Celtic Knots RTutorial

8/9/2019 Celtic Knots RTutorial

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Tutorial - Celtic Knot

Welcome to my very first tutorial! I've been wanting to post this for some time, and now the

time has come. My mom and I took a class many, many years ago on how to draw Celtic

knots. I have been drawing them ever since. It's actually super simple to do and the

possibilities are endless. ny one can do this, you don't need artistic ability. elieve me, I

can barely draw a straight line.

"ou will need very few supplies. "ou will need a ruler, a pencil #I prefer mechanical ones.

$on't be %ealous of my fancy &udoku pencil....hanks (aren!), a pen #fine tipped &harpieswork great), and paper. "ou can use graph paper, but I prefer to use dotted paper. "ou can



download a free graph paper program here. &croll to the bottom of the web*site and pick the

very last option called +raph aper rinter rogram -ersion ./0 created by hillipe Mar1uis.

2nce it's downloaded to your computer, you can make endless graph paper. his program has

an option to print dotted paper. he paper I'm using for this tutorial has dots 03mm by 03mm.

he first step is to draw a bo4 the si5e you want the Celtic knot to be. I made my bo4 6 dots

by 6 dots. &ee this is easy, you can do it!

he ne4t step is to put in some divider lines. his makes the knot much more interesting. If

there are no divider lines, you will still end up with a knot, but not a very fun knot. he only

rule for drawing dividers is never #and I mean never) draw a diagonal line. &tick to hori5ontal

http://www.mathematicshelpcentral.com/graph_paper.htm

http://www.mathematicshelpcentral.com/graph_paper.htm



or vertical lines. "ou can draw your lines anywhere and you can put in as many as you would

like. 74periment a little, you really can't go wrong. 8or this tutorial, I tried to keep it simple.

he ne4t step is to add a dot into the middle of each dotted s1uare. his turns your big s1uare

bo4es into little diamond bo4es. "ou can add the middle dots before making divider lines, but

I found that if you make your divider lines first, there are less dots for you to create. I ended

up adding a couple e4tra divider lines to make the end knot a little more interesting. "es, you

can make divider lines that butt up against the border. I free handed all the dots trying to

make them even, but not being too worried about it.

9ere is the meat to your knot. he ne4t thing you will want to do is draw parallel lines ineach of the diamond bo4es. he key here is that you will draw parallels that go the same





=sually this is due to miss drawn parallel lines. Check your cross hatch pattern to make sure

the lines change direction every time. he cross hatch pattern will give you this natural over

and under flow. 2nce you get to a divider line or a border line you will round the corner to

%oin up with another group of parallel lines. Celtic knots are never ending, so don't dead end

at the border. &ometimes it will be a >3 degree turn as in the sides of the border. 2ther times

it will be a 0?3 degree turn as in the corners of the border. When you make the turn, therewill be a line waiting to be connected. I know this sounds tricky, but it's really pretty simple.

he lines pretty much pave the way for the design. s you can see some of my lines are fatter

than others. his will all be smoothed out in the ne4t step.

2nce all of the lines have been drawn, take your pen and copy over your pencil lines. "ou

can use a ruler to get perfectly straight lines. I used a ruler for half of this knot, but it was

taking to long and I grew impatient, so I free handed the rest. lso, it's hard to %udge where to

end your line with the ruler, so I made a couple little mistakes where my line crossed over

another. "ou can eyeball the lines to be drawn to help even out where some lines are thicker

or thinner than others. his is the time to try to be uniform. he perception is that this is one

solid knot. &o try to make your turns uniform with others and also try to make lines that

bump into each other s1uare. ractice will definitely help with this. "ou can see how my

lines are not uniform the entire time, but they are much closer than when I drew them in pencil.



he last step to your knot is filling in all the little bo4es to make the knot pop out. his is

another place to help even everything out. 2nce all the bo4es are filled in, erase the pencil

marks and you are done. "ou can draw in the divider lines. I choose on this knot to erase

those lines #see first photo). $rawing the divider lines will %ust add a new look to your knot.

