Mixed Media Mandala Art for Beginners: Bold Ink Designs with a Watercolor Galaxy Pop

1. Introduction : Welcome to a calming, creative journey of mixed media Mandala art for beginners, bold Ink designs with a watercolor galaxy pop. My name is Mauri and I am an artist from Gua India. I like experimenting with different forms of art and mediums, be it watercolor, gauze, acrylic, or even mandalas. In this class, we'll create a beautiful mandala with a galaxy inspired maple leaf at the center. If you ever wanted to create artwork that's both structured and soulful detail yet busting with galactic energy, you're in the right place. It's a meditative process that brings together precision, patience, and creativity perfect for both beginners and experienced artists alike. We'll cover everything from mandala symmetry, inking techniques to galaxy color blending using easy to follow steps and minimal tubes, the materials required for this class are quite simple and will be discussed in the next section. You can also create your own version and don't forget to upload your project in the project section. By the end, you'll have your own cosmic mandala masterpiece, or piece of art, you'll be proud to hang or even sell. Grab your pens, colors, and a cup of calm because we are about to create something truly magical. Let's get started with the class. 2. Art Supplies: For this class, we need only few basic supplies. That is, for the paper, I'm using Montval watercolor paper. It is 300 GSM and good for watercolor techniques. You can use any watercolor paper that you have. I'll be using A four size of this Montpal sheet. It is not necessary that the paper be 100 potent cotton, but it's your choice completely. You can use 100 potent ellos as well. I'll be using the Sonnet watercolor pans, and we will need only a few like yellow, orange, red, and born sienna. We will need a fine liner or micron pen for the design purpose. I'll be mainly using this stat triplsFininer, but also this below 0.4 fineliner. For painting, I'll be using only the single size eight Princeton velvet touch brush. We will need a pencil and eraser, as well. For bigger areas, I will be using this coil coloring brush pen. I'll be using a mist or spray bottle for activating the paints. We need a ruler for drawing straight lines. The pro circle, compass, and white cash. Also a scissor or a cutter is completely optional. We will need a jar or container of water, and a tissue to avoid smudging of the ink. That's all we need. 3. Drawing Mandala Base and Grids: So let's start by sketching the mandala base. We have to start drawing circles as the foundation for our mandala. Use a compass or a round object as a guide to create a perfectly symmetrical circle. I will start by adding a large circle as a boundary of my mandala. Here, I'm making a circle as big as my paper permits. Within this outer circle, now I will add a smaller inner circle. This is the center part inside which we will have a galaxy themed maple leaf. I will add another circle closer to the inner part that will act as a double boundary. At approximately same distance, I will add another circle. This is the third one. You can go with two circles only. You're free to manipulate the designs as per your choice. Now the fourth circle is at approximately half a centimeter away from the third. I'll add another circle at a more distance for adding a bigger pattern. Then I'll sketch another circle as the double boundary line for the pattern. Then again, at approximately one to 1.5 centimeter, I will draw another circle. Do not worry much about the circles that I'm doing here. You can do your own kind of patterns, so you can make your own size grid. Using a pro circle, I will mark at every ten degrees. Using the center point as an anchor, we have drawn many circles of different radiuses. We have to now divide the circles into different equal segments. You can use bigger degrees here like 20 to 25 or 30. It is your choice as per your pattern. I want smaller designs, so I will be going at a difference of ten degrees. I made a small mistake here while marking the ten degrees, so be careful and do not make mistakes like me, but you can always erase it as it is not the final grade. M M Now, using a ruler across two points like zero and 180, we will draw a straight line passing through all the circles. Make sure that the two points that you are connecting lines with are exactly opposite to each other. The number of segments to be divided is up to your preference. Since I have used ten degrees as my markup points, I will be getting smaller segments using a ruler, connect each mark on the outer circle towards the center point and this will create radial lines. These lines will form the spokes of your Mandala grid, serving as guides for your design elements. The number of segments that you want is completely your choice, and it will influence the intricacy of the design. Carefully, connect all the equidistant points to obtain equal segments in all the circumferences of the circles. Once done with the grid lines, we have to take a step back and assess our grade. For that, we have to erase any unnecessary grid lines and preserve only the essential grid intact. This will ensure clarity and ease while creating your designs for the mandala. Since I will be painting the center part with a galaxy themed