TootsieMoon Step Out

Some of these photos are going to look a little strange. The angle is going to be different than you expect and there are going to be a few shadows. I drew these tiles as I sat on my chaise with my foot propped up and iced. 
I want to introduce you to a tangle I've been working on - and I'm calling it TootsieMoon for a couple reasons. Not totally new, but a twist on an old one. Lots of photos to show, so I will try to keep the talking to a minimum. Whew! (As if.)

I posted this picture last week. This is TootsieMoon.

This is also TootsieMoon. I will post step-outs at the bottom, but first let me walk you through the making of this tile.

Drawn in my Stillman & Birn 7" square Zeta Series sketchbook. I made a big X and drew a wavy line over each leg. If you mess your lines up a little, no big deal. Fill those waves in with color.

Aura one side - I started with the underside and turned my tile as I went. (Remember, to aura something means to outline, or mimic it.)

Then aura the other side, in my case the top side of the bars. You should have auras on both sides of the wavy lines when you are done.

TootsieMoon really starts looking pretty cool at this point! You have your wavy lines, and auras on both sides of the bars.

Start along one side and make half-moon shapes in each of the flat auraed spots. 

Do this on both sides of each bar. TootsieMoon is a very forgiving tangle. Don't worry if the half-moon shapes aren't all the same size, or if your wavy line gets a little wonky. When it's all completed - all those little imperfections just kind of work their way right and it all looks good. 

Then you are going to add color (or blacken in) each of those new half-moons you drew. This gives you the original wavy line, the auras on each side, and new rows of half-moons.

Finish this part of TootsieMoon by auraing the whole thing. 

Now let's learn how to draw a negative TootsieMoon. (Sorry for those shadows, taking iPad pictures while I was freezing my ankle on an ice pack.) For the negative version, I drew a straight line in the shape of a box. 

Followed with a curvy line that I blackened in. Nothing new so far.

Then I drew a big plus sign and added wavy lines to those as well. Do NOT blacken these curves in.

Go straight to the next step and add an aura along one side of each bar, being careful not to cross over any lines.

Now go back and fill that aura in with color.

Aura the opposite side of the bars and darken that aura in.

Then add the outer aura along both sides of each bar of the plus sign.  And that gives you a negative version - or variation - of TootiseMoon.

To complete TootsieMoon, I added auras in a couple sections, just like you do with crescent moon - hence, the 'moon' part of TootsieMoon.

Shade and call it done.

I named it TootsieMoon because it reminds me of yummy tootsie rolls and the crescent moon tangle. Have fun with it! Let me know what you think. I am working on another piece that I hope to post tomorrow with some more TootsieMoon in it!