Top 16 'Pattern-Play' Art Styles to learn for beginners creating their first meditative sketchbook this year - Goh Ling Yong
Have you ever stared at a blank page in a brand-new sketchbook, feeling a mix of excitement and sheer terror? The pressure to create something "good" can be paralyzing, turning a potential sanctuary into a source of stress. But what if your sketchbook wasn't about creating a masterpiece? What if it was a private space for calm, focus, and mindful play?
Welcome to the world of the meditative sketchbook. This isn't about perfect proportions or realistic shading; it's about the soothing, repetitive motion of creating patterns. We call this 'pattern-play,' and it's a powerful tool for quieting a busy mind, sparking creativity, and simply enjoying the process of making marks on paper. It's an accessible art form that requires no prior experience, only a pen, some paper, and a willingness to let go.
This year, let's fill that sketchbook not with pressure, but with peace. To help you begin this rewarding journey, we've curated a list of 16 beginner-friendly, pattern-play art styles. Each one offers a unique pathway to mindfulness and creative expression. So grab your favorite pen, and let's dive into the beautiful, intricate world of patterns.
1. The Zentangle® Method: Structured Mindfulness
The Zentangle Method is often the first stop for many on their meditative art journey, and for good reason. It’s a formalized system of creating beautiful images from repetitive, structured patterns called "tangles." Created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, the method is built on a foundation of simple, deliberate strokes that anyone can learn. There are no mistakes in Zentangle, only opportunities.
What makes it so meditative is the structure. You work on a small 3.5-inch square tile, draw a border, create a "string" (a light pencil line that divides the space), and then fill the sections with tangles. This framework removes the fear of the blank page and allows you to focus completely on the single stroke you are making at that moment.
Pro-Tip: Start by learning a few official tangles like 'Crescent Moon,' 'Hollibaugh,' 'Printemps,' and 'Tipple.' The official Zentangle website and community are fantastic resources for patterns and inspiration. The defined process is incredibly calming for an anxious mind.
2. Stippling: Painting with Dots
Stippling, or pointillism, is the art of creating light, shadow, and texture using only dots. The closer the dots, the darker the area appears; the more spread out, the lighter it becomes. This technique forces you to slow down. Each dot is a tiny, intentional act, and the cumulative effect is breathtaking. It's a perfect exercise in patience and focus.
You can stipple a simple geometric shape, a leaf, or even just an abstract gradient. The rhythmic tap-tap-tap of the pen on paper can become a mantra, drawing you into a state of flow. It's less about drawing lines and more about building form, which can be a refreshing change of pace for your brain.
Pro-Tip: Use a fine-liner pen (like a 01 or 005 Micron) for delicate control. Start with a simple shape, like a circle, and try to create the illusion of a sphere by concentrating your dots on one side for the shadow and spacing them out for the highlight.
3. Hatching & Cross-Hatching: Weaving with Lines
Hatching is the use of fine, parallel lines to create tone, while cross-hatching involves layering those lines in different directions to build up darker values. This is a fundamental drawing technique, but when applied to pattern-play, it becomes a wonderfully meditative practice. You can fill shapes with lines going in different directions to create a quilt-like effect.
The beauty of hatching is in its rhythm. The consistent motion of drawing parallel lines is incredibly soothing. You can experiment with the direction, density, and curvature of your lines to create different textures and moods. It’s a fantastic way to understand how simple lines can build complex and beautiful forms.
Pro-Tip: Fill a page with a grid of squares. In each square, practice a different hatching pattern: straight vertical lines, wavy horizontal lines, tight cross-hatching, loose cross-hatching. This exercise, often recommended by art instructors like Goh Ling Yong, builds muscle memory and your pattern vocabulary.
4. Mandalas: The Sacred Circle
The word "mandala" means "circle" in Sanskrit, and these intricate, symmetrical designs have been used in spiritual practices for centuries as a tool for meditation. Creating a mandala involves starting from a central point and radiating outwards with symmetrical patterns. The process itself is a journey to your own center.
You don't need to be a spiritual guru to benefit from drawing mandalas. The act of creating a balanced, repetitive, and circular design is inherently calming. It brings a sense of order and completeness. You can start with a compass and protractor for a precise guide or draw them freehand for a more organic feel.
Pro-Tip: Draw light pencil guidelines first. Divide your circle into 4, 8, or 16 equal pie-like sections. Whatever pattern you draw in one section, you repeat in all the others. This repetition is the key to both the visual harmony and the meditative state.
5. Zendoodling: Freeform Pattern Exploration
If Zentangle is the structured, classical music of pattern art, Zendoodling is the improvisational jazz. It takes the core idea of using patterns to fill spaces but removes the rules. There are no tiles, no strings, no official tangles. You simply start drawing patterns and let them flow and evolve across the page.
Zendoodling is perfect for when you want to be creative without any constraints. Start with a single shape or line and see where it takes you. Let one pattern morph into another. It’s a conversation between you and the page, making it a deeply personal and intuitive practice.
Pro-Tip: Try the "Pattern Hive." Draw a grid of hexagons (like a honeycomb) and fill each cell with a different, simple pattern. This gives you a little structure to play within while still allowing for total creative freedom in your pattern choice.
6. Geometric Patterns: The Beauty of Order
There is something deeply satisfying about the clean lines and perfect symmetry of geometric patterns. Think of the intricate tilings of Islamic art or the bold shapes of Art Deco. Using basic shapes—circles, squares, triangles, hexagons—and repeating them can create stunningly complex and harmonious designs.
This style engages the logical part of your brain, which can be very grounding. Using a ruler and a compass can be part of the meditative ritual, providing a sense of control and precision. Or, you can draw them freehand to explore the wabi-sabi beauty of imperfect geometry.
Pro-Tip: Start with a simple grid of dots. Then, use a ruler to connect the dots in various ways to create repeating triangles, squares, or starburst patterns. See how many different patterns you can create from the same simple grid.
7. Botanical Line Drawing: Nature's Patterns
Nature is the original pattern artist. Take inspiration from the world around you by creating patterns from simple botanical shapes: leaves, vines, flower petals, and seed pods. You don't need to be a botanical illustrator; the goal is to capture the essence and repeating forms of a plant.
Drawing a simple leaf shape over and over again, connecting them with a winding vine, can fill a page with a sense of organic, flowing energy. This practice is a wonderful way to connect with nature, even when you're sitting at your desk. It’s a celebration of the simple, repetitive beauty found all around us.
Pro-Tip: Pick one simple leaf shape for the day. Fill an entire page with just that leaf, varying its size, orientation, and overlap. This limitation is a great way to boost creativity and find a peaceful rhythm.
8. Neurographic Art: Mapping Your Mind
Neurographic Art is a therapeutic drawing method developed by Russian psychologist Pavel Piskarev. The process involves drawing a long, meandering, subconscious line across the page without lifting your pen. Then, you go back and consciously round out every sharp intersection where lines cross. Finally, you can fill the resulting cells with color or more patterns.
This technique is designed to engage new neural pathways and harmonize the mind. The act of rounding the corners is surprisingly meditative and transformative, turning a chaotic scribble into a beautiful, interconnected web. It's a powerful way to process emotions and thoughts visually.
Pro-Tip: Put on some calming music, close your eyes, and think about a problem or feeling. Then, open your eyes and let your pen move across the paper for 10-15 seconds to create your initial line. The core of the practice is in the slow, deliberate rounding of the intersections.
9. Mark Making: The Artist's Alphabet
Before there are patterns, there are marks. Mark making is the foundational exploration of the different textures and lines your tools can create. It's about playing with dots, dashes, scribbles, loops, zig-zags, and waves without any pressure to create a recognizable image.
Dedicate a page in your sketchbook to creating a "mark library." Draw a grid and fill each box with a different type of mark. This is not only meditative but also builds your visual vocabulary. When you're stuck for a pattern idea later, you can flip back to your mark-making page for instant inspiration.
Pro-Tip: Challenge yourself to create a full-page composition using only three types of marks (e.g., short straight lines, circles, and 'x's). This creative constraint forces you to think about density, spacing, and texture.
10. One-Line Drawings: The Continuous Journey
Also known as a continuous line drawing, this technique is exactly what it sounds like: you create an entire image or pattern without ever lifting your pen from the paper. The line can loop, twist, and cross over itself, but it must remain unbroken from start to finish.
This style is a fantastic exercise in letting go of perfection and embracing the flow. You have to keep moving forward, which prevents you from overthinking or trying to correct "mistakes." The resulting images have a unique, fluid, and energetic quality. You can draw a face, an object, or just an abstract pattern.
Pro-Tip: Start with a simple subject, like your non-dominant hand. Place it on the table and try to draw its outline and major wrinkles in one continuous line, moving your eyes slowly along the contours as you draw.
11. Op Art Illusions: Bending the Rules
Op Art, short for Optical Art, plays with simple patterns to create mind-bending optical illusions. Think of classic checkerboards that appear to bulge, or parallel lines that seem to wave and bend. These effects are often created with surprisingly simple, repetitive geometric patterns.
Creating Op Art is a fascinating blend of precision and play. The process of drawing the repeating lines and shapes is very methodical and rhythmic. The payoff is a dynamic piece that seems to move and vibrate on the page, which is incredibly rewarding for a beginner.
