Bonus Lesson #33: "Mandala Madness"

Welcome everyone. For those of you who have been following, you know I have been participating in some wonderful online classes by Joanne Sharpe. To keep the "mojo" going, students  have signed up to be "guest teachers" in hopes of sharing more wonderful Art with each other. Today's post is my turn with "Mandala Madness".

Needed materials:
*Square paper
(type and size determined by which materials you want to use to add color)
My sample was done on 12x12 cardstock because it was already cut, but did not hold up that great when using watercolors...but did just fine for the black and white pieces I did....Bristol worked well when doing my "zendala"...and was only 6x6...so you decide. If doing Lettering in yours, you may want to go with 12x12 , or 9x9 (90-140lb watercolor paper) if using water for any materials.
*3-4 different sized circle templates cut from thicker paper like cardstock or oaktag
(or just use different size plates and bowls like I did to make the the templates in the first place)
*Pencil/eraser
*Ruler
*Black waterproof pen like .05 Micron
*Varied materials to add color: ( I used):
         koi watercolors (24) travel set- could substitute with Tombow markers
         waterbrush
         paper towels
         Prismacolor colored pencils
         Gel pens
         Copic markers
        Tombow markers
        white signo Uniball pen
(works equally as well with black sharpies and crayola markers as I have done this lesson (on a more simple scale with 6th grade students).

1. Trace variety of circle templates (or plates and bowls) to create a bulls eye target (3-4 rings).

2. Eye up where you think the CENTER of the smallest circle is...and place a dot.

ALL lines that we draw from this point will need to always intersect this center point.

3. Use a Ruler to draw a vertical line that goes from 12 o'clock...thru the center dot...and onto 6 o'clock like you see above.

4. Next, eye up where you think the 3 and 9 o'clock would be....and now draw a horizontal line thru the center.
5. Place a dot where you think the 1 and 2 o'clock will be....as well as the 10 and 11 o'clock. You do NOT need to place dots below the horizontal line. Match up your ruler with each of these marks, one at a time, being sure to intersect the center dot. This will give you an 8 section layout when you are done.

Do NOT trace over these guide lines with black marker.....for you may want to erase some of them like I did. Do EVERYTHING in pencil first. These lines are just guides that will help to provide you will "Balance"- they basis of all mandalas.
The key is to start at the center and work your way outward in a radiating manner. So if incorporating any words or sayings.....it will read from the center out.
What and how to start may be the most daunting....but I approached my sample above like this:

I knew I wanted a sun in the small center circle, so I erased the guide lines within the smallest circle and used this area for my sun. I started with 3 smaller circles and added different patterns within each. Making the "rays",  I tried eye-ing up where the guide lines were and tried pointing them in that direction. You could just as easily make a flower or some other design. Notice there are 8 "rays".

Since this art work was done during the time I took "Artful Alphabets", I wanted to incorporate some of those techniques. So, as Joanne had instructed, when lettering in the round, your letters should touch the top and bottom guidelines. But next, I wanted to incorporate "Waves". Being this went AROUND the circle instead of outward, I had to go from one guideline to the next while turning my paper to keep balance. The waves would now act as the top and bottom baseline for the word "Art" to follow and had to be drawn BEFORE the word ART. The word "ART" fit in between each of the original guidelines so the spacing would be balanced...notice 8 "Arts" appear around the circle...also notice the "T" was one of the original guidelines. Also notice the tops of the letters take on the wave shape as the T connects to the A. The space above the wave was filled with repeating lines....also being sure I had the same number of lines from one guideline to the next....always keep in mind BALANCE.  *Please note: I did not have a picture of this without added color, but I did the entire piece in pencil, then outlined in black, erased all pencil lines  BEFORE adding any color.*

Next, I wanted to be sure to start growing Outward since the previous sections were working AROUND the circle. You need to try to incorporate both to create more of a balanced design. This time, I used the "space in between " the original guidelines as the points of my triangles (so lets say between the 12 and 1 o'clock....I put a dot and those dots were the tips of the triangle) .....I thought this would help to reinforce the radiating effect of the sun's rays.

