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. Any one can do this, you don't need artistic ability. Believe me, I
can barely draw a straight line.

You will need very few supplies. You will need a ruler, a pencil (I prefer mechanical ones.
Don't be jealous of my fancy Sudoku pencil....Thanks Karen!), a pen (fine tipped Sharpies
work great), and paper. You can use graph paper, but I prefer to use dotted paper. You can

download a free graph paper program here. Scroll to the bottom of the web-site and pick the
very last option called Graph Paper Printer Program Version 4.21 created by Phillipe Marquis.
Once it's downloaded to your computer, you can make endless graph paper. This program has
an option to print dotted paper. The paper I'm using for this tutorial has dots 10mm by 10mm.

The first step is to draw a box the size you want the Celtic knot to be. I made my box 7 dots
by 7 dots. See this is easy, you can do it!

The next step is to put in some divider lines. This 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. The only
rule for drawing dividers is never (and I mean never) draw a diagonal line. Stick to horizontal

or vertical lines. You can draw your lines anywhere and you can put in as many as you would
like. Experiment a little, you really can't go wrong. For this tutorial, I tried to keep it simple.

The next step is to add a dot into the middle of each dotted square. This turns your big square
boxes into little diamond boxes. You 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 extra divider lines to make the end knot a little more interesting. Yes, 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.

Here is the meat to your knot. The next thing you will want to do is draw parallel lines in
each of the diamond boxes. The key here is that you will draw parallels that go the same

direction in every OTHER box. You will only add parallel lines to a fully completed box.
You can see where there are divider lines or border lines, there are 3 sided boxes. Since it's
not a 4 sided box, you will not draw any lines in these boxes. I usually draw all the lines that
go the same direction all at one time. You can keep changing direction if that's easier for you.
It doesn't matter where you begin your parallel lines nor does it matter which direction you
start.

As you can see here, after completing all the lines in one direction, I came back and drew
parallel lines in the other direction. This makes a cross hatch sort of design.

Next you will simply connect all the lines. Remember in Celtic knots the lines always go over
and under. If you find you are drawing two overs or two unders, then an error has occurred.

Usually this is due to miss drawn parallel lines. Check your cross hatch pattern to make sure
the lines change direction every time. The cross hatch pattern will give you this natural over
and under flow. Once you get to a divider line or a border line you will round the corner to
join up with another group of parallel lines. Celtic knots are never ending, so don't dead end
at the border. Sometimes it will be a 90 degree turn as in the sides of the border. Other times
it will be a 180 degree turn as in the corners of the border. When you make the turn, there
will be a line waiting to be connected. I know this sounds tricky, but it's really pretty simple.
The lines pretty much pave the way for the design. As you can see some of my lines are fatter
than others. This will all be smoothed out in the next step.

Once all of the lines have been drawn, take your pen and copy over your pencil lines. You
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. Also, it's hard to judge where to
end your line with the ruler, so I made a couple little mistakes where my line crossed over
another. You can eyeball the lines to be drawn to help even out where some lines are thicker
or thinner than others. This is the time to try to be uniform. The perception is that this is one
solid knot. So try to make your turns uniform with others and also try to make lines that
bump into each other square. Practice will definitely help with this. You can see how my
lines are not uniform the entire time, but they are much closer than when I drew them in
pencil.

The last step to your knot is filling in all the little boxes to make the knot pop out. This is
another place to help even everything out. Once all the boxes are filled in, erase the pencil
marks and you are done. You can draw in the divider lines. I choose on this knot to erase
those lines (see first photo). Drawing the divider lines will just add a new look to your knot.
You can also round your corners if you don't like the pointed look. Really anything is
possible now that you have learned the basic steps. You can make your box any size or shape,
just remember they need to be horizontal or vertical lines. No diagonal lines. You can draw
as many divider lines as you like. Have 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 Knots are an elaborate maze of twists and turns. The definition of Celtic Knots
describes them as a knot without beginning or end. Celtic Knots are one of the few art forms
left behind by the Celts and they are used readily in decorative art today. Ever 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 resizing them for your own
projects. You will need graph paper, a pencil, a ruler and one colored pencil or pen to start.
Ill be honest this is complicated! But I have broken it down step by step just like I do
everything, and I think the images will help you as much as anything so rely heavily on those!
Step 1 On your graph paper prepare a rectangle of dots. I am making mine 9 dots by 7 dots
if you want to follow along exactly. You can choose any odd number per side. The dots

appear at the corners of the squares on the graph paper and skip every other square.

Step 2 Use your colored pencil to create a second rectangle inside the first. These dots sit
directly under the first ones do not skip a square. The original corner dots do not get a
colored dot beside them.

Step 3 Start at one corner and use your ruler to connect the colored dots. They will create
diagonal lines across your rectangle.

Step 4 Go to the opposite side and connect the colored dots coming back the other
direction. This will create a grid filling the center of your rectangle.

Step 5 Now to create the outer edge. On my image I have done these new lines in a
different colored pencil so you can see them but you can do this in your pencil. Start with the
4 corners, draw a line from the second colored dot up through the second pencil dot and out to
the outside corner dot. Return this line to the adjoining side through the second pencil dot and
down into the second colored dot. Clear as mud? Check the image. For the sides we are
drawing curves starting again with the second colored dot up through the next pencil dot and
then back down to the next colored dot. You are skipping every other dot with this process,
again check out the image. Next, go back and create inner curves and corners underneath all
the new lines you created. Step 5 is the hardest step to explain in words I am sorry!

