PicsArt Monthly PicsArt Monthly Magazine July Issue 2015 | Page 49

PHOTOGRAPHY TRENDS Though the word Zentangle usually raises eyebrows and elicits blank stares, the truth is you are probably more familiar with it than you think. Zentangles are hand-drawn designs that typically feature lots of minutia like tight swirls and repeating patterns. When you look at a good Zentangle from a distance, it almost has the elaborate look of lace. Zentangles have become one of the most popular trends of 2015. The swirling doodles are popping up in designs and are rising to the surface in pools of images on art-sharing social networks everywhere. Though this trend may seem a little out of left field, Zentangles are actually perfectly in line with larger art and design trends around the world. Naturalism and wellness are driving forces behind all kinds of trends, whether they have to do with lighting, colors, or anything else. Zentangles mirror this in several ways. To start, they are hand-drawn, organic forms, which are a departure from the precision and polish associated with technology. Indeed, Zentangles are even prevalent in meditation books because drawing these small elaborate patterns is a soothing exercise requiring full concentration. So, to all of the students out there, if your teacher pulls your notebook from under your pen and asks what you’re doing as you doodle away, say you’re drawing Zentangles to relax and clear your mind to pay better attention. If that doesn’t work, just say that you’re getting a head start on your design career by jumping on the latest trend of 2015. PicsArt Monthly |49