Learn how to make a mandala drawing step-by-step. It is easy. A mandala is a circular pattern that goes out and out with further embellishments. Drawing mandalas, crocheting or knitting them, is fun. It’s soulful and meditative. Buddhist monks create mandalas for a purpose. Theirs are transient by nature, in that they are drawn with sand. Their impermanent nature is to remind us of our own impermanence. But also, that for ideas to go out into the world and grow, they must take on other forms. Perhaps those are concepts you can embrace in your own drawings.
Let’s begin.
How to Make a Mandala
How to Make a mandala. Even ifn you were to design a mandala to later create a crochet pattern from – like I am now, you will always begin the same.
STEP 1:
Take a blank piece of paper and a ruler, pencil and soft eraser. If your paper size is a rectangle, cut it to size, or create a super thin, erasable line to give you that initial square to begin with.
STEP 2:
Exactly in the centre of your square, make a notable dot.
STEP 3:
Then draw 4 dots circling that first dot: one above, below, left and right, each about 0.5 cm from that centre dot. And make 4 more, 1.5 cm from the centre, and 4 more 2 cm from the centre. And 4 dots about 3.5 cm from the centre. You now have 4 lines with dots on them. You can sketch erasably thin lines through the dots if you wish.
Those are your basic helper lines. Let’s make some more.
STEP 4:
Now let’s divide each quadrant in half, creating 4 more thin, erasable lines at 45 degree angles from your 4 core lines. And sprinkle dots on them as you did before: .5 cm , 1.5 cm, 2 cm and 3.5 cm from the centre. Now, again in erasably thin lines, draw circles connecting the dots.
STEP 5:
Now you are ready to start making your mandala!
Take a helper scrap paper and start doodling for a minute, to get your drawing juices going. Yes, seriously, do a warm-up!
Then, simply begin making the mandala. Draw a shape (small or largish circles, triangle, drop, loop, spiral, flower petal shapes, anything, and REPEAT that exact same shape evenly around your circle.
You cannot make mistakes. Build it up. Enjoy your mandala drawing process.
Mandala Drawing Materials needed
PAPER: Some people like to work with dotted books, or note books with squares. I personally prefer plain white paper, of good quality.
MARKERS:
I personally work with a thin black marker. You can also use colored markers and work in two or more colors.
Ilike to work in black and then later color the patterns in. The coloring in can be with watercolors, markers or color pencils.
There are no rules.
Mandala Drawing – Going Outwards
Where to stop
Once you have a perfect mandala, you can either stop there. Or, go outwards into irregularity, as is shown here, to fill your entire piece of paper.
Learning More About Mandalas – Books, PRACTICE and nature
There are loads of books on mandalas, but really, all you need is to set your own mind free, AND PRACTICE.
And look at nature. Nature has amazing shapes that are perfect to use in mandalas: flower petals, leaves, cloud shapes, mushrooms, butterflies, fish, ladybugs, etc.
Be inspired and play. —
That ‘s what mandala making is about.
I wrote this article as I made this rather popular article on easy rock painting ideas. One of the rock sets have painted mandalas on them, and yeah, now you can do that too! Have a look.
