If you want to learn how to draw a Mandala, the first thing you need to know before starting is that you don’t need any drawing skills.
These designs are particularly popular today because drawing them helps our relaxation. They are also known to make the energy present in the body flow better increasing serenity and inner peace.
A bit of history
The Mandala Art is an ancient Tibetan technique represented with particular designs. The term “mandala” means “circle” and is often referred to as a sacral element such as the Moon and the Sun.
Your Mandala art 7 steps away
But now let’s get to the point! In this post, I want to show you that you can easily learn how to draw a Mandala from a blank page, without the need of using a compass!
You will need
- A piece of paper (or actually any surface you want to draw your Mandala on)
- A smaller piece of paper
- A pencil
- An eraser
- A ruler
- A marker
- OPTIONAL: Colors!
I personally LOVE Uni Posca markers but it’s really personal, the point of this is that you use your own imagination and taste. Try different methods until you find your own “formula” for stress-relief.
Step 1 - Lines
If you are not using a squared paper start measuring out your paper into a squared shape. It can be as big as you want, the bigger the square the more space you’ll have to add circles and shapes to your mandala (mine was 26x26cm).
When you have your squared space you want to draw 4 lines which will cross in the middle of the square.
- One vertical in the middle
- One horizontal in the middle
- One in each diagonal
TIP: In the image, I drew thick lines do they were more visible but the less pressure you but the better, as we’ll erase them at the end.
Step 2 - Dots
Now it’s time to place some dots on each line we draw to help us draw circles. We always start from the center, marking the dots on equal distance on each section. I personally find it easier to mark them on another piece of paper and use it instead of the ruler.
The distance between the dots it’s again up to you, you can change it, experiment a bit, or if you want to follow mine: I marked 7 dots (remember at equal distance from the center in each line) 1 cm – 0,5 cm – 1 cm – 0,5 cm – 0,5 cm – 1 cm – 2 cm
The final results of this “dot work” should look more or less like this:
Step 3 - Circles
Now that we have our lines marked we just have to start connecting the dots. Start from a dot and draw a curved line to the next one, dot by dot, circle by circle.
TIP: Don’t worry if your circles aren’t perfect. We are not looking for perfection. I always love to mention this quote: “”The beauty of handmade lies in the imperfections, anything perfect is machine-made.”
Step 4 - Shaping the circles
The “boring” part of learning how to draw a mandala is over!
You have the “skeleton” of your Mandala, now I will guide you through some designs you can use to fill in your circles. As I did 7 dots I now have 7 circles to fill:
1st circle: leaves
2nd circle: petals
3rd circle: half leaves
4th circle: circles
5th circle: triangles
6th circle: triangles
7th circle: petals
TIP: As you can see we repeated some designs, you don’t need to come up with a different one for each circle. The different measure of the circles will make them look different anyway.
Plus adding color and filling to the shape we just created you will see that possibilities are endless.
Step 5 - Color it up (or not)
This is completely personal. I truly love super colorful Mandala Art but you can also choose to use different shapes of the same color, or maybe paint it with watercolors, or just skip to Step 6 without adding any color.
TIP: Start from the center going outwards, this will allow you to color without touching what you already did with the risk of ruining it. And if you want to be super cautious leave dry each circle before passing to the next, especially when the next color is lighter.
Step 6 - Borders definition
With this step starts my favorite part of drawing Mandalas. If you colored it or not we will now use the marker to define all the borders we previously marked with the pencil.
This will allow our design to stand out, plus it will add a wonderful and vibrant definition to the colors.
Step 7 - Filling and Adornments
In this final step is where you should really be led by your imagination, simple dots or lines, small drops, or spirals.
I like to take my time and really see how I want it to look. Even going back to a circle and add something if I see it too empty.
The calming part of drawing mandala is hidden also behind the time you take looking at your design and let it come from your feeling in that present moment.
And this is the final result. I really hope this will help you to learn how to draw your own Mandala! Feel free to leave a comment or reach out if you need any more information or detail…. or if you want to share your artwork!
Desidero ringraziare per questo tutorial, perché era da tempo che continuavo a vedere questi bellissimi disegni, e mi sono sempre chiesto come si potessero realizzare.
Oggi, finalmente, lo so.
GRAZIE 🙏🏻
Grazie a te per il commento Gabriele! Se hai bisogno di qualsiasi chiarimento contattaci pure, sará un piacere poterti aiutare!