nipple leaf, I will be erasing all of the center After having a clear center for a maple leaf, I will erase or lighten the grid lines, not too much, but little light in it. It will be perfect if you have a able eraser. I just lost mine, so I am doing this technique here. With very light hands, I'm going over the grid lines, but I'm not completely erasing it. It is visible, but it shouldn't be too dark. You can compare and see the difference how this looks. While we use a fine liner, the grid is not that visible, but sometimes it might be and it does not look good. This is the reason I'm doing this step. So I want to really congratulate you because you have completed your mandala grid, and this will be your foundation for all of the mandalas. For next, let's move on to the sketching of the maple leaf. I will start adding a line, which is our main vein and then two lines across, and again, two lines at the bottom opposite like this. These will be our secondary veins, and we have to enclose lobes of the leaf now. So you have to just draw these curvy lines across the veins opposite in direction from one another like mirror images. Maper leaves are known for their distinctive serrated edges. So draw some curvy lines like this. Along each lobe, sketch small triangular teeth to represent these serrations. I'm doing this very randomly, and there is no fine structure. Just go with the flow. These serrations do not look that good, so I'm erasing it and drawing another. So you know how your maple leaf should look like. You can use inspiration from the nature, and I will be also uploading the sketch of a basic maple leaf in the resource section. I'm so sorry. I know I am erasing and sketching many times now, but I want to do it until I'm satisfied with the sketch I need. Take a moment to review your sketch and erase any unnecessary lines and darken only the main lines that you need for the sketch. This will make our maple leaf look more prominent. Now, let's add the stem of the maple leaf, extend a thin line towards the bottom like this, and you have the stalk ready. Erase any unnecessary lines, and congrats. We have our sketch ready for the mandala. 4. Adding Watercolor Galaxy centre: Hello, everyone, and welcome to this segment where we will be transforming a maple leaf into a stunning galaxy using watercolors. Let's dive right in. First, I'm starting by activating my watercolors using a miss bottle. Then I'm applying water that is clear water only and only to the surface of the leaf. Be careful around the edges of the leaf. This is just like painting only that you cannot see because it is clear water, but you can see the sheen on the paper. After applying water for the first time, I will let the paper fibers soak the excess water and then reapply more water on top of it. This is an important step to ensure that the painting surface is wet throughout the process of painting. In this way, we have to prep our paper first for any wet on wet techniques by applying water several times to ensure that it stays wet for a longer time. Also, it will depend on the climate and humidity in the atmosphere. Since in India, it is too hot, I reapply water several times. So the first color I will be going is mid yellow and I'm starting it at the base here. You can see how water is doing its magic. The pigments are flowing with the flow of water. Next color I'm using is orange and be careful to apply it within the boundaries of the maple leaf. Just in case you make a mistake, it's okay. We will be painting the background with black. I'm applying orange closer to the yellow. A little maybe at the top here, and then we will move on to red. I am using light red, but you can use any red or crimson that you have. I'm adding small small dots and not overpowering the red. By using wet on wet techniques and allowing the colors to blend on its own, we will create a celestial background that will be surely beautiful and quite contrasting. Finally, I will use a clean damp brush and blend in the colors well. I'm moving from a lighter sheade to a darker one that is from yellow to red. Before we continue, I want to apologize for the presence of some unexpected guests. It looks like we have some ants joining us for the painting session. You can either blend using more of the pigments or by using clear water. I will be using more yellow and then blend like this. He I think it is blended well and now we can move on to the stalk of the leaf, and I'll be using a light color like mid yellow or you can even use orange. And then for depth of the leaf, I will add some browns. I'm using bone sienna at the edges like this and even for the stalk. Just a little at few corners and edges. Once done with brown, I will move on to black to add even more depth to the leaf. Similar to the brown, I'm adding it only at the corners. You can even use paints gray if you're not comfortable with black because most of the artists prefer paints gray, even I do, but this set does not have one. It will help in adding the depth to the leaf. Make sure you're painting wet on wet, merge and blend well with the rest of the colors. I'm using orange to blend black with the rest. All you need to keep in mind is that the painting surface of leaf should be wet to carry on the wet on wet techniques. A For more color, I will add more pigments, that is, I'll start