Project Statement
I decided my digital mandala would be my natural theme. I was inspired by my love of coral reefs and wanted to play on the natural patterns they exhibit. I sought to use curves to give this piece movement and provide it a free-flowing feel. For my analog mandala, I went with my man-made theme. I decided to play off the coral reef as a home for fish below water, and I went with a nautical theme of a human’s home above water–a boat. I wanted this to be structurally stiff. I start at the center with a steering wheel, which I loved as a focal point because there is so much radial symmetry to it. Next is an extreme abstraction of a ship’s mast and sails. I then round that off with a circular life raft. I wanted this piece to have a burst feeling in contrast to the digital piece, so I use anchors to make it seem like it’s exploding out. I use nautical knots to help the piece feel more connected.
Process
View detailed project process at Mandala Pattern Process
Reflection
This project was difficult to figure out at the start. It was difficult to visualize how the components from each theme would tie together in a mandala, but once I started to explore more elements and play with Procreate’s mandala feature, it got a lot easier to visualize. The digital version was a simple process to recreate on Illustrator while the analog version was not as easy. I wanted to trace my Procreate idea but was unable to print it out big enough to achieve it. Instead, I printed out a quarter of it and rotated it for each section and once I figured that out it went a lot smoother.