Design a Christmas-Mandala Wrapping Paper in Procreate

1. Intro: The special time of the year is coming closer and closer. As the holiday season approaches what better way to get into the festive spirit than by creating our very own personalized Christmas wrapping paper? Today I'm going to guide you through the wonderful world of symmetrical drawing in procreate, and show you how to craft a stunning and unique wrapping paper that will make your gift stand out under the tree. Hello and welcome to this class about designing a Christmas Mandala wrapping paper in procreate. I'm Nicole, and I'm thrilled to have you here today. Now you might be wondering what's the secret to creating a beautiful Christmas wrapping paper like this one? It's all about understanding the art of mandala design. Mandalas are intricate, symmetrical patterns that have been used for centuries to inspire creativity and promote inner peace. Today, we'll be applying these principles to design your very own Christmas themed Mandala wrapping paper. All you need for this class is your ipad with the procreate app and the Apple pencil or any similar stylus. To set up the file for the printer, you will need any graphic program. I'll show you my process in Photoshop. We'll start by setting up our canvas and understanding the basic tools and techniques within procreate. Then we'll delve into the magic of Mandalas, creating a central Christmas themed item and building intricate elements around it, all with perfect symmetry. Finally, we'll make a repeating pattern out of this Mandala. Whether you are a seasoned artist or a complete beginner, this class is designed for all levels. Though basic procreate skills might be helpful, I'll walk you step by step through the whole process. By the end of this class, you will have a gorgeous one of a kind Christmas wrapping paper to use for your gifts. I can't wait to embark on this creative journey with you and help you with every step of this way. Grab your equipment and let's get started. 2. Your Project: In this class, we are going to create a Mandala repeat pattern for a Christmas wrapping paper. Your project is this repeating pattern. Please upload your finished design to the project gallery by clicking the Submit Project button under Projects and Resources. If you like, you can also create a mock up for your wrapping paper, and I'm looking forward to see and comment on your projects. If you have any questions, please reach out in the discussion section. I'm here for you. 3. Setting Up the Canvas: Before we start with the Mandala, I'd like to demonstrate you how our pattern will be arranged later on. We will draw a mandala, I demonstrate it with a flower. You can repeat this tile in that way, one beside the others, then the same on top, the same on bottom. But you have one and the next. I think this is the bottom and this is the top. Or you could take every second row and shift it halfway to the side. You have a half drop repeat pattern. This is what I like to create with you. I change my color. For this inner tile, I would like to create it in the size 25 by 25 centimeters. This is about 10 by 10 ". If you'd like to work in inches. Or centimeters. I'd like to create with the little plus icon on the top right, a new canvas. With the plus icon. I go to centimeters and choose 25 by 25. Or as said you can go to inches and type 10 by 10. You have 55 layers. 25, 25. I have 57. This depends on the ipad you use. You may have a different amount of layers, but it will be enough. The DPI we leave it at 300 to have a good quality. What's else important? We go to the color profile. Normally, I work in RGB, but this time the wrapping paper is going to be printed out on paper. So we have to choose CMYK. I suggest taking the generic CMYK profile and create. Okay. Now let's talk about the colors we would like to use. So, if you like to have it in classic Christmas colors, you can take a red, I make dots and drop it later on in my color palette. And maybe some light peach as a contrast, or some more, a light pink. I think I take it lighter. Classic. Okay, I think that's good and we need some greens. Let's choose a dark green. And maybe a lighter hue of that. Yes. And maybe some brown. Some lighter brown. Some olive. Yes. That's a nice one. Now let's go to this dot and select palettes and the plus icon on the top right, create a new palette. This is on the very top of all. Now you can, with a long press on that color, you have it selected, click it in the New Color Palette. I link you my palette in the Resources tab, if you'd like to work with exactly the same colors. Okay, that's it. We can delete, clear this layer again, we have our colors in the palette saved. Now let's turn on the magic to create the mandala in perfect symmetry. We can work with the drawing assist. Go to this little wrench icon on the top left and click to canvas. And then turn on the drawing guide. Edit drawing guide and here, you can choose on the bottom layer, the symmetry, on the right. The options, here you have the symmetry, vertical, you could choose horizontal, quadrant, but I like to choose radial, which means that the canvas is divided in eight parts. When I draw in one part, it is automatically mirrored in the other eight parts. Let's choose radial and leave the rotational symmetry off and the assisted drawing on, then click Done. Let's meet in the next video to draw the Mandala. 