Pro-Tip: A simple and classic Op Art pattern is the "wavy checkerboard." Draw a series of parallel, wavy vertical lines. Then, connect them with curved horizontal lines. Fill in the alternating squares to create a mind-bending 3D illusion.
12. Folk Art Inspired Patterns: A Touch of Tradition
Many cultures around the world have rich traditions of folk art, characterized by bold, decorative patterns. Think of the geometric motifs in Scandinavian design, the vibrant florals of Mexican embroidery, or the stylized shapes in Polish paper cutting (Wycinanki).
You can draw inspiration from these styles by focusing on their core elements: simplified shapes, bold repetition, and a strong sense of design. This isn't about copying, but about learning from the visual language of these traditions to create your own unique patterns. It connects your personal art practice to a long history of human creativity.
Pro-Tip: Choose one simple folk art motif, like a tulip or a simplified bird shape. Practice drawing it in your own style. Then, try creating a repeating pattern with it, adding simple dots and lines as decorative elements.
13. Sgraffito Style: Scratching the Surface
Sgraffito is traditionally a pottery technique, but you can create a similar and incredibly satisfying effect in your sketchbook. The most common way is to fill an area with colorful oil pastels or crayons, cover it completely with black ink or paint, and then use a pointed tool (like a toothpick or the end of a paperclip) to scratch your pattern, revealing the color underneath.
This process is magical and tactile. It feels like an act of discovery as you reveal the hidden colors with your lines. The contrast is dramatic, and the physical sensation of scratching is very different from drawing with a pen, engaging your senses in a new way.
Pro-Tip: For a less messy version, use black cardstock and opaque white or metallic gel pens. This gives you a similar high-contrast look and is perfect for creating star-filled night skies or intricate lace-like patterns.
14. Stenciling & Repetition: Guided Creativity
Sometimes, the hardest part is drawing that first shape. Stencils remove that hurdle! Use a simple stencil—a circle, a leaf, a geometric shape—and trace it multiple times across your page, either in a grid or a random arrangement. Now you have a page full of perfect outlines, ready to be filled.
The meditative part comes from filling each stenciled shape with a different pattern. The stencil provides the consistency and structure, freeing you up to focus on the mindful act of pattern-play within each shape. It's a perfect blend of guidance and freedom.
Pro-Tip: You don't need to buy stencils! Use a coin, a bottle cap, or cut a simple shape out of a piece of thick cardstock. Using a consistent shape across the page creates a powerful sense of unity in your final design.
15. Watercolor Blooms & Doodles: Adding a Splash of Color
This two-step process is a personal favorite for quieting a chaotic mind. First, wet your paper and drop in a few of your favorite watercolor paints, letting them bleed and blend together to create soft, organic shapes. Let this dry completely. There’s no pressure here; you're just playing with color.
Once the page is dry, take your favorite pen and respond to the shapes the watercolor made. Trace the edges, draw patterns within the color fields, or use the blooms as a backdrop for botanical line drawings. The watercolor provides a beautiful, unpredictable foundation for your structured doodling.
Pro-Tip: Use waterproof ink (like Micron pens) for this technique so your lines don't smudge if they touch a still-damp spot. Try a limited color palette of 2-3 analogous colors (colors next to each other on the color wheel) for a harmonious result.
16. Labyrinth Drawing: A Winding Path
Unlike a maze, a labyrinth has only one path. It twists and turns, but it always leads to the center. Drawing a labyrinth is a deeply meditative act that has been practiced for thousands of years. The process of drawing the single, continuous path mirrors a journey of self-discovery.
You can learn to draw classical labyrinth patterns (the Cretan labyrinth is a great one to start with) or create your own freeform, single-path designs. The focus required to ensure the path doesn't cross itself keeps your mind anchored in the present moment. Tracing the path with your finger after you've drawn it is also a wonderful mindfulness exercise.
Pro-Tip: There are many step-by-step tutorials online for drawing a simple 7-circuit classical labyrinth. Start with the foundational cross and dots, and you’ll be amazed at how a complex design emerges from a few simple, sequential steps.
Your Journey Starts Now
The most beautiful thing about a meditative sketchbook is that the goal is the journey itself. It's about the feeling of the pen on the paper, the focus in your mind, and the quiet moments you carve out for yourself. There is no right or wrong way to fill your pages, and as my friend Goh Ling Yong often says, every line you draw is a success.
Don't feel like you need to master all 16 of these styles. Pick the one that whispers to you today. Maybe it's the structured calm of Zentangle or the freeform flow of Zendoodling. Just start. Your sketchbook is a safe space for exploration and play.
We'd love to see where your pattern-play journey takes you! Which of these styles are you most excited to try first? Let us know in the comments below. Happy doodling
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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