"ou can also round your corners if you don't like the pointed look. :eally anything is

possible now that you have learned the basic steps. "ou can make your bo4 any si5e or shape,

%ust remember they need to be hori5ontal or vertical lines. <o diagonal lines. "ou can draw

as many divider lines as you like. 9ave fun with it!

If you get stuck on a step or my directions make absolutely no sense #I'm thinking the latter is

probably going to be more true) email me for help. I would love to hear feedback from folks

who have tried these instructions.

Celtic (nots are an elaborate ma5e of twists and turns. he definition of Celtic (nots

describes them as a knot without beginning or end. Celtic (nots are one of the few art forms

left behind by the Celts and they are used readily in decorative art today. 7ver wonder how to

make those beautifully ornate knots@

I actually know how to draw them and I am going to show you a basic knot. I will also give

you some fun ideas of what to do with them when you start resi5ing them for your own

pro%ects. "ou will need graph paper, a pencil, a ruler and one colored pencil or pen to start.

IAll be honest this is complicated! ut I have broken it down step by step %ust like I do

everything, and I think the images will help you as much as anything so rely heavily on those!

&tep 0 B 2n your graph paper prepare a rectangle of dots. I am making mine > dots by 6 dots

if you want to follow along e4actly. "ou can choose any odd number per side. he dots



appear at the corners of the s1uares on the graph paper and skip every other s1uare.

&tep / B =se your colored pencil to create a second rectangle inside the first. hese dots sit

directly under the first ones do not skip a s1uare. he original corner dots do not get a

colored dot beside them.



&tep ; B &tart at one corner and use your ruler to connect the colored dots. hey will create

diagonal lines across your rectangle.



&tep B +o to the opposite side and connect the colored dots coming back the other

direction. his will create a grid filling the center of your rectangle.

&tep B <ow to create the outer edge. 2n my image I have done these new lines in adifferent colored pencil so you can see them but you can do this in your pencil. &tart with the

corners, draw a line from the second colored dot up through the second pencil dot and out to

the outside corner dot. :eturn this line to the ad%oining side through the second pencil dot and

down into the second colored dot. Clear as mud@ Check the image. 8or the sides we are

drawing curves starting again with the second colored dot up through the ne4t pencil dot and

then back down to the ne4t colored dot. "ou are skipping every other dot with this process,

again check out the image. <e4t, go back and create inner curves and corners underneath all

the new lines you created. &tep is the hardest step to e4plain in words I am sorry!



&tep D B 7rase the hard corners that we do not need any more.

&tep 6 B We are going to start weaving the lines. I have added some color to mine again soyou can see what I am doing more easily but you are %ust erasing lines. &tart in one corner



and as you move out think of weaving under and over the bands you intersect with. Can you

see how I have erased some lines to create the effect of the bands weaving over and under@

&tep ? B Wind your way through the whole knot until you have all the lines erased that need to be. <otice that as you wind your way over and under you will eventually end up right back

where you started, that is the unending part of it.



2( so there is the basic knot. If you made it through and ended up with a knot

C2<+:=EI2<&! <ow what do you do with this@ "ou can do different si5e knots and

add them to pro%ects. 9ow about doing a long skinny knot and wrapping it around an

ornament , or turning it into an ornament, think long icicles. Make it larger and use it for the background to a card, or on a layout. It could frame a photo on a layout or on your wall.

9ave fun with it!



2 Ways to Draw CelticKnotwork

A side-by-side tutorial comparing two different methods!