4. Drawing the Mandala: For the background color, I'd like to, I'd like to stay with a very light color, white, but I don't like the pure white. I'd like to go to this navy green or olive green and shift the dot to the top left, quite to the top, and quite to the right, but not fully. We have a lighter, very light version of this olive green. I think this might be a great background. Okay, we have the wording assisted here under layer 1, which means that the assisted drawing is on on this layer one. When we create another layer, it's not assisted, but we can also turn it on here, by clicking in this little square and then drawing assist on. We have it also here activated. You have to activate it in every single layer you would like to have it. Okay, let's stay with layer one. I'd like for my center element, I'd like to create a star or snowflake. I choose the studio pen. This is my favorite pencil when I like to illustrate with straight edges and without any texture. But you can choose whatever brush you like as well as every color you would like. You don't have to follow me 100%. Okay. The studio pen and I stay with this olive color. Yes. Okay. I'd like to create a star. So I go from the center and make a leafy shape and fill it in. Here again, but make it smaller to make it more interesting. Between this here and here and here, I'd like to change the color to the dark green. If you like to change your colors on it it's better to work in different layers. I suggest to take a new layer, when you choose to work with a different color. Every layer is one color. You can change the colors later on very easy. I don't go from this shape, but leave a bit of a gap. Make it in this way. When you drop the color in, sometimes when you have some sharp edges, it doesn't fill the color in totally. You have to go in and check all of your edges and corners. If there are some dots left like here. I go back to that, choose my olive and correct that. It depends on your style. You can leave it as it is or you can go in, take the eraser studio pen and make it a bit sharp the edges and make a nice sharp tip. On that star. Okay, You can create some details in this star, but I leave it as it is. Maybe we can go in another step at the end of the drawings, we can refine all the details. Okay, what can we do next? I'd like to have some leafy shapes, maybe from a Christmas Holly. I stay on this dark green layer. No, I take another layer, create another layer, and go with this lighter green, make a kind of Christmas Holly leaf shape here. Oh, I forgot to activate the drawing assist on that layer. Okay. Once again and I refine it. Okay. And in the gaps between, I'd like to go back to my dark green and create a twig of a fir tree, the needles of the twig. You can work exact, but I'd like to make it random. And different in the size of the needles and thickness. Follow your style. Okay. And here in the middle, I'd like to make another leafy shape. So I go back to this olive and I make it right on that guideline. Okay. Now I make some mistletoe leaves in this kind, okay, drop the color in, refine it, and here on the top I'd like to go with, let's see if the contrast is enough with the light pink. So another layer and activate the drawing assist and make, yes, I think it's good. And one in the middle, it mustn't be exact round but without edges or corners, maybe add some smaller ones here and there. Yes. 5. Adding more Elements: I'd like to have a winter rose with this red color. Create another layer, activate drawing assist, make it here. The winter rose has leaves like this, a bit like a flame, and they are overlapping. I'd like to make five leaves. No, I don't like it here. I'd like to not touch this. Okay, drop the color in. In the center of this flower you can select this rose pink. Create another layer, activate assisted drawing, and make some dots. Vary in sizes to make it interesting. Okay, I think I take this darker pink here in also. This is too soft and too subtle. I don't like that. It's that. We can go up with that and reduce this two to one layer. Make it alphalock by swiping with two fingers on the layer to the right. You have the checkered pattern here, we have this pink selected. And you can tip in here in this checkered pattern and choose fill layer. Everything that's on that layer has this color now. Okay, we can turn off the alphalock again by swiping again with two fingers to the right. The checkered