already found the powerful ways that focusing on drawing can calm you, center you, and open your mind. I think most of us who have ever found ourselves using a pen to draw cool patterns across a page can attest to the magical benefits of doodling.
In fact, one of the best things about drawing is that you needn’t feel like you are artistically talented to take it up. It’s open to everyone, and you merely need a pen and piece of paper to get started.
Most of the projects in this book have been created in such a way that you can do them even if you have zero confidence in drawing. Flip through and try one out! Start with the very easiest (and sometimes hilarious) drawing games in the beginning or jump into the games that use more than one medium—color is fun to explore. Finally, if you are looking for a more meditative way to spend your drawing time, throw on some music and tangle the day away with the projects in the third section.
P.S. Always remember: All kids are creative; don’t let that get away from you.
P.P.S. I bet your parents will want to do some of these with you.
Here are some of the materials used in this book, and feel free to substitute if you like using a particular material or if you just don’t have it handy.
• Permanent markers in fine and ultra fine points
• Colored markers—I use anything from Sharpies to Prismacolors, depending on the color and marker tip I like.
• Watercolor and brushes
• Ruler or straight edge
• Black drawing pens like Microns or Faber Castells
• Pencil
• Black india ink
• Blue painter’s tape
• Ink pad
• Crayons or oil pastels
SIMPLE DRAWING GAMES
Most of these games require a pen or pencil. A ridiculous disposition will also help. (I know there’s some silliness lurking inside of you!) As I was developing these projects, I couldn’t stop thinking up new riffs on these ideas. Let yourself do the same and feel free to add your own crazy twists as you try these activities.
Flip through the book and try whichever games appeal to you at first glance. Some of them require (or can alternatively be done) with a partner, so enlist the help of your friends or family.
Whenever you find a drawing game that you particularly love, be sure to play it more than once. You will see how the games have different outcomes every time you try them. Grab a big stack of paper (I adore white card stock) and keep the fun flowing. There are usually an infinite number of ways to approach these games, and your third or fourth try might end up being your favorite!
Game 1 GEOMETRY TREE
This is a fun drawing exercise to try for an hour or so when your younger (or older) sister (or brother) is totally annoying you and you need to go slam your bedroom door and CHILL. Grab a fine point Sharpie.
“This beats hanging out with my sister any day.”
1 Starting near the bottom of the page in the middle, draw a vertical line that extends up about a quarter of the page. This line will be your “trunk.”
2 Draw several straight lines or “branches” out from this trunk, taking your time and filling up the page.
3 Begin to close up the open shapes with straight lines. Stop when you feel the need to stop. Wasn’t that satisfying?
More Fun
Close up the open areas with rounded lines, color in your shapes, doodle inside them, etc. This tree is a great starting point for lots more drawing!
Game 2 FISH LOOPS
Fish are fun to draw, especially when you cheat a little and make up your own fish. Who knows what’s lurking at the bottom of the ocean?
1 Using a thin marker or pen, draw a big, loopy closed shape around the perimeter of your page.
2 Turn all of the loops into fish. Blub, blub, blub.
Make It Silly
Is your fish sticking out its tongue? Maybe it’s wearing a mustache . . . or sunglasses, or socks. What?!?
Game 3 HORIZON DRAWINGS
Use this simple game to turn a weird jagged line into something awesome.
1 Using a marker (I used a fine tip Sharpie), draw a jagged line horizontally across the middle of the page. As you draw, incorporate some shapes above the line and some below it.
2 Now guess what you do! Turn t
he upper shapes into monsters!
“Despite my hair covering one eye, I can still see how awesome this looks.”
More Fun
Try this game again, only this time turn your line into different things—a cityscape, a strange caterpillar, etc.
Game 4 CUBE CONNECTIONS
Have you learned how to draw cubes? Sometimes it’s hard to stop drawing them once you start, and then you wonder what could be more fun than drawing cubes. Connecting them with lines! Seriously. It’s fun and relaxing and looks like a cool abstract mathematical work of art.
1 Begin by drawing some cubes on the page, as many as you want, scattering them every which way across the page.
2 Using your ruler, connect the cubes at the corners with straight lines. You decide how many lines you want and where to connect them. Don’t think too hard about it; just start drawing and stop when you want to stop.
“I am going to start a new art movement. I think I’ll call it Cubism.”
More Fun
These boxes are just crying out to be colored in, aren’t they. Or tangled. With this project, you can do it all!
Game 5 EGG HEADS
It’s fun to draw faces and even more fun to draw a whole group of faces together. Sit and draw a crowd and see how many expressions you can come up with.
1 Across the bottom of your page, draw a row of oval tops. Continue up until you have your page covered with rows of oval tops as shown in this image.
2 Fill in the expressions to make your very own family of egg heads.
“Unfortunately, I will have to eat the whole box of the ice pops in order to do that.”
Make It Silly
I think you should probably cut out these egg heads, glue ice pop sticks onto the backs of them, and have a puppet show.
Game 6 INITIAL DESIGNS
Your initials are personal, and they’ll be with you through your entire life. Why not make them special by turning them into art?
