Learn to Create a Galaxy Watercolor Mandala

1. Introduction: are great for easy yet expressive drawings. They help increase your focus and are versatile enough to be used in many different forms have drawn hundreds off mandalas from simple to complex and use them in so many ways in coloring boats, pats and even wall up. In this class, we will be combining two popular trends. Hen drawn mandalas and a galaxy water coloring. You pick up the basics off how to draw Mandela and be creating your own designs in no time . I'll also share some beginner what the color tips, and you learn how to combine both what, the color and ink into a beautiful mixed media Mandela. So if you're looking to try your hand at something new, come join me and let's make some up. 2. Tools & Materials: before we start. Let's cover the materials will need for this class, starting with the paper if you're just starting out and don't want to spend too much on paper, I normally use a dale around defying grain at a minimum weight off. 200 years, Um, as you will need thicker paper to be able to hold a watercolor for better results, I recommend at least a tree 100 GS and Co. Press, watercolor paper and a brand I typically used, which is more often affordable. Range is the lengthen. There are also many other watercolor paper brands out there, but the good ones can be extremely expensive. If you're interested in those, I suggest you do a little research before you decide on which one. To get for drawing, you need the usual suspects, a ruler pencil you Reza pencil sharpener. And since we're drawing Mandela's, I highly recommend that you get a compass if you do not have one. Not to worry, I will have a special section to teach you how to measure out your Mandela's without a compass. It may take a little longer, but it can be done. I will then be inking the artwork with a silver in pen on top off the painted watercolor. The pen amusing for this is a uni ball signal brought silver pen. Being for this pen sometimes flows a little thick, so just be careful when you're drawing tow. Avoid smudging for painting. You need a water container, brushes a number of people, have and use this painter backwash water brush, for they are watercolors because it can also double up as a brush for calligraphy. But my personal choice is to use an actual watercolor brush as the water brush. Me sometimes dilutes the paint that you've picked up on the brush a little too much. I used a Laurentiis a quart Fine brushes in very sizes. I have fear sizes 10 and six For what Nicholas I used Winsor and Newton's Cotman Water colors. I think you can find this set in your art store. It has most of the basic colors you need, or you can even buy individual tubes off the colors that you want for this particular class of using pressure in blue. Three. Didn't you burnt umber permanent rose and some cerulean blue? I recommend that you put your colors in a flat pellet, which can be closed. The flat surface will be a lot easier for you to mix your colors in, and a close pellet will prevent your watercolors from drying out. For ease of usage, you can arrange your colors like a color wheel instead of squeezing them in haphazardly. It's unfortunate that painting before the fellas can sometimes be a little pricey. But buying the right materials will really impact your final outcome. If you only split on one thing, please let it be good paints. You really notice the difference in color brilliance as well as your painting process. The second thing that I would splurge on would be good watercolor paper and finally brushes . So once you've assemble all your items, we can get started. 3. Planning a Frame: nice gifts that that was first drawing out our Mandela. Since we're going for Galaxy team, we're going to be drawing a star shaped mandala. I'm starting out with a square 15 centimeter by 15 centimetre sheet off paper. We're going toe Wonder Mandela to be placed in the center, so divide each side into half and draw a straight line down. You'll get the middle point where the two lines intersect, which will be the anchor for all your reference lines. For those of you who don't have a compass, you can skip this section and watch the bonus video on how to draw your lines without a compass. So we'll be using a circle radius off 6.5 centimeters, which you will measure out for your compass. We want to leave a 0.5 centimeter border from each each draw out the circle, using the middle point as an enka. Remember to keep a light hand as thes circles will only be reference points, and we will need to erase them out later before we start the water color. From here, we'll move inwards, making smaller circles, depending on how many layers you want for your Mandela. I'm aiming for about five layers, so I should have at least five reference circles for the Mexico. We'll take a radius off 5.5 centimeters to keep things simple. I like to round down to the nearest 0.5 centimeters. I usually have in DeVos off varying lengths between the circles because this means you're layers will have different sizes, adding some interest to your Mandela. So for the next cycle, we will do a radius off for CME. Well, then, follow that with a tree, cm radius and the finance. A girl will be 1.5 centimeters. You don't want the innermost ago to be too small or your patrons. Insight might be too cramped. Now we're going to divide the circles into more segments, which will make up the rest off your mandala. We're going to use the biggest sickle as a reference to draw segments. Measure the distance between the two points on the straight line, that bicycle intersex. You will need to have it and put a reference point. Sheer. The distance is 9.2 centimeters, so I'm going to put a dot at the 4.6 centimeter the middle point and use that to draw a line. True, the middle point intersecting bicycle on the other side. It doesn't matter if you're slightly off on the distance. It could be a ruler is different or your compass might have moved a little while you're drawing. Just take the distance from point to point and have it to get your CenterPoint. Now that both sides are done, we're going toe. Have each of the segments into even smaller segments. You can choose to stick with only eight segments, but I feel that adding more segments, just another level off intricacy to your mandala. Repeat the steps to measure and divide each segment as a reminder. Do keep a light hand when drawing these. Now that all reference lines are drawn, we can start withdrawing the frame. I'll be building the mandala from the inside out. Since we're grateful a starship. All of the segments are going to have points. Unlike the become Andalus, where you can draw different shapes such as petals or so first for the frame. You can choose to incorporate these ships into your Mandela. However heavy only pointed ends were better and forced the spy like shit. Using the middle line as a stopping point, we're going to draw two straight lines, sloping outwards, going from the second circle to the smaller circle where they intersect with the straight lines on the left and right. You can draw doctor and thicker lines for the frame as you want them to stand out even after you've painted over them. They will also be shouldn't later, because we will be going over them with silver ink. Repeat this pattern until all segments are completed and the design looks like an eight pointed star for the next layer. We won the segments to start from the middle off the start that we just drew, since we don't have a reference Akhil. But in the sex at these points, I'll need to add in a new sickle. As you're building on Mandela, you may occasionally find you need toe in more reference cycles, only to draw another at a 2.5 centimeter radius. This time, we'll be starting from the initial Texaco Drori down to the new reference ical. We just me. We want each segments points to be between the two points that we drew on the second cycle again. Repeat until all segments are complete. You now have what looks like an eight point that start on top. If another bigger eight pointed star will be making the next site thin and long so we can keep things interesting with differing heights and thickness off, each layer will be stretching out the line from the middle off the second star to the biggest circle. Now for the fourth layer, we should be in between two off the long, thin segments you'll notice. I always keep turning the paper to the most comfortable position for me to draw. It's looking pretty good at this point. The top part seems a little empty, so let's put in one more layoffs segments. In between. We'll need toe eat another to reference Agos at a five and six centimeter radius. Unfortunately, we also do not have enough segments, so we're going to again measure out the middle point between where the two straight lines intersect with our six cm radius sickle. I'm not drawing a full line in this case to reduce the number off lines I need to erase later, but you can draw the full lines if you prefer for these segments. You may notice they're slightly lopsided because the two lines on either side off each. Syngman, I'm not at the same angle. However, since this asymmetrical segments repeat around the entire mandala, they don't look too out of place. - Okay , so this is our Mandela outline. We can start on feeling in the patterns in next video. 4. Sketching out Patterns: Now that we've got the now from complete, it's time to plan the patterns inside the Mandela. If you're totally new to using patterns in your artwork, you can check out my previous class on incorporating patterns into drawings. I will include a link in the class description for this piece. We won't be thinking in the design first before painting, as the metallic bits in the ink me No hold up very well to the watercolor and mace much, if you were drawing with it archival ink pen, which has solid ink like a black sack around my cramp in. Then you get Inc in the US before painting over. However, since we won the at peace to be shiny and star like we're going to roughly sketch in the design painted and then go over it with silver ink, we will need to erase out all the reference lines that we don't need or not part off the final design before we paint. Once the watercolor goes on, the pencil must can no longer be removed. Personally, I like to plan all my patterns before I watercolor, as I can use the reference points as a guide to drawing some off my Pepin's before they are erased. If you prefer, you can just pain. You're afraid in first before deciding what patterns you would like to draw. It's all about your creative process and what you're comfortable with. Since we're going for Galaxy Mandala team, we're going to use patterns that look a little like a starry sky like constellations of the Milky Way, which means these patterns, which will have lots off dots. I have previously mentioned that I like to very my patterns layering dot pack patterns between lying type patterns so that the different layers don't look too similar. However, in this case, it's were great for team off staffs. All the patterns will mostly be dot type. We want to maintain the middle lines as a pattern for this long, thin section here, as I think you defined a starship a little better for the outermost layer, we're going to do some stippling. I'm not going to draw out the pattern for all the segments as I will be drawing a free head with in later, so I'm just roughly sketching it out to see how it looks. If I'm not happy, review are really feeling the pattern. I replace it with another. You can always choose toe fully feel in the patterns in the Mandela, so you can. It's a guy later on. While you're thinking for the next section, I'm going to use the Rete pattern, which also has big dots. I'm just lightly sketching it in, just in case I need to. The reason for the innermost section. I want to maybe