pattern is gone. Okay, let's go further in that region, we can create a Christmas bauble here, I stay with this pink and I'd like to have the bauble in a kind of... one circle on top and, I don't know how you call this shape, like a flame again like in this flower. Okay. I make a flame again here, make it nice in the corner. A nice tip. Okay? And then make a circle on top. A kind of circle. Mustn't be perfect round but nice in the shape. Okay? To make it a nice bauble, let's make some patterns on that. Let's shift the red over this pink, go to the red layer, and choose the red color, and create some dots here. And maybe a stripe, a border here, make it smaller the size of the brush. Some diamond shapes here. You can fill it with the color, make it also here. Just try to follow the curve the bauble makes and do some smaller dots here and get smaller, make some stripes from here to the top. Okay, let's make a little hook on the top. We lost our dots in the center because we shifted the pink under the red. When we shift it back again, we have the dots again but lose our patterns here. We have to make it a separate layer. Go to this pink layer and choose the wrapping. Wrap that around. Shift with three fingers. Now you have the copy and paste menu. You can say cut and paste. You have the two selected from here on a separate layer. And I go back to that layer and do this and these two also. Okay, so we have this four layers with the dots in the winter rose. I can merge it to one layer. Okay, then I shift the other layer with the pinks behind the red layer. We have one pink layer behind the red and one pink layer on top of the red. We can turn on the drawing assist here also. If you like, you can name the layers with the colors to stay organized. But I can see it clear enough here in this preview squares. Okay, then I go back to this olive layer. Choose my olive. As said, I'd like to have a little hook on that, maybe in a square shape. Okay. To define it clear enough as a Christmas bauble. Okay. What else can we try to evoke more of a Christmas feel? We can create a parcel, a gift. Let's make it here. In what color? I stay with this olive. Let's try this. Make it a bit bigger. I make a square shape, but not in a right angle, a bit shifted to the side to make it more interesting. And it mustn't be perfect with all the angles and corners. It's okay to have a hand draw look on that. Maybe it's too close to that fir tree. I erase here from the bottom and make the edges a bit more round. So it's like here and there. Okay, And let's make a bow around the gift. And I'd like to have it with this light green. Maybe we don't need this light pink. Let's see if, if it's enough to have these five colors. Let's try, I make a bit of a cross and then create a bow here on top. That's nice. 6. Adding Details: Let's add some details here in the star and on the leaves to make it a bit more interesting then, let's try out our repeating. For now, let's add some details. I go to the dark green. I'd like to make some details in this leave. It's the top layer, the green. Maybe I can shift it behind the dark green. Yes, it's okay. We can go to the dark green layer and add some veins here. Don't make it straight. It's nicer to have a bit of a curve in this vein. You can make some veins to the site or, to make it different, we can add some dots here and there besides the veins. And make some kind of veins here in the, in the corners. Also a dot. Yes, that's nice. Okay, and here in the star, we can make some ornaments. Let's see if this pink is good on top of this olive. Yes, it is. So we can go from the center, in that way. So, start in the center, make a bow, cross it over this guideline, and make this curvy shape on top. And here, make a kind of a heart in a mistletoe shape, maybe. Yes, and here you can add some dots. Here also a dot. Yeah, I like it. And make only a thin line here. And in the dark green shapes, the dark green layer is on top. We can go here to the green. And why not erase some parts of that to create a pattern? We can make some veins, or is it too tropical? No, I think it's good as it is. And I make it only on one side. And on the other side I add some dots. Irregular dots. Yes, that's fine. What else can we do to have more of this red color? We have the red only in the winter rose and in the bauble, but not in the very center. Go to the red layer, choose the red. Why not add some simple dots here and also here? Maybe If you like, you can draw a perfect circle by holding and tipping with one finger so the circle is perfect. But I don't like to make it perfect. I like to have a bit of a hand drawn look in this also. Why not erase a dot? It looks a bit like the fruit of the Christmas holly, maybe? Yes, we have all the colors in all the parts of that. Okay, let's define this winter rose. I go to this layer over the red layer, the pink layer over the red layer, go to the pink and then add stripes here to define the flower a bit more. Try to follow your original shapes and it's okay to make every leaf different from the next. Yes, that's good. I think we are done with our center elements. Let's care about the repeat in the next video. 