Drawing a Mandala is as simple as repeating this sentence: “I can draw a Mandala”!
Yes! To all those who consider themselves with no artistic skills whatsoever, the word drawing seems scary, and they directly connect it with the word “failure” which generates negative feelings and results in pushing those people further away from arts.
Drawing a Mandala is different from the drawing we have seen and know. As you’ll see in this simple Mandala tutorial, this art does not require artistic skills. It is simple, tailored to suit every single person no matter what his/her skills are.
But before starting to talk about drawing a Mandala, let’s have a quick flashback on what a Mandala is. A Mandala is composed of a number of circles organized around the same center. It was first created by Buddha that used it and preached it as a form of art that helps monks enter a state of mindfulness.
Monks still use this technique, however, the mandalas they draw hold a lot of religious symbols and shapes. They use, mainly, colored sand to create beautiful mandala artworks, and when done, after hours and days of work, the monks wipe the mandala off the surface onto a river to symbolize their belief that nothing is permanent, everything on earth has an end.
How to draw a Mandala
Drawing a Mandala can be simplified into three basic steps:
- Step 1 drawing a mandala grid
- Step 2 filling the grid with basic shapes
- Step 3 filling the shapes with patterns.
To draw a Mandala you need the following materials
Materials Needed:
- A white paper or cardboard
- a ruler
- a compass
- a protractor
- a sharpened pencil
- fine drawing pens such as Uni Pin, Micron, etc.
If you don’t have a protractor or a compass then please check the below tutorial that will teach you how to trace a mandala grid without a protractor or a compass
Step 1: How to draw a mandala grid
A mandala grid is composed of a number of circles and a number of grid lines equally separated. Note that just the grid lines need to be equally separated not the circles. To learn more about a mandala grid you can check the below video
For this tutorial the mandala grid has the following measures:
Trace four circles with the following radii: 2 cm, 4 cm, 5 cm, and 6 cm.
As for the grid lines, they are separated by 10 degrees.
To trace the mandala grid follow the next few steps:
Step a:
Mark the center of your A5 paper
Step b:
Trace a vertical and a horizontal line that crosses the center
Step c:
Trace 4 circles that have as a center the center of the paper.
The radii are as follows: 2 cm, 4 cm, 5 cm, and 6 cm.
Step d:
Using the protractor, trace grid lines equally separated by 10 degrees.
Step 2: How to fill a grid with basic Mandala shapes
Take a look at the list of basic mandala shapes exposed in the video below
Step a:
Trace a double-pointed petal on each two grid sections of the first circle ( the 2 cm radius circle)
Step b:
Trace one arc petal on each section of the second circle ( the 4 cm radius circle)
Step c:
Trace a regular petal on each 2 grid sections of the mandala grid in the third circle (the 5 cm radius circle)
Step d:
Trace one teardrop between each two regular petals
Step e:
Trace a pointed petal on each two grid sections of the last circle (the 6 cm radius circle)
Step 3: Fill the mandala basic shapes with patterns
To give your mandala a special signature, fill the shapes with patterns and designs of your choice. In this mandala tutorial, I keep the patterns I used simply to make it easier for beginners to follow. If you like check the videos below to learn a series of patterns that you could apply to this mandala
Step a:
Trace a small circle at the top of each arc petal
Step b:
Draw teardrops inside each regular petal as follows
Step c:
Last, draw a double-pointed teardrop between every two pointed petals.
Finally, erase the lines of the mandala grid
Watch the full video