Ie been drawing Celtic Knotwork for years and I hae deeloped seeraltechni"ues and my own methods# $hese tutorials demonstrate those methods# $hefirst %left side of the page& is similar in some ways to the methods of 'eorge (ain)his son Iain (ain and many of the artists that preceded them# $he biggest differencebetween my method and the traditional methods is that I use computer graphicsprograms) but the instructions below are applicable to pencil and paper as well# $hesecond method illustrated here uses the Celtic Knot *ont# $his font is based on thesame forms that can be created using the first method) but the knotwork has been

cut apart into separate reusable pieces# I then conerted those pieces intocharacters in a font# $he pieces are linked to keys on your computer keyboard)

http://www.clanbadge.com/keyboard_t.htm

http://www.clanbadge.com/keyboard_t.htm



giing you the ability to $+, K./$0!

I reali1e that some folks may consider this comparison ofmethods to be biased because I profit from the sales of the font

that is necessary for the second method# W $3+ W/4D( 5I'3$! I A6 (IA0D! en though I created it) I still use ita lot and consider it to be a ery aluable tool# It makes the 7obof creating Celtic knotwork 64C3 easier) allows for morefle8ibility in the patterns) and si1e) and the coolest thing about it

is that the Celtic Knot font often surprises me by making patterns that I neer wouldhae thought of using traditional methods# It is actually lots of *4.!

$he first method illustrated here is the method that I used to create the font# I stilluse this method) as the font cannot create eery knot imaginable %I am working onthat!&# (ut een when I am designing a custom hand drawn knot for a pro7ect I stillstart with the Celtic Knot font to get an idea of what sort of pattern I want in thefinished knotwork and then re-trace or styli1e whateer I created with the font#,lease read this tutorial with an open mind and pay attention to how much time andeffort this font can sae# eryones time has 0/6 alue) and if you can sae acouple of hours designing one piece of knotwork then the Celtic Knot font will saeyou money eery time you use it##



$he old method

$hese instructions can be followed withpencil and paper or using any computerbased drawing or drafting program# Ihae used Corel Draw) Adobe Illustrator)and AutoDesk AutoCad for arious

pro7ects) but my faorite is Corel Draw# Inthe tutorial below I show the method thatI use in Corel Draw9 howeer) I haedeliberately left out program-specificinstructions# I did this to make theinstructions more broadly applicable towork with as many drawing and CADprograms as possible#

$his method) like most) begins withdrawing the grid# /f course you could use

graph paper) but that would limit the si1eof your finished pattern to the si1es ofgraph paper that you happen to haeaailable# What si1e should you make thegrid: Well that depends on what si1e youwant your final pattern to be# If you aremaking a pattern for leatherwork) forinstance) you would want to draw thepattern to be the si1e of the final pro7ect9say - wallet si1e# 3ow many s"uaresshould you make: $hat is a tougher

"uestion# $he number of s"uaresdepends on the pattern that you aregoing to make# $he problem is that weoften dont know what sort of pattern wewant at this stage# 0o what do we do:'uess: ,ick out a pattern that someoneelse created and copy it: We 7ust hae topick a number of s"uares that fits into our final si1e and forge ahead hoping that theresulting pattern will look good and thatwe arent wasting our efforts# $his grid is; s"uares tall and < s"uares wide#

$he Celtic Knot *ont6ethod

$his tutorial shows how to create Celticknotwork by a reolutionary new method#$he secret is an ornamental font! It does

not make letters like an ordinary font9 itmakes pieces of Celtic knotwork# $hebasic pieces that you need to create aCeltic knot are located coneniently inone corner of you computer keyboard=

$he corners of this s"uare of keys %/K)its a parallelogram& make the corners ofa knot# $he sides of this s"uare make thesides of a knot) and the middle makes amiddle piece# ike this=

We can make the $/.0 of knots using



If you used the method on the left and you want to change your knotwork)then you will hae to start oer # If you used the Celtic Knot *ont method

you can modify what you hae#

+ou can change the si1e of your knotwork by 7ust changing the point si1eof the font=

+ou can copy a section and paste it oer and oer to make a long line of knotwork=

+ou can reuse sections and delete sections#+ou can e8periment and play with the knots) creating endless ariations on

a theme=

+ou can use the font DI5C$+ in ,hotoshop and utili1e all sorts of spectacular effects=



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Celtic Knots RTutorial