Again, notice there are 8 triangular shapes to keep the balance. Whatever details you add to one...you must repeat in all others. Turn your paper as you do this...it makes it easier. I tried to repeat some of the existing designs from the center sun design such as the circles inside circles.

Once I had completed the word ART...and had my triangles made, I realized I wanted to create a short verse or saying...and with only 2 available rings left..it had to be short and sweet...so I came up with the saying: "Art sets me Free". So using the triangles as a base line, I wrote in cursive "sets me" around each of the 8 triangles. Turn you paper as you go to keep balance.

I still had too much empty space after "sets me" was written, so I used the empty space between the words to add inverted triangles and again, used the circles inside circles from the previous designs. Incorporating a repeating design element like this helps to draw the eye throughout the piece. Your brain automatically looks for things that are similar to help decode.

As you can now see, in the outside ring I used the word "FREE" along with more of the circle inside circle and turned that into the center of the sun in between each "free". If you notice the tips of the inverted triangles (above "sets me"), they are from the original guidelines...and going straight up into the outer most ring where the word "free" is found, you can also notice that the top and bottom rays of the sun are also along the original guidelines as well.  These serve as space dividers so I know how long to make the word "FREE". Again, even though I used both upper and lower case letters, they all stopped at the top and bottom baselines. Again, there are 8 of them.

Once satisfied with my overall design, I outlined all circles, letters and designs, but DID NOT outline the original guidelines. Depending on YOUR design, they may be part of your overall design and should outline them....but my particular design did not. Below are some other designs I have done and some that my 6th grade students have done.

Below are some student pieces in various stages of completion. I'm posting them so you can see the use of the guidelines and spaces in between a little better since they have not erased yet.

OMG...I'm sorry this it like the longest post in the history of man! Feel free to take a nap or read "War and Peace" and get back to me later...lol.
Ok, now for the color part: Back to my original:

Center circles of sun was done with markers and gel pens to add details over top. The rays and blue background around the sun were done with watercolors from koi's travel box....though if I had known about the amazing blending effect water has with the tombows, I would have probably used that. (FYI: this was done on cardstock and the watercolor effect was a big disappointment....If planning on doing anything with water, I would recommend watercolor paper. I found the sane disappointment on mixed media paper too.) After things were painted and dried, I used gel pens to add details and to color in the small circles within circles between the rays of sunshine.

Next: "ART" was done using the "color out" technique showed to us in "Artful Alphas"....above is my alpha sample with this technique. Using colored pencils, find the closed up areas of your letters and in between them. Select at least two colors of the same color family (light and dark blue, light and dark green, yellow and yellow orange....pink and purple)....color the entire space with lightest color first, but do not press too hard at first....just put some color down...then around the edges, apply the darker color...pressing harder at first, then lightening the pressure toward the center.....then blend with the lighter color pressing a little harder this time.

The space between the "T" and the "A"  (in ART) are done with shades of reds...but notice this space is ALWAYS the same color family....inside the top of the "A", is always yellow and yellow orange...the bottom of the "A" is always aqua and dark blue. Use color to reinforce the symmetrical balance you have throughout your design.
Above the word "ART" and above the "Waves", I opted for shades for water....used copics and regular markers to color the stripes...make sure you color them in the same order to reinforce the pattern. Over the stripes I used more gel pens to add dots and stripes for more details.
More markers, copics and gel pens were used in the triangles. However, inside the words "sets me" I used colored pencils. I colored in each closed section with a different color but did now shade like I had in the word Art. Once colored, I outlined "me" with the thin end of a turquoise tombow....then magenta around the word "sets". Background behind that was colored with a light green copic. Inverted triangles were done using all gel pens....repeating the yellow/orange/pink from what I had done in between the rays of sun in the center.

Finally "FREE" was done was done with 2 blue copics and the blender pen ....highlights done with white signo uniball pen.....space in between, colored with colored pencils adding value with dark and lights of the same color family...Tombows used to color the suns in between "free"...with added touches of gel pens for added details.

WARNING: do not attempt this in one sitting....you will not feel your booty for several days!)...just sayin'! I did the basic design and black outlining in one day....followed by one section or two the following few days.

And that ladies and gentlemen is all she wrote! (Thank GOD!)
-L