Mandalas were a perfect first project to start the year off with. Not only are they incredibly relaxing, but I was also able to refresh my Illustrator skills. The amazing thing is that now that I have a template made, I can make as many Mandalas as I would like!
My first Mandala, titled “My Family is What Makes my World Go ‘Round” was inspired by each of my sisters. Each “ring” of the Mandala represents a different one, going from youngest to oldest from the inside out. In each ring, I drew an animal that represents that sister, some of their favorite things to do, symbols to represent the vibes that they give off, and the first letter of their name. I plan on giving the completed engraved Mandala to them as a gift when I leave for college so that they can know how much I love them and think about them. I chose to make my reveal video for this Mandala because it had more details, and I loved being able to see each family member metaphorically come together to make the entire picture.
In my second Mandala, titled, “Summer Bliss,” I tried to capture the perfect Summer picnic day. I used color to capture the warmth and happiness that comes from sitting in nature, looking at the clouds, and spotting spotted lady bugs. I enjoyed this project because it allowed me to really have some trial and error and try different things without having to start over or commit to taking them out- that’s the great thing about Illustrator- you can always just “hide” layers you don’t want anymore, and if you want them again, you can easily “show” them again!
In making these Mandalas I was able to think about what was important to me and how I wanted to portray those things. I realized that I should work on being happy with more abstract things (my mandalas are very heavy with symbols and smaller images), and I want to work on allowing myself to simply create patterns. I realized that having something to look forward to creating at the end of the day allows me to de-stress and is a great way to think about what’s important from the day. I encourage you to allow yourself to doodle and maybe even make one for yourself!
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