use another plant pattern variation, probably just tree circle butts and for this last section are feeling in with dots of varying sizes. Okay, so now that we've got our patterns planned out, we're going to start erasing our reference lines. If you accidentally erase any off the frame lines here drawn, just go over them again. You wonder outlines to be duck enough so you can see them through the paint. Because this particular reference line is part of my pattern. I'm going to make it a little darker. Before I erased the secular reference lines that intersected Wait for the innermost layer. This reference line is going to be part of the pattern, so I'm also going to make this one a little bit more obvious because I'm using the smallest circle as a reference for the butts in this pattern. I'm going to sketch these out first before I erased the secular reference line. Don't worry. If you're not able to erase all the lines, clean me if they're faint, they will be covered by the water color as we are going to pain with darker colors. Once we've erased all the reference lines, we will move on to painting. 5. Painting the Galaxy: don't be too worried if you do not have any experience with watercolor, we are just going to do an easy loose painting today. I've got here two brushes off different sizes. Number 10 and six. My staple brushes the number 10. But since this mandala is not very big, I may need to have the smaller brush to get the colors into the small corners. We will be aiming to paint only within the Mandela. But even if you go off the lines a little, don't worry. The nature of what color is that you can't always control how it flows, so just let it be before starting to paint. I recommend you always mix your colors beforehand. So you're not scrambling to get the color right as the water is drying on your paper. So we're starting out with diluting the Prussian blue. We're going to mix the blue with some very don't you as well to get a soft to color way, also going to dilute out some cerulean blue and some permanent rose. Even when I'm planning to pain with just a single color, I like to dilute out the colors on my palette instead of picking up the color directly off the paint as it might be too strong. You always want to start off if a lighter cook as you can, still at more layers off color if you want to deepen it. But if you start off to doubt, it will be more difficult to fix. For Dr Excellent, we will be mixing bunt number with some off the Prussian blue. I don't normally use black as I think it's a little too harsh, so I prefer the combine, but number two the color and trying to make a little darker. Take some time to experiment with your color, makes us and see what you like. So we've now got all the colors were planning to use, ready to go. You can choose to take down your paper in case you want to prevent the paper from buckling . But I won't be doing that. The plan is to make the top and center colors a little darker and having the colors get like that as it spreads out. Start, we're going to give the mandala a very light wash off plain water before putting down the color. This is just in case if the color was too strong on the brush. It will dilute it out and also keep the paper wet so you can blend the colors a little better. We're going with a blue base, so start off with the Prussian blue you already diluted earlier. We want to get a good mix off tones where some parts are deeper blue and some parts are lighter blue, especially areas that you one other colors to shine true. Remember that the base color will impact the other colors that you put on it. Now we're going to want to get a deeper blue in this corner, so pick up some more blue color and likely Debbie on. I find that they're being in the color gives it a more natural blend, as compared to swiping on the color in long strokes. The different colors of a galaxy sky are always kind of splotchy, and that's the effect we're going for. If the color is looking a bit too strong, just at in a bit more water to dilute it or pick it off the ship with direct or tissue we're now going to on some of the teal every time you change color. Be sure the wash off your brush, so it there's a mixed with your next color way. Also going to want to get colors into some of the points. So I'm going in with a smaller brush that has a tentative you can see in the upper left sexual. Red blue is lighter. The two shines true, a lot more that's also at in a smidge of cerulean blue to lighten up some areas and give it some different blue tones. Okay, so it's getting a little too blue. So we're going toe in some permanent rose at this bottom corner here, as the roast makes us in with the blue, we also get some hints off couple. If your paper is getting too wet or pulling water, you can also let it dry a little more before continuing. You don't need to worry if your papers to dry later. The beauty off painting of Galaxies that having layers or even some water marks here in the enhances the realistic effect off the sky rather than takes away from the painting. Unlike traditional watercolor scenes, I've also let my paper dry a little so it's more damp rather than wrecked. We want to and forced the blue in some areas. So we're going to layer on a bit more blue. You can see some of the pencil marks are really disappearing. Just why we always try to duck in them before we start painting. We're also gonna put on that that number blue mixture, spreading it out. You can continue adding which ever callous you prefer. You may find that the contrast between the die in light colors are to stop in some areas, so be sure to put in some water to blend it out. Spread out the different colors. Trick that I like to use is to put the same color on opposite sites off the manila and connect them. - Don't worry about the color is getting a little too what color will always dry a little lighter. Besides, the dark colors will also help your eighth