with yellow and move gradually outwards with orange. Since the red is not visible at all, I will add more and blend it well. Observe that for finer details, I'm holding the brush closer to the tip of the brush, while for loose patterns, you hold your brush away from the tip. So. I think a little black is needed here as well, and remember that watercolors will always dry lighter in appearance than what they are when wet. For blending, use more concentration of paints or clear water, whichever is easier for you. Now comes the fun technique of splattering. Use white coach or white watercolor, whichever is handy or available. For tapping, you can use a finger like this or another brush. Now our galaxy looks complete and so beautiful. Don't you agree? Next for the background, I'll be using black completely, or you can leave the background white as well. It is your choice. Even a white contrast against a leaf will look prettier, but I'm going with black. I'll just cover the entire part here with black and be careful also because of some white splatters outside, it is intermixing and forming a gray, you might have to go with another layer on top of this. Be careful to paint within the circle only. If needed, take a step back and evaluate the overall composition, making any necessary adjustments to enhance the desired effect. This could include adding more stars, adjusting the color intensity, blending or fine tuning any areas that need a refinement. Okay. Oh And there you have it. A mesmerizing galaxy maple leaf created using watercolors. I hope you enjoyed following along the painting process. Remember, you can always experiment with colors and techniques to make it uniquely yours. See you in the next video. 5. Inking Inner Mandala circle: So now that we are done with our painting, we can move on to the next part of drawing the mandala. Draw a line like this around the leaf center. Be free to rotate the paper as you draw the circle around the center. I'm completing the circle little by little with the fine liner. So don't rush, take it easy and once completed with the circle, you'll have to do the other one just beside it. If you can notice, the space between the two lines is the same. Once you complete the other circle, start adding lines like this. The lines are equidistant as per the grid that we had drawn. Follow the grid markings, and then you can just opt for filling in the squares like this alternately, or you can draw lines however you like. If you're happy with this pattern alternately filling the squares, you can do this. Otherwise, you can also add vertical lines in between these empty voids. I prefer filling the empty spaces with some lines, so I'll go with it. Go ahead and fill the entire section like this with dark squares and alternately with the lines, or you can keep it empty as you like, and also use a tissue on the painted surface so that it does not smudge anything. Also, I'm speeding up this process here to 1.5 X for this line as it is the same. If you're doing the mandala with me along set then you can change the speed in the speed section. Uh, So once we are done with the boundary design for the center, we just outline it with a line like this very close to it. Always be careful while drawing these lines. As a Now for our next design in the mandana, I'll be doing these round petals, or you can see it is like U shaped designs in the opposite direction. So you just have to follow the grid and do not go outside the lines. Once you start with this mandana process, you'll observe that this is very meditating. This is actually a mental exercise that you can do for your mind and relaxation. M After completing the outline of the petals, I will go ahead with two more inner lines or petals like so. I'll fill the innermost petal completely with the same fine liner. You can also use a bigger nip fine liner if you want for filling this. I'll speed up this particular section to 1.5 x as well. Boom Next, we will move on to doing the pointed petals, which will be bigger in size compared to the first ones. So this is around 2 centimeters of petals starting from the spaces of the two round petals at the bottom. Simple right. You just have to go with the grid that we had done earlier, keeping in mind all these designs. You can also choose doing half of the petals like this, that is the left half. You have to start from the spaces and end a curve at the top line, which is also effectively the center point of our petals. I just prefer rotating the paper and doing the other half of the petals like this. Right at the tips of the pointed petals will make the outer boundary or circle. So this completes our circle and we'll make a double arc line for the circle as well. I'll just divide these pointed petals in exact halves like this by drawing a line in the center. So these petals, I'll be making it similar to a leaf design. So it's pretty easy. Fill it with slant lines like this. And for the direction, just make it inwards towards the line. So do this on the both sides. Fill all the leaf like petals with this design. Since the process is same and tedious, I'm speeding it up, but you can always change the speed from the speed section. Instead of doing the center line first, you can also start by doing the vein part like this. That is a slant lines, half and half, and then do the center line, which will better separate both the halves. I'm just making a small modification here by double outlining or making these round petals more dark or thicker so that they stand out well from the pointed leaf petals. I'll also darken the outline of these pointed petals. So both the petals that is around small petals and the bigger pointed petals, I'm just making the outlines thick, but you can also use a fine liner which has a thicker nip. Uh, eke So we are done with our thicker outlines, and I can see that our elements are standing out definitely. 6. Inking Mid Mandala patterns: Let's begin by filling the spaces between these pointed leaf petals. I'll start with a line at the center, which is half and then curve from both ends of the lines. And then I'll just connect it like this with both petals. Then just double outline the curves and fill the remaining space completely with black ink. You are free to do some other designs as well in the spaces. Thank Thank right in between these two curves or the line, I'll make a diamond shape and fill it. This process is speeded because it's the same and you'll get it once you start doing with the design. There you go, our little circle is completed with spaces. Now, we'll see you in the next section for doing the other part of the design. I'll start making leaf like petals again here. But here, the petals will be a little smaller in width and lengthwise, they are about the same. So just follow the grid like we did earlier for the petals. I'm going with half and half. Some lines that I did here are kind of straight. But try making curves instead. And it's okay you can make mistakes. It's not that anybody will judge you. As this mandala is completely for your mind relaxation and rejuvenation, try taking this as an exercise here for the brain. So now I'm going to make smaller petals inside these pointed leaf petals. Start with the petal in the center, which will be the longest one and then at the sides, just fill it up with smaller petals and ink out all the remaining spaces between the petals. Also, I like doing this to all my flower petals. I'll just go a little extra way and add this shading or, like, lines or whatever you call it. It will just give another highlight to all our flower petals. So it's like the stigma or the pollen part of the flowers that sticks out usually. Mandala making is a beautiful yet very long process. So stay with me here and do it bit by bit. I've kept this part for the end, which is really a fun process and see how beautiful it looks. You can use 0.5 or other fine liner for this, which is a thinner one and the lines will be more beautiful. And finally, we have completed our flower petals and it looks really gorgeous. 7. Inking outer patterns: For our next design, I'll do a pointed petal only. So I'll be starting it from the pointed tips of the previous petals, so you can see how I'm doing it. Right at the bottom of these petals, we lose some soles like this. Then using the swirls as the center for flows, I'll make the petals for all the swals that we have done. Just simple small round petals. So you can make four to five in the bottom or the spaces of these petals. Also, I'll enclose this design with COV outlines. I think filling the spaces might look better. So yeah, you can decide whatever looks best for your mandala. And then, of course, to complete this design, we'll have to cover it with an outline. To complete this petal design, I'll draw a center line like this. Then I'll make slant lines like the previous leaf designs. But only one half of the petals, not both the sides. So go ahead and complete rest of design with this design for now, as next part would be very enjoyable. H For the other half part of the leaf petal, you'll have to fill it completely within. So if you have a brush marker like this, the work will be very easy and fun. Do not worry if you do not have a brush marker, you can use the fine line that you are using. The only difference it will make is the time that you're filling the spaces. So this way it is faster. In between the spaces, I'll just draw a curve like this with the brush marker itself. And also to make it look complete, I'll draw a small dot within the space like this. Okay. I felt something is incomplete, so I'll go ahead by making a double outline to these curves in the spaces with a fine liner. And And with this, we have finally completed a mandala. M 8. Mandala Circle cutting: Hi, guys. I just wanted to let you know one more interesting thing for this mandala. If you want your mandala to stand out even more, you can trim the edges with the help of a scissor or cutter. This is completely your choice and you can see the difference once I'm done with the cutting part in the next section. Yeah, this is going to take a lot of time, so I'm not showing whole of this process. But, see you in the next part. 9. Conclusion: Congratulations. You did it. You've just completed a stunning fusion of Mandana art and cosmic expression. I hope this class brought you as much peace and joy as it did for me while creating it. Don't forget to share your final piece in the project gallery. I'd absolutely love to see your take on the design. And if you enjoyed this class, please leave a review or follow me your own Skillshare for more art adventures until next time, keep creating Stay inspired and buy