Nibs is one of my most used tangle patterns.  Here are the tangle pattern step-outs to help you draw Nibs.  This tangle pattern came about when I got tired of using “Tipple”, an official Zentangle® pattern, for space fillers.  Since circles are my favourite shapes to draw, I was looking for a very simple pattern that I could do effortlessly in place of Tipple.  While trying to keep to the simple teachings of the Zentangle® practice, I tried drawing something with simple repeated strokes.  Surprisingly, this simple ellipse with dots and border stripes emerged.  Alone, it looked interesting but when I drew more and more of them together, I was boggled by how it has so much texture and looks less two-dimensional.

Here’s what it looks like when combined with Tipple, another Zentangle® official pattern, one of my own creations that I call “Noches“, and Cruffle.

Sakura Micron Pen 01. No shading.

Origin of the tangle pattern

I’ve named this tangle pattern “Nibs” as a reminder to not push too hard on my Sakura Micron pen as nothing can be worse than having a pen, still full of ink — with a pushed-in nib. Ugh!

Nibs is pretty cool when added to a coral or underwater tangle drawing or illustration.  To me, it reminds me of sea urchins or coral… round and a little spiky.  Funny enough, since this pattern comes so easily to mind, each one of my old work notebooks has this Nibs/Squid/Noches tangle on the back page.

Moleskine sketchbook tangle illustration using Sakura Micron pen