Mandala Pattern: Process

Assignment Intro

In this assignment, we were asked to create two mandala patterns: one that is inspired by natural forms (patterns found in nature) and one that is inspired by man-made forms (patterns found in things like machines, etc.) One of these mandalas had to be analog and only colored in black and white, while the other could be digital and colored with 5 or less shades of gray (black and white included in the 5).

Research

Beginning Exercises

For our beginning exercise, we were presented with different patterns/objects on the screen and had to draw their essential shape in 30 seconds. This was a little bit of a challenge because you had to make sure the most prominent pieces of the pattern were being shown in your drawing and you weren’t missing a key feature.

Building Grid

To make my grids, I followed two YouTube videos: one that walked me through how to make a grid in Illustrator and one that helped me make one on paper.

Here are the results:

Digital-

Analog-

Inspiration Images

To start diving into the project, we were asked to come up with 20 images: 10 that showed patterns in nature and 10 that were man made patterns. Here were mine:

Man Made

Nature

*citations at the bottom of post

Iterations

In the first step of the iterating process, we were asked to take our inspiration images and start sketching out different pattern ideas. Here are some that I came up with:

In the next step of the iterating process, we were asked to create a grid (both digital and analog) and start to refine our patterns:

Digital – Man Made Mandala

After getting feedback and seeing some of my classmates work, I decided I wanted my man made mandala to be digital. I think it would be more beneficial to have the natural mandala be analog because of all the curvature. I continued to try out different ideas, because I wasn’t in love with any of my man made iterations. After some trial and error, I decided I wanted my mandala to be inspired by film equipment. So, even though I went away from all my iterations, this taught me that not everything goes as planned.

At first, I tried to make my mandala incorporating my wheel iteration, but I didn’t end up liking the way it looked. I also tried adding some tire marks and that made it a little better but I still wasn’t in love. It was then that I decided to do the film theme. You can see this realization as my iterations progress. I attempted to add a “play and pause button” border but I did not like that either.

Here are some of my initial inspiration pictures and more I found that I wanted to add:

Middle-

First Layer- Second Layer- Third Layer-

Analog – Nature Inspired Mandala

Next, I moved to my analog mandala. I decided to sketch my design digitally first for the ease of duplicating the petals, and then eventually transferring it to paper. I sketched out a few different designs, but wasn’t passionate about any of them. I knew I wanted to add in my kiwi design because I feel it was my strongest iteration and I really like the way it looks.

I first played around with an ocean theme, but it didn’t come together the way I wanted so I started from scratch and didn’t follow a certain theme. I knew I wanted the kiwi design so I kept that constant but played around with different sun centerpieces.

But after talking to Raul in critique, he mentioned that I should make my design more radial, similar to how my kiwi design is. He also mentioned that I should get rid of the petal outline outside my design. In large, though, he said I needed to connect my mandala more and not have a bunch of random sketches combined into one. He said he noticed a theme with my snowflake, flower, and kiwi, saying that these could represent the seasons. I really liked that idea and I ran with it.

I first found some inspiration pictures…

Middle- Day and Night First Layer- Summer Second Layer- Fall

Third Layer- Spring Fourth Layer- Winter

and then I continued to sketch:

Concept Statement

In my final digital, man made mandala, I was inspired by film equipment. Film is something I am passionate about, and am thinking about minoring in and eventually getting into set design. With this in mind, I thought it would be unique if I incorporated that into my mandala design. I think my main design principle was movement. The film reel going from small to large as it goes outside the page really makes the eye move with it and gives a sense of repetition as well. Also, the camera lenses add a lot of repetition and pattern, while also creating a gradient look through the different values. The overall petal shape is very unique because of the film reel being an organic shape. There is a lot of pattern with the film reel and lenses and also the clapperboard. There is lots of value created not only with the gray shading, but also with the proportions of the lenses. There is a sense of unity and harmony in this piece, because all these objects/designs come together to create a masterpiece (a movie). They all work off each other to create something for people to enjoy, just like I want my mandala to do. My favorite part of this mandala is the detail of as the repeated lenses go outward, they open up wider. As your eye is drawn to the outside, you will notice that the openings of the lenses get bigger.

In this mandala, I was inspired by the seasons: Summer, Fall, Spring, Winter. I wanted to show that design, film (shown in my digital mandala), art, etc. never stops, no matter what season it is. I wanted to show that design also doesn’t stop day or night (shown in the middle piece). While days and seasons come and go, design never leaves. Design is everywhere at all times, no matter what weather or time of day. Creativity never stops. I really liked making this nature mandala because I am a doodler when I take notes, I draw these types of mandalas on my papers all the time when I am bored. So, the nostalgia and relaxing feeling just made making this mandala so much better. I think there is movement throughout this mandala because your eye is drawn up as you watch the seasons change. I added some small value in places to also draw the eye to those spots and make the piece more balanced. There is obvious contrast between all the different seasons, but they all come together as one in the end, which also creates a sense of unity.

“While days and seasons come and go, design never leaves.”

Production

I then played a little bit more with my new found theme:

The main areas I changed were replacing the first and second layer with a camera lens and clapperboard, taking off the thinner rectangle on the clapperboard, and extending the film reel so it went all the way to the edge of the page.

Finally, I added some gray shading and cleaned up some edges.

I ended up with this as my final sketch for the analog mandala before transferring to my final paper: