Draw By Number - An Easy Way to Create Awesome Detailed Art

1. Draw By Number Intro: Have you wanted to try one of those fancy detailed Mandala Designs, but felt you didn't have the drawing skills? Well, in this class, I'm going to walk you through a simple and fun method of drawing a Mandala and show you that you do have the drawing skills to create beautiful detailed designs. All you need is a pencil or pen and paper, and I provide you with seven worksheets to download and print out, and the how-to step by step method. Just like with paint by number, I'm going to show you how to draw by number. I'll show you how a few simple shapes put into 15 small sections can give you a beautiful hand-drawn Mandala. I will walk you through the line art one section at a time, and when I'm done, I'll also show you the extras I add-in to get the detailed inking into my finished line art. Join me now, and let's have some fun drawing by number. 2. Process and Project: I've provided various forms of the framework we're going to use to create our Mandala drawing. There's a dark line version, which works well if you'd like to place it under the sheet of paper as a guide. This works well if you're using a light table or a piece of paper that you can see the framework through. I've also included a lighter line version, and a dotted line version you can draw on, and the lines will not be too distracting. There's a framework with the sections numbered. This will be your guide to place in the line art and fill in the Mandala. You will use this framework along with the key I've provided with the 15 sections of line art, to fill in your Mandala. Just like color or paint by number tells you which color to fill into which section, I've laid out simple line art sections to be filled into the corresponding numbered section on the framework. Anyway, there is a one, you'll fill in the line art from the box numbered one on the key. Where there's a number two on the framework, you use the contents of box two to fill in that section. Use the contents of box three to fill in this section marked three on the framework, and continue on in this fashion until you have all 15 sections complete. On the key, I've made the outlines that represent the section borders in red. The part that you'll be drawing in is the black parts. The framework is made up of 12 identical pieces of the pie, or 12 Mandala points, each containing 15 sections. I've also included a starter worksheet which has the first 15 sections placed, and ready for you to trace. So you can get a feel for the way I fill in my sections, and where they're supposed to lie. You could fill in each of the 12 points of the Mandala with sections one through 15, proceeding to each new pie piece, and again, working one through 15. Or you can fill in all the number ones first, then move on to all the number twos, and continue working out from the center of the Mandala. Either way works, it's just what makes the most sense to you. You'll notice there are only 15 sections and all shapes are a version of the petal shape, or an oval, so really is simpler than it looks. Once you have the line art complete, I'll give you a few suggestions on where to go from there, and I'll walk you through the steps I used to add in depth and detail to my finished version. Your project will be to post your finished line art Mandala, and any versions of it you've experimented with yourself. So let's have some fun, and create a Mandala drawing by number.er 3. Drawing in the Sections: Let's get started. Print out your numbered framework and the liner key, as well as your framework of choice being the thick line, the thin line or the dotted line version. You can pencil in the numbers for the first sections to get you started or you can use the starter worksheet that has the first set of 15 sections already placed and ready for you to trace. Now we'll start with section 1. This section contains bubbles shaped ovals drawn the length of the outer edge. These can be shaped random sizes as long as they follow along the outside border edge. Moving on to section 2, there are three petals going from large to small, and they are slightly curved up and to the right. Section 3 is the mirror image of section 2 that we just completed, with three petals curving up and to the left this time. Section 4 falls above section 2 and contains five petals of various sizes. To get a better feel for drawing the petals and using them to fill in the sections, you can checked out my classes basic shapes, beautiful designs and creative drawing with simple shapes where I cover how to use the shapes to fill in a designated area in a design. Section 5 falls above section 3. It is again the mirror of section 4 that we just drew. This is a common theme in this design and you can seen that this makes it simpler to draw as you're just drawing the same petal shapes in the same configuration, but in reverse. Section 6 is one large petal curved up into to the right, and section 7 is again the mirror of six and is one large petal curved up into to the left. Section 8, we have five petals, one in the center with two curving away on either sighed of center. Section 9 is similar to section 4, but it only working four petals into the space instead of the five petals. Section 10 is the mirror image of section 9, working the four petals in reverse. Section 11 is a flower. We draw in a circle in the center, and we surround it with eight petals, which are sized to fill up the space. Section 12 has a center petal with another on top of it and two curving away on either side. Again, we work the petals to fit into the space we're given. Section 13 has four petals, but this time they are curving upward and to the left. Section 14 is the mirror image of section 13 curving upward into the write. The last section is 15, similar to section 8, but filling a smaller more condensed space. We draw in the five petals, one in the center in two curving away on either side. As you can see, a lot of the sections are very similar. They are all petal shapes except for section 1 with its oval bubbles and section 11, which is a flower. Once you get the feel for the petal shape, you're well on your way to completing your drawing and filling in the sections with ease. Now that I've walked you through how to fill in the 15 sections, go ahead and complete the remaining 11 pie pieces or points of your mandala. Enjoy the process and have fun. 4. Drawing in the Detail: Now that you have the liner finished, you can use your art as a coloring page or you can continue to add more detail in pen and ink. There are many ideas you can play with. I'll walk you through the methods I use to achieve the look of my finished Mandala. If you like to explore more ideas, you can try my creating depth and dimension class. I start by outlining the outer edge of the shapes all the way around the finished liner. You want to follow the outer line of the shapes and keep one continuous line that will enclose the liner into one shape. This line gives you an enclosed border to work within and also gives a finish touch to your Mandala linered. Moving forward, I'm going to refer to the sections as they're numbered on the framework to help you known what linered that I'm referring to. So now I'm going to outline sections one, two and three as a single unit. Again, I'm creating a bounded section that defines this area from the others. It will allow me to make this center part of the Mandala pop out from the rest of the design. Again, you're following the outer edges of the shapes that define this particular group. Once I finish this outline, I'll fill the inside of the outline area with black, and this will make my center area pop. Then I want to add sum stippling around the area I just filled in black. So I use a pencil to create a second outline that follows the first outline, but slightly larger. Then I fill this outline section with stippling, this creates a drop shadow effect and makes the center black section stand out a little bit more. I'm gong to keep this stippling even, and when I'm done I can erase the pencil outline as I don't want to hurt outline around the stippling section. The next section I filled in just the petal shapes with black. These would be sections four through eight. I'm going to jump up the section and show you the outlines I did in the next part. Using my pencil, I outlined sections nine, 10, and 12 as one unit. This makes these three sections form one flower like design. Once I have this outline in ink, I will then fill the outline in with black. Then I outline the flower of Section 11. Now I have to be conscious of keeping a consistent look, so I should finish the outlines of Section nine, 10, and 12 first. But for this demonstration, I'm going to jump ahead a little bit. Once these are done, I can work the outlines for the section 11 flowers. The flower will sit behind nine, 10, and 12 section units. Once I have the flower outline inked, I can add stippling in. This gives this section a contrast from the ones beside it. Now once I have the flower of 11 and the other units finished, the last sections of petals 13, 14 and 15 will just have the petals filled in black. I find that the best way to work in this detail is particular design is from the center out. This is only one suggestion on how to finish this design, you can completely change the look of your design by changing which sections you group together. You can give this one a try and then experiment with some of your own ideas. I'll show you a few more in the next video, and I'll post them in the project section as well. 5. The Sky is the Limit: You can see, if you break it down, it isn't as complicated as you thought. In fact, it's really fun and simple. Fifteen small sections. One petal shape, a flower, and some bubbles. Repeat 12 times around your framework, and that is it. One of the things I love about drawing is how much fun you can have with just a pen and paper. It's fun, it's relaxing. You can make as many of these as you want, because once you have the liner, there are many things you can do with it. You can use it as a coloring page or experiment with different inking ideas. The ideas are endless and the sky is the limit. Make a bunch of them, create a collage on your wall, give them as gifts. I will post some of my ideas in the project section. Go ahead and post your progress as well as your finished versions in your project section. Have fun, and I look forward to seeing your creations.