Research
I found this link interesting
This is my research for objects to use in my mandala. On the left are human made objects and on the right are natural objects.
These were example mandala outlines that I used as inspiration for my own mandala.
Exercise 1
The purpose of this exercise was to make a design out of the objects we found from the manmade and natural things chart. I combined the dragon fruit and piano. I was trying to show movement.
I then put the design together multiple times to show the negative space within the composition.
Creating my own Mandala Template
This was my first idea. I wanted to focus on emphasis and movement. I did not get the idea of movement in this template though.
This was my first attempt of the template filled out. It felt clustered and did not achieve anything I wanted in it.
This was my next attempt. It showed movement very well but I wanted more emphasis on a specific object. It too still felt clustered.
This was my next attempt. I really liked how it showed emphasis but I could not get the objects placed in a way I liked it.
These are my 3 main attempts to get the idea of what kind of template I wanted to create.
I decided what I liked of each and what I could incorporate in my final from each one. I liked this one the most. I wrote out ways I could improve it and different things to test for my final template.
The first thing I wanted to try was to outline the template in one of my shapes I created. I thought this showed great directional movement. The roses get smaller as they go to the focal point.
I started working on the main focal point. I wanted to figure out the best way to include emphasis. I added a circle on the side and adjusted the middle lines. I felt more emphasis could be brought in so I did not stick to this template.
I ended up bringing the lines to point to the center of the circle and filled in objects that pointed to the focal point, which is a dragon fruit. Every object in here points to the focal point. The lines of mushrooms (outer circle) made a clear line to the dragon fruit The mushrooms were flipped to create the line. The middle circle is made of rope and makes a straight line to the center of the focal point. The hook like shapes are sea horses! The way they circle the dragon fruit brings emphasis to it and it also shows rotational movement. All shapes get smaller as they go to the right side which is done on purpose to show movement.
Color
I found myself being drawn into both warm and cool colors. I especially liked it when warm and cool colors were mixed. I started to really enjoy playing with compound colors and split complimentary. I applied the correct brightness and created a chart that included analogous, split complimentary, square, complementary, compound, monochromatic, and triad.
These are some of the color combinations I liked!
When discussing with my non-design friends and family, these 2 colored mandalas popped out the most. I agreed and we talked about these 2 specifically in class in small groups. A common suggestion that was given was to add a background to give more contrast as well as working on my 60/ 40 of the main color in the group. I also realized that I did the color chart incorrectly. By doing it the old way, I was limiting the amount of colors I could use.
I added a background to my black and white mandala
I played with the color palates. These were my personal favorites.
The first color scheme I thought looked great in this mandala. I liked that the colors are so similar. To me, this one shows the directional movement the best.
The next one I wanted to bring in some cool colors. This is Double Split Complementary. I played with the colors more on this one to see what would bring the most emphasis to the dragon fruit.
By asking many non-designers and fellow foundation students, I was able to find the best placements of the colors.
My Final Works
