Draw a Mandala

An art challenge from Jon Foreman: Sculpt The World. (We recently featured pictures of Jon’s remarkable work.)

This is a step-by-step mandala tutorial.

All you need is paper, a pen/pencil and a ruler.

1) Start by folding the paper in half diagonally, across and upwards then draw those lines in lightly with a pencil.

2) Now measure the distance between each of those lines at the edge of the paper and mark each halfway. Now, using a ruler, draw the lines between the ones that you’ve already drawn.

3) To start the mandala, it’s optional to draw a circle for the centre – it’s up to you. I recommend drawing around something if you do.

4) Draw eight petals/sections of the mandala (they can be any shape you like). If you’re worried they won’t be the same length, then use a ruler to measure along the pencil lines you have made.

5) Add more layers – remember they can be any shape and can change shape if you like.

6) Eventually you will have a kind of full flower shape.

If you’re happy with it the way it is, that’s fine – leave it as it is. But if you want more detail, then choose a pattern and add it to layers of the petals, repeating as you go round.

If you get stuck for patterns, maybe see what you can find online, Google, Pinterest etc.

Once you’ve added detail to all the petals, you’ve finished!

Tanyard Youth Project

From Jon Foreman: Sculpt the World. Go to Jon’s Facebook page to see some of his amazing mandalas, all made out in nature with natural materials.