7. Making the Repeat: Okay, let's care for our repeat pattern. For that, I'd like to group all my layers except the background layer, group it. The repeat is going to be this one. We move the center of the star to the corners, to the outer corners to have it half drop repeated. And for that, I think our pattern is a bit too big. Because when we shift, when we copy these elements to the corners, they would overlap. I select my group, click the move tool, select Uniform and make it a bit smaller. Shift the blue dot to 2,100 about. Then move it again to the center. Make sure your snapping tool and magnetics is on. Then you can move it till it has this yellow lines here and there. It's in the perfect center. Now we can duplicate this group. Click the move tool again. And shift the whole group till the center of the star is in the corner. Which means that these blue dots are on the very edge of the canvas. Okay, then repeat this for the other corner elements. Yellow and yellow perfect. And again, make sure to always copy the inner element. The inner group, duplicate. Go down, perfect. And once again, okay, now we have a lot of groups with a lot of layers. I'd like to reduce all to have it nicely organized. This is the inner element with our colored layers. We have the colors in the other groups as well. SonI'd like to select all my dark green layers and merge them to one layer and all the light green layers and merge them to one layer. At the end, we have six layers again. Okay. I select this green, this green and from that group this and this and take it and shift it to the very top and we can merge it. We have all our dark greens on this top layer. And do this again with all the others, with all the other colors. Make sure to leave the correct order of all your colored layers. For the last one, the olive, you can merge all groups and you have it on one layer. Fine. Now let's care about our gaps in between. We stay with the same method as we've drawn in the center element. I draw more elements with the same management of the layered colors. First, I'd like to draw a little fir tree here in the top. For that, select the dark green layer and dark green color with the studio pen. Then I'd like to make it in that way, so like a bit of a, a round shape. I'd like to take the eraser and erase some dots in the tree to simulate a kind of lights or baubles. To make it more interesting. The stem, I'd like to make it olive. Go to the olive layer and draw a simple stem. And here between the two gifts, I'd like to draw a Christmas holly twig. I go back to my dark green with the leaf and on the top, smaller twigs, and make some fruits. I choose the red, go to the red layer and make simple dots in different sizes. Okay. Here between the tree and the holly, I think there's nothing wrong with drawing some more pinks. I take the pink, go to the bottom pink. I'd like to draw some dots again, like here. And erase the dot, one dot out of the dot, I go to the, to the red layer and make this dot with the red dot in the dot. This part, this is too much of a big gap in the repeat. I'd like to draw another gift here, half of the gift, because it is, the other half of the gift would be here. I stay with the red, I make a red gift, draw it here. You can see it is here. And also here, we draw the half. Make it a bit bigger. And again, it mustn't be in perfect geometric shape. Follow your style. Okay, in the bow, I'd like to make it with the olive. Okay, I have to create another layer, because the olive layer is behind the red. So I create one layer on top and draw the bow at the edge of the canvas. Oh, I have forgotten to turn on my drawing assist. And again, okay, here is the other part of the bow, and we can make a bow on top. So make sure to draw it on the edge so that the mirroring makes sense here. Also a small one. I think that's nice. Okay, we have a gap here between the roses. I like to go to the light green. Choose the light green And make another twig with leaves here. Don't overthink it, I make it on the mirror axis, the line, here. Then make simple leaf shapes. There are still some gaps here in between. And I go back to the dark green layer, choose the dark green and make leaves to the rose. Okay, I think I'd like to have this green leaf a bit bigger. So, to close that gap here, go back to the light green, make it bigger. This one. Okay? And I decorate that light green with some dots again in the leave. Okay, I think these leaves need some more interest. So I go back, oh, I am on my dark green layer, and I'd like to erase some veins out of that. Okay, and I think we are nearly done, but some little gaps. I have one gap here. Maybe I go