Well, it was hardly ZEN but it’s finally done!!
I am totally NOT the relaxed, “just doodle it and it will work out” person that I suspect you really need to be to embrace this art form. I agonized over every area, hated some of them as soon as I put the pen to the pad-cover, second guessed myself continuously, and probably ended up more stressed rather than less at the end. LOL! The couple of things you need to know:
Sharpies ROCK! I tested out lots of pens, on the hidden hinge area, and found Sharpies work great. Bic Mark it! markers work great (but they have a funny idea of what the term “Fine Point” means) and the Uni Super Ink markers work too but while they are lovely and rich black, they are a little glossy and leave very visible stroke marks. I can live with that, but you may not be able to.
And here is a total surprise – Copics work great! I suspect Promarkers will too. While you can’t blend very well on the cover material (although I didn’t try that, it seems a reasonable assumption, certainly on ORANGE) you can use all the colours of the rainbow to doodle if you want. Not very zendoodle either, but fun.
Another tip, also the opposite of Zen, for people who don’t equate messing up a small paper sample with messing up an iPad cover, is to get yourself a transparency sheet. Lay it over the cover, and doodle in the area you want to fill.
This could actually be a handy tip for on-paper doodlers as well, if you are working on a large piece and wouldn’t be happy if it wasn’t “perfect” (it didn’t help me make mine PERFECT, but it did help in some areas when I thought Oh wouldn’t that fill look great there? then tested it and thought YUK! Hate that!
And I really struggle to draw a smooth curve and neat ROUND circles. Mine always look more oblong, and I am incapable of keeping things in a straight line or repeating anything exactly so I found the Crafter’s Workshop templates to be VERY handy for all those swoops. Yes, yes – I KNOW that s not what it is all about, but really, it would have been total rubbish if I depended on my eye for spacing.
what else? Ah, I found this site to be very helpful – they have LOADS of patterns to learn.
That’s it. I think I want to get a white cover and have a go on that, maybe with Copics. But I need a bit of a break from doodling for a bit….
scrappystickyinkymess 
12/07/2011 at 5:49 am
relax. it looks wonderful!! the zen of zentangle is not to sweat the small stuff. let the tangles take you where they want to go. don’t start with any expectations and you will be surprized!! so what if your spheres look more oblong. if you want perfect do it in photo shop.
10/07/2011 at 3:20 pm
I posted a link to this tutorial today.
Nancy Ward
PaperFriendly
http://www.nancywardcrafts.com
21/05/2011 at 1:01 pm
Looking good MA – and I totally sympathise with try-outs, using templates etc. Do what works for you, because at the end of the day, the finished product has to please your eye – the process will be long forgotten!
19/05/2011 at 2:22 am
This looks fantastic! I love the variety of designs. I’ve been doing a lot of the Zentangles lately, and am going back to look at yours more closely here for new ideas.
18/05/2011 at 6:36 pm
You did a Beautiful Job on this… LOVE the orange with Black, it’s perfect. Don’t know what you see that’s not right. We always do that to ourselves. I did my 1st tangle today and will, I’m like you it’s not that relaxing to me either. But maybe if I didn’t have to think all the time about what shape I need to do next I would not be so up tight.
Thanks for sharing!!
18/05/2011 at 3:09 pm
this is amazing MA!!
18/05/2011 at 8:22 am
This is brilliant!!
(Lyn)
17/05/2011 at 7:31 pm
Wow, looks stunning 🙂
17/05/2011 at 7:00 pm
Love that MaryAnne.
C
xx
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17/05/2011 at 9:55 am
oh mary~anne i love how this turned out…i think you’re always a bit more critical of yourself than anyone else is…but i love it so there!! ;0)
16/05/2011 at 10:48 pm
I love it, I could not hope to produce anything as beautiful as that.
16/05/2011 at 8:48 pm
That’s beautiful!I wish I could do that as well as you have.