Organicized Moon

I was reminiscing about a technique that I used a LOT a couple of decades ago (has it been that long?) when I was involved heavily in computer graphics and video game design. I call it — for lack of a better name — Organicize — and it means to take a design and make it more natural, less perfect, more distressed. Not only more organic, also more similar to rocks and minerals.

Back then, with computers producing such perfect lines and shapes, it was a really challenging skill to create something that looked more natural.

I pulled out some cards from my Art Raffle app and this is what came out:

This technique involves not only distressing and adding cracks, but also using lines that are less than perfect, more tremulous and shaky. The challenge here is in not making it look sloppy, but yet distressed, so it’s a fine-line there. It can also have a very long “ugly stage” and requires some faith and self motivation on the part of the artist. Here’s a mini sequence of how this one came about.

If you look at the picture really close-up, you can see how the lines are very shaky and tremulous and that is what contributes to the entire natural look.

I used tangles Crazy Huggins, Ennies and Ratoon (all Zentangle) over a moon string. I also added some stippling (tiny dots) in the corners to emphasize the border. This was fun! And gave me a good solid hour and half of lovely Zen flow.

If there is enough interest, I’ll have a class on this technique, you can send me a message here.

Feel free to pin or share these images!

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