1 Practice writing your initials in print, cursive, all capitals, lowercase, and any other decorative style.
2 After you are warmed up a little, take it a step further, doodling around your initials, experimenting with bubble letters, and other embellishments.
More Fun
Design a business card for yourself using your favorite initials drawing as your logo.
Game 7 FIVE-DOT DRAWINGS
After trying this game once, don’t be surprised if you find yourself doing this drawing game all the time. It’s all about silliness.
1 Draw five dots on the page, anywhere you want.
2 Using a pencil (or pen if you’re brave), draw a figure, using dot one as the head, dots two and three for the hands, and dots four and five as the feet.
“Maybe this same technique will work on my freckles.”
Make It Silly
Try drawing the figure with the feet where you think the hands should go and the hands where it looks like the feet should go. Now try to get into that pose. Ouch!
Game 8 HAND MONSTERS
You’ve probably traced your hand before, but have you ever made it into a monster?
1 Trace around your four fingers, but not your thumb.
2 Now use your finger tracing as a starting point to draw a monster.
“If I turn my whole body upside down, can I keep my hand right side up?”
Make It Silly
This is pretty silly to begin with, but try turning your hand upside down and creating a fabulous sea creature monster.
Game 9 UPSIDE-DOWN DRAWINGS
For this game, you will hang upside down and draw. Just kidding!
1 Find a photograph of something or someone and turn it upside down on the table in front of you.
2 Now draw that image on your page. You’ll have to really look at what you’re drawing—it feels a lot different than drawing things as you normally see them, doesn’t it?
“Hey, how’d I do that? I am awesome.”
Tip
While you are drawing, try to forget exactly what it is that you are drawing. Instead, think of it as a bunch of lines that you are trying to copy.
Game 10 DRAW WITH YOUR FOOT
As if upside-down drawing weren’t weird enough, now let’s try drawing with our feet! You may want to plug your nose when you remove your sock.
1 Grasp your pen or pencil with your toes and draw something or someone.
2 Laugh until your stomach hurts. (Can you tell that this drawing is my dog asleep in front of the couch? No? Okay.)
“Now I can play video games while I draw with my feet.”
Make It Silly
Wouldn’t it be even more silly to try to draw using both feet at the same time? Or to try drawing the same thing at the same time using one hand and one foot? You first!
Game 11 FIVE-CIRCLE MASTERPIECE
I must like the number five. This is similar to the Five-Dot Drawings game, but with a twist.
1 Draw five circles on your page. Draw them anywhere and make them any size you like.
2 Now, use those circles to make something. You can either make five different things or turn all five circles into one big thing—anything goes. (Sometimes it’s fun just to draw five smiley faces.)
“Sometimes I run around in circles just because I like to get dizzy.”
More Fun
As you draw your circles, try to draw completely perfect circles. I bet you’ll end up filling a page just trying to get one perfectly round.
GAMES WITH FRIENDS
Question: How do you make drawing even more fun than you could ever imagine? Answer: Add a friend or three and tackle some of these games together! Snacks are optional, but highly recommended. I’ll bet you can’t get through one of these without lots and lots of laughing.
Here are some other ideas:
• If you are hanging out with a friend, take turns choosing games.
• After you try a game the basic way, always feel free to add your own creative twist. In fact, I CHALLENGE you to do this!
• If a friend isn’t handy, parents are fine substitutes. (You will easily blow their minds with your skills and original thinking!)
Game 12 SYNCHRONIZED DRAWING
This project is designed for two people. You will need two pens or thin markers.
1 Fold a line down the center of the page. Decide who will be the “leader” and who will be the “follower.”
2 Begin with your pens toward the top of the page, writing on either side of the line. The leader begins by drawing a shape out from the center and down toward the bottom of the page, without lifting the pen from the page. Do this fairly slowly because the follower is watching what is being drawn and trying to keep up while drawing the exact same thing! You can certainly try to draw a recognizable shape, but it’s easier at first to stick with blobby blobs.
Make It Silly
Remember how I said to draw slowly? If you speed up your drawing, the follower will find it harder to keep up, but it’s really funny!
Game 13 TOTEM CREATURES
Totem poles are the perfect object for this game. You can do this with as few as two people and as many as five.
1 The first person starts at the bottom of the page, drawing one creature- face-type shape.
2 Fold the page back and pass it to the next person, making sure you leave two marks where your creature left off.
3 Continue until you get to the top of the page, where the last person finishes off the top of the totem creature.
“Follow my lead, little sister.”
“Does that include following you and your friends around?”
More Fun
Try doing this project on a giant piece of white paper from a roll.
Game 14 SHAPE INTERPRETATIONS
In this game, take turns interpreting the shapes your friend has drawn and have them do the same with your shapes.
1 Using a pencil, draw some random closed shapes on a sheet of paper.
2 Give it to your f
riend with an eraser and another pencil. Your friend can erase parts of the lines and use the pencil to turn your shapes into cool things.
“I’m turning these shapes into characters with attitude.”
Tangle Art and Drawing Games for Kids Page 1