to the pink and make a little star shape. Flowery star shape. Okay. And decorate the star. Go to the light green and make some stripes here. There. Okay, the gap is closed. I think we need some thing here. On the very top, I draw a simple leaf. Okay, And go to the dark green decorate it a bit. Is there still a gap somewhere? Maybe here this bauble is a bit free. I stay with, no, I go to the light green again and make here a green dot and there a green dot. And to make it in the same way like these two dots, I erase a dot. Okay, now I think we are done with the repeat. Let's test it out. 8. Testing the Repeat: For that, I'd like to group all my layers. This is my original repeat. I duplicate this layer and flatten it down. I turn off my original, don't make any mistakes on that anymore. This is my repeating tile. And to test it out, simply duplicate it four times and go from layer to layer and reduce it halfway. Take the first layer, take the move tool and take this little blue dot and shift it till it snaps with the two, the two yellow lines. Okay? The next one, take the blue dot till it snaps, And the next one go to the bottom. Okay? And the last one go to the bottom. Oh, it's a nice one. The only thing that catches my eye is we have this green dots here around the bauble, but we don't have it here. I think we can draw some green dots also here. I go back, I delete this testing and go back to my original. We have this light green here on that bauble, but we don't have it here. I go back to the light green and draw a dot here. It mustn’t be in the same like here. Make a second one here, maybe a smaller one here also. I sometimes tend to overdo my illustrations and patterns. I have a bit of a problem to let things go. You mustn't follow that last finishing elements, but I think I have to do it in some way to make it perfect for me. Okay, now I'm satisfied. I test again by duplicating this group. Turn the original off. I flatten that down and duplicate it till I have four layers of that. And then shift it again. Whoops. Okay. And now my inner critics are silent. 9. Exporting the File: Okay, we have to switch to the computer now because procreate is limited to the size of the canvas. In my case, I would like to print this pattern on a wrapping paper that is sized 70 centimeters to 100 centimeters. I can't create that file in procreate, so I have to use Photoshop for that. But I'm sure if you have a local printer, it's possible to send the printer your repeat tile. He will set up for you to create another size if you don't have Photoshop and can't set this document up for the printer. So for that I'd like to go to the wrapping icon and say share and share the image as a PSD. I save it to files, I have an order in my cloud where I save all my procreate files. I name it Christmas wrapping and save. Let's meet. In the next class on my Mac, I will show you how to set up the file for the printer. 10. Setting up for the Printer: Welcome to my Mac. We have our Christmas wrapping PSD file. Let's open it in Photoshop. Here in the layers menu, you can see these four layers where we tested our repeat. We can delete this because we don't need to test anymore. Let's turn on the group with the original repeat tile. Then simply go to Edit. Down the list, you can find Define pattern, here you can choose a name. I say Christmas wrapping. Click Okay, I have on the top right my patterns window opened. If you don't have it, you can go to Window and Patterns and activate it here. Now let's create a new file with our measurements of centimeters and 70 to 100, 300 DPI. And the color mode should be CMYK. Then create this document here down the layers. Please click on this little lock item to unlock the layer, then go to the patterns. Simply click on that, you have to repeat in your layer. When you double click in this little preview down in the layers, you can scale your pattern. I stay with 100%. Then I shift it a bit, till I have it centered, and then click Okay. Now we can go to File and export it. And export, it's asleep. Please choose PNG. Here the scale is 100% of the image size. And then click Export. I save it in my cloud and name it Christmas Wrapping Final. And then click Save, And you have it saved, and it is ready to send to the printer. 11. Final Thoughts: Thank you so much for watching and for letting me inspire you. Please share your project in the gallery and inspire your fellow artists. If you post your Christmas pattern on Instagram, feel free to take me @nicigabrieldesigns . I would be very happy if you could leave a review on this class so I can make improvements and help you with further questions. If you like this class, feel free to hit the follow button by my name or check out my other procreate classes. That‘s all for now, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas party with your beloved ones and your well packed gifts. Thanks again and see your next time.