designs stand out a little better. Now that we're done, just let your paper dry thoroughly and we can move on to inking the design 6. Inking Your Mandala: before we begin. If there any guidelines there faded a little after being painted, we will need to mark them in again. Okay, now that our guidelines are set, we're going to spat toe in the artwork. We're going to start with the outline off the smallest star. I will be drawing some of the lines freehand, but you can also feel free to use a ruler, sometimes due to the water color. The ink off the pen may get a little stuck, so you will need to go over the same line a few times. If this happens now for the inner lines, we're then going to fuel in the pattern before we move to the next layer to reduce any potential smudging. Since we had already put down a rough sketch off where the but should be, we can finish this pattern quickly. Let's move on to the next room. The pattern for this layer a different size dots, and we're using two different dot sizes. We should put in the biggest dots first and fill in the empty spaces, with the smaller dots randomly spacing them out. Next, other thin long segments. From this segment you can see leftover pencil marks are going to be hidden under the ink. - I think this point, I think only having a single line makes this segment a little too empty. So we're going toe into more lines on either side off the center line. Since there's no reference lines for these were going to use a ruler and estimate the center point on either side. When using the ruler, you always want to draw from right to left so that your ruler will not go over the line. You just true and potentially smudge it. You see here I'm gauging whether Centrepoint east on each site and making a mark so I can use the ruler to guide my line. - I'm going to continue using the ruler to draw the next segment again, always moving from right to left. If you're not sure if you're in case trying, just tap it very lightly to check. If they are some remnants on your finger, then you should wait a while for you to dry before continuing to draw this'll . Next pattern is a fluid wheat pattern, which is good for feeling in what or irregular shapes trying to space out your butts on the long, wavy stems. Do not bunch them up too tightly for this last segment. I'm just going to freehand outline as they're pretty shot. - We're going to use greedy INTs deploying to feel this in starting with a tense bunch of dots at the bottom and the Dutch get more spots as we move upwards towards the tip. Now is also the time for you to treat any patterns you are not happy with. Like this segment of mind that doesn't seem to have enough dots. WeII done as usual. Remember to sign your artwork. You should be proud of what you've accomplished. 7. Thank You!: thank you so much for taking the class, and I hope you enjoyed yourself. If you have any lingering questions, please don't hesitate to post them in the discussion. Don't forget to also upload a picture off your completed at work as I love to see You can also take me on Instagram at lemon names. I'll see you soon in my other videos. 8. Bonus! Drawing a Mandala without a Compass: before we begin, I would like to highlight that. The measurements I mentioned here are based on my original paper size or 15 centimeters by 15 centimeters. If you wish to use a bigger or smaller size, just make sure that your paper is even on all sites. If you're using the same size as me but still find your measurements slightly off by a few centimeters, it's fine. Just remember to take the half off your measure distance. Okay, so this is a bonus video for those off you. Who would like to learn how to draw the frame off a Mandela but do not have a compass. We're starting out with the same as a compass class, where you need to divide a 15 centimeter by 15 centimeters, square sheet of paper in tow, half on both ends. The Intersect Point in the center will be the anchor point for drawing your Manella. Next, we will be dividing each smaller square in half. We do that by measuring the length between the two points on the edges and dividing that in half. The measurement between the two points is 10.6 tm so divided its 5.3 cm and that will be the sent the point. Once you've done that, there will be eight segments. Now we're going to divide each segment into even smaller segments by having them. To do this, we will need to measure the distance between two lines of the segment and take the center point. However, to get accurate reading, we must make sure to take the distance between the two lines and the point where they're both the same length now because we know this line is 7.5 centimeters, which waas the 15 centimetre paper laying defended by half. So we should also measure out 7.5 centimeters from the center anchor point on this longer middle line. The measure distance between the two points at this 7.5 centimeter MMA is 5.7 centimeters. When we divide this in half, we get 2.85 centimeters. So mark it down for the center point, continue for the entire mandala. Now that we've got all the street reference lines mapped out, we need to measure out where the psycho in the sec on each off this reference lines, just as if you had a compass. So, for example, the biggest reference Tucker was at a radius off 6.5 centimeters. This means that the circle would have intersected each reference line at 6.5 centimeters from the center anchor point. So make sure you mark out these points on each reference line as another example, the next blind Waas, 5.5 centimeters. So we will need to also Markle 5.5 centimeters on each off the reference lines way, because we will have five layers in this Mandela, we would have had five reference circles. I'm including here. Diagram off all the radius lines that will need to be marked on each individual reference line. Once this is complete, you can continue watching the lesson number tree on planning your Mandela frame.