For all those who follow the latest trends in art forms, it is common knowledge that mandala art is currently a rage. With artists exploring circular geometric patterns with blends of colours and ideas, mandala art has become a very convenient choice for experimenting with art. Though not unfamiliar entirely, thanks to the rangolis that adorn the floors of Indian households during Diwali, the origin of this creative mandala art and its purpose is not known to many. The origin of mandala art can be traced back to the Buddhist art forms in the first century BCE. The art form is replete with symbolism and is believed to be used for spiritual healing, meditation, and even religious rituals. Representing the universe in circular patterns, the inner circle reflects the self-identity or divine, and the outer circles manifest the interconnectedness of life on earth. This mandala art form has been popular for spiritual seekers and artists for quite some time now. If this easy and beautiful artwork is nudging the doodle artist in you, then you just answer that subtle nudge, and here is how you can try your hand at mandala art in some easy and creative steps:
Step 1
If you haven’t indulged in your artistic skills before and want mandala art to be your first brush with drawing, you might initially get the jitters. Especially when you have taken screenshots of so many amazing mandala arts and have always wanted to make them on your own but never failed to wonder how in the world an artwork can be so simple yet beautiful at the same time. However, as you begin with the initial steps you will realize that mandala art is not exactly rocket science and you have got the freedom to use all your creativity to keep it as simple or complex as you want.
So, the first thing you need to do is collect the basic materials to draw a mandala which are a good quality notebook or paper, pencil, eraser, ruler, and colours if you want.
Step 2
If you are too fond of colours and always itching to reach out for the brightest ones whenever you get an opportunity to draw or paint something, it is recommended that you use a pencil sketch to form the blueprint of your mandala art first. Being a beginner, it is also important to get the initial circles, angles and patterns right before you can fill in the colours.
Step 2
If you have selected a circular design for your mandala art, it can be quite tricky initially to get the circle right. You might find it difficult to get the circle in a proper shape so you could fish out that old compass that you had stashed away in that old geometry box of yours that you had not touched after leaving school. After that, you could begin with a dot at the centre of the circle which would be like the core of your mandala art from where you are going to expand the whole structure. Make sure the notebook you have selected to create your own creative mandala art book has good quality paper and is wide enough in case you want to enlarge your diagram.
Step 3
Now comes the designing part for which you could either use some reference available on Pinterest or any other mandala art book that you already have. You could also try out some of your own designs without using any other completed creative mandala art work. It might be unnerving though to stare at the blank circle initially with absolutely no idea what to sketch in. So, it is better to work on some rudimentary steps. You could try another trick to give yourself some time to cook up some design before you could start the sketch. You could use your ruler to place some more dots on the above, below, left, and right of your centre dot at an inch distance each. You could continue to make some more dots along the same lines and when you have a horizontal and an intersecting vertical line as a structure you will already have an idea of what to draw first.
Step 4
Instead of starting with the intricate details you could start with some basic shapes like petals, waves, or spirals as you like. Once the basic structure of the mandala art is ready you can start darkening the areas that you want to add depth to your artwork. As you continue to shade and darken some selected portions of your mandala art just wait to see how it comes alive with the juxtaposition of black and white in the right places. Once you have filled in at the right places, you can add colours wherever you want or you could also keep it monochromatic with black and white.
Following these steps would lead to the creation of your first mandala art, which might either be good enough to give yourself a pat for having succeeded so brilliantly. However, if you feel that more improvements could be made you are always free to experiment with the next creative mandala art work that you make because it leaves ample scope for using your creativity to not only satiate your artistic self but also initiate your spiritual journey.
