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Last Friday I was recording a new lesson on shading details, referring to fractals and how they can be applied to tangling to create super tiny details. Next thing I know, I'm watching a new Kitchen Tangles from Zentangle, Inc where Maria uses the concept on tangle Well (you can find this video in the Zentangle Mosaic app). Serendipity! Too much of a coincidence to be ignored, MUST explore this topic further. With that in mind and Inktober looming, I started to explore different ways to "fractalize" tangles. This is what I did with the tangle IX, while eating chocolate peanut butter cups:

In case you are wondering, a Fractal is a mathematical concept that can be used to explain some natural shapes and geometries. In a fractal, the larger shape is repeated in subsequent smaller scale, so much that the final result looks incredibly complex. There are different ways to repeat the larger into smaller, and "Fractal Art" has been around for a few decades. I was introduced to the concept a couple of decades ago when I was heavily involved with computer graphics, which is ideal for creating these complex geometries.

After watching the video by Zentangle, I decided to explore other ways to "Fractalize" tangles, and began playing with the tangle IX. Here is the sequence:

As you can see, smaller and smaller elements are added to the drawing, and eventually it creates an object of such complexity that you would not be able to imagine how it started or how it was created. Here it is after shading: