Drawing mandalas is as hard as you want to make it. You can draw them by hand using a pencil and compass, or a pencil and upturned saucer, or you can do what I do and use a computer.
In this blogpost, I’m going to recommend a free way to design your own mandalas online and show you how I designed the mandala at the top of the page, then give you tips on what to do next.
Before starting something new, I always look at how expensive it might be then find a way to do it as cheaply as possible.
I can’t claim credit for this method. I learned it from my business coach, Sarah, who found a free website, www.colormandala.com .
Using this site, you can hone your skills. Well, I say “hone” your skills but for me it was the place I discovered I HAD some skills.
Go on there, click on Design New and simply explore it. Play with everything you find on there.
You’ll find lots of shapes – leaf, flower, polygon (that’s mostly what I used for the mandala at the top), rectangle, open star, circle – all sorts. And you can change the size of all of them.
You alter the size using the sliding scale and fine-tune with the up and down arrows. Just get in there and try it!
Using the mandala at the top as a guide, this is what you do:
Polygon Mandala Instructions
Circle – Radius 90
Circle – Radius 85
That’s the easy bit done 😉
Polygon – Radius 40, Sides 6, Rotation Level, Repeats 6, Position 50, Rotation 50
Polygon – Radius 30, Sides 6, Rotation Level (now shortened to Rot lvl), Repeats 6, Position 50, Rotation 50
Polygon – Radius 20, Sides 6, Rot lvl, Repeats 6, Position 50, Rotation 50
Polygon – Radius 25, Sides 6, Rot lvl, Repeats 6, Position 50
Polygon – Radius 20, Sides 6, Rot lvl, Repeats 6, Position 50, Rotation 50
Polygon – Radius 13, Rotation 50 (in the top bit), Sides 3, Rot lvl, Repeats 6, Position 54
Polygon – Radius 12, Sides 6, Rot lvl, Repeats 6, Position 29
Polygon – Radius 9, Sides 6, Rot lvl, Repeats 6, Position 29
Polygon – Radius 6, Sides 3, Rot lvl, Repeats 6, Position 19, Rotation 50
Polygon – Radius 4.5 (just type 4.5 in the box), Sides 3, Rot lvl, Repeats 6, Position 9
Polygon – Radius 4.5, Sides 3, Rot lvl, Repeats 6, Position 9, Rotation 50, Rot lvl, Repeats 6, Position 50, Rotation 50
And that’s it!
Why do we do it like this?
To get a 3D effect.
Start with the largest pieces at the bottom then gradually build it up using smaller pieces and different shapes.
I still used polygons but went from 6 sides to 3.
Once you’ve achieved the same design as me, do it with different shapes and sizes, and see what you come up with.
If you’ve never created anything like this before, it’s one of the most freeing things you could do.
Go on – unleash your creative genius on the world!!!!
Have fun!
Shan
PS – To buy this mandala, click here
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