Step 6 Erase the hard corners that we do not need any more.

Step 7 We are going to start weaving the lines. I have added some color to mine again so
you can see what I am doing more easily but you are just erasing lines. Start 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?

Step 8 Wind your way through the whole knot until you have all the lines erased that need to
be. Notice 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.

OK so there is the basic knot. If you made it through and ended up with a knot
CONGRATULATIONS! Now what do you do with this? You can do different size knots and
add them to projects. How 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.
Have fun with it!

2 Ways to Draw Celtic

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

I've been drawing Celtic Knotwork for years and I have developed several
techniques and my own methods. These tutorials demonstrate those methods. The
first (left side of the page) is similar in some ways to the methods of George Bain,
his son Iain Bain and many of the artists that preceded them. The biggest difference
between my method and the traditional methods is that I use computer graphics
programs, but the instructions below are applicable to pencil and paper as well. The
second method illustrated here uses the Celtic Knot Font. This font is based on the
same forms that can be created using the first method, but the knotwork has been
cut apart into separate reusable pieces. I then converted those pieces into
characters in a font. The pieces are linked to keys on your computer keyboard,

giving you the ability to TYPE KNOTS!

I realize that some folks may consider this comparison of
methods to be biased because I profit from the sales of the font
that is necessary for the second method. WELL THEY WOULD
BE RIGHT! I AM BIASED! Even though I created it, I still use it
a lot and consider it to be a very valuable tool. It makes the job
of creating Celtic knotwork MUCH easier, allows for more
flexibility in the patterns, and size, and the coolest thing about it
is that the Celtic Knot font often surprises me by making patterns that I never would
have thought of using traditional methods. It is actually lots of FUN!
The first method illustrated here is the method that I used to create the font. I still
use this method, as the font cannot create every knot imaginable (I am working on
that!). But even when I am designing a custom hand drawn knot for a project I still
start with the Celtic Knot font to get an idea of what sort of pattern I want in the
finished knotwork and then re-trace or stylize whatever I created with the font.
Please read this tutorial with an open mind and pay attention to how much time and
effort this font can save. Everyone's time has SOME value, and if you can save a
couple of hours designing one piece of knotwork then the Celtic Knot font will save
you money every time you use it..

The old method

These instructions can be followed with
pencil and paper or using any computer
based drawing or drafting program. I
have used Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator,
and AutoDesk AutoCad for various
projects, but my favorite is Corel Draw. In
the tutorial below I show the method that
I use in Corel Draw; however, I have
deliberately left out program-specific
instructions. I did this to make the
instructions more broadly applicable to
work with as many drawing and CAD
programs as possible.
This method, like most, begins with
drawing the grid. Of course you could use
graph paper, but that would limit the size
of your finished pattern to the sizes of
graph paper that you happen to have
available. What size should you make the
grid? Well that depends on what size you
want your final pattern to be. If you are
making a pattern for leatherwork, for
instance, you would want to draw the
pattern to be the size of the final project;
say - wallet size. How many squares
should you make? That is a tougher
question. The number of squares
depends on the pattern that you are
going to make. The problem is that we
often don't know what sort of pattern we
want at this stage. So what do we do?
Guess? Pick out a pattern that someone
else created and copy it? We just have to
pick a number of squares that fits into our
final size and forge ahead hoping that the
resulting pattern will look good and that
we aren't wasting our efforts. This grid is
4 squares tall and 6 squares wide.

The Celtic Knot Font

Method
This tutorial shows how to create Celtic
knotwork by a revolutionary new method.
The secret is an ornamental font! It does
not make letters like an ordinary font; it
makes pieces of Celtic knotwork. The
basic pieces that you need to create a
Celtic knot are located conveniently in
one corner of you computer keyboard:

The corners of this square of keys (OK,

it's a parallelogram) make the corners of
a knot. The sides of this square make the
sides of a knot, and the middle makes a
middle piece. Like this:

We can make the TONS of knots using

If you used the method on the left and you want to change your knotwork,
then you will have to start over . If you used the Celtic Knot Font method
you can modify what you have.
You can change the size of your knotwork by just changing the point size
of the font:

You can copy a section and paste it over and over to make a long line of
knotwork:

You can reuse sections and delete sections.

You can experiment and play with the knots, creating endless variations on
a theme:

You can use the font DIRECTLY in Photoshop and utilize all sorts of
spectacular effects:

ClanBadge.com
2702 Stony Point Rd.
Petaluma CA 94952

(707) 774-1369
Contact Us

Home | Arts and Crafts with the Font | Computer

Graphics | Scrapbooking | Embroidery
Tattoos | NEW Charted (graphed) Fonts | Knotwork
Network | How to Draw Celtic Knotwork
Weddings | How the Celtic Knot Font Works | Tips and
Tutorials | All Products/Order
This page and all content (except where otherwise noted) Copyright 2001 - 2011 by Daniel
L. Isdell