If you looked at this design and thought, “How the heck did she do that?” or “I could never do something like that,” I’m going to show you how to make this design using a free website.
It’s easier to make than if you used certain expensive graphics programs.
Let’s get started!
Preparation Time.
You’ll need:
- Computer
- Internet access
- Experience using ColorMandala.com
- Intermediate level post
- Advanced users
- Allow 1-2 hours.
Serves:
- ColorMandala.com users who want to develop skills
- Budding pattern designers
- Coloring book authors
- Graphic designers
- Digital artists
- Work at home mums wanting to develop skills
- Freelancers
- Business owners wanting to add coloring designs to their brochures
- Parents wanting to keep their children occupied (out of mischief)
Ingredients:
- Cup of patience
- 2 cups of imagination
- Swearbox
- 2 cups of coffee
Nutritional Information:
Around 12 million adult coloring books were published in 2015, according to Nielson Bookscan.
Directions:
Outer Ring:
- Go to http://colormandala.com and click Design New.
- You’ll see Designer: All parts box on the right. Go to Add shape and click Circle.
- Leave Radius at 100, click the black x in the top right corner to close the box. This is your base.
- Add shape, click Circle.
- Highlight 100 in the Radius box, change to 90. Click the black x.
- Add shape, click Polygon.
- You’ll see Radius: Activate. Click Activate so you can change the radius.
- Highlight 100 in the Radius box, change to 5.
- Highlight 8 in the Sides box, change to 4.
- Click Add rotation level in the bottom right corner.
- Change Repeats to 56 and Position to 95. Click the black x.
- Add shape, click Circle.
- Change Radius to 3.5.
- Click Rotation level in the bottom right hand corner.
- Change Repeats to 56 and Position to 95. Close the box.
Second Ring:
- Add shape, click Circle.
- Change Radius to 80. Close the box.
- Add shape, click Circle.
- Change Radius to 5.
- Click Rotation level in the bottom right hand corner.
- From now, I’ll call Rotation level “Rot level”.
- Change Repeats to 54 and Position to 85.
- Add shape, click Polygon.
- Change Radius to 4.5, Sides to 4.
- Rot level, Repeats 54 and Position 85.
Third Ring:
- Add shape, click Circle.
- Change Radius to 70, close box.
- Add shape, click Polygon.
- Activate Radius, change to 5, change Sides to 4.
- Rot level, Repeats 48 and Position 75. Close box.
- Add shape, click Circle.
- Radius 3.5, Rot level, Repeats 48, Position 75.
Fourth Ring:
- Add shape, click Circle.
- Change Radius to 60.
- Add shape, click Circle.
- Change Radius to 5.
- Rot level, Repeats 40, Position 65.
- Add shape, click Polygon.
- Radius 5, Sides 4, Rot level, Repeats 40, Position 65.
Fifth Ring:
- Add shape, click Circle.
- Change Radius to 50.
- Add shape, click Polygon.
- Radius 5, Sides 4, Rot level, Repeats 34, Position 55
- Add shape, click Circle.
- Radius 3.5, Rot level, Repeats 34, Position 55.
Sixth Ring:
- Add shape, click Circle.
- Radius 40.
- Add shape, click Circle.
- Radius 5, Rot level, Repeats 28, Position 45.
- Add shape, click Polygon.
- Radius 5, Sides 4, Rot level, Repeats 28, Position 45.
Seventh Ring:
- Add shape, click Circle.
- Radius 30.
- Add shape, click Flower.
- Radius 3.5, Leaves 5, Curvature 1.
- Rot level, Repeats 28, Position 34.5.
Eighth Ring:
- Add shape, click Circle.
- Radius 20.
- Add shape, click Heart.
- Size 5, Rot level, Repeats 16, Position 25.
- Last bit
- Add shape, click Heart.
- Size 16.
- Done!
Go to http://ColorMandala.com and try it out. Let us know in the Comments how you get on!
Willena Flewelling says
Hi Shan! I love ColorMandala! I’ve been playing around with it for the past month or two, and the results are awesome.
SumoPaint is another free site I use, which takes my ColorMandala designs to a whole beautiful new level. You can use any line drawing image you like there, but it’s cool to see what it does with your own ColorMandala design.
1. Go to SumoPaint.com.
2. Click File, and Open from My Computer.
3. Upload your image.
4. Click Filters, Distort, Kaleidoscope.
5. A small box will appear on top of your original image. Move it over to the side so you can see what happens to your original image.
6. There’s a blue circle in the center of the small image. Move it around on the image.
7. You can also play with the Divisions and Direction sliders beside the small image.
You’ll come up with all kinds of cool variations on your original image.
Something else you can experiment with on SumoPaint is:
Filters, Distort, Triangular Pattern.
This will give you not a mandala, but a whole page design.
Shan says
I’m a big SumoPaint fan, too. You can get some pretty good designs using Randomize.
Thanks for sharing that,
Shan