When I began this project, I didn’t really have any idea where it would lead me. I didn’t know how I wanted each mandala to look or what themes I wanted within each of them—or even if there would be a theme. As it turns out, I almost let the music guide me a little bit, especially for my black and white one. One of my favorite parts about this experience was simply being able to sit down and work without the real pressure of a due date, listen to music or ambience, and just… work. It was a very relaxing experience, and having a time of the day to simply let go and let your mind wander, being able to let go of the troubles of life for even just a moment, was fantastic. I tried to also capture this feeling with the reveal video in my speed being not too fast or slow and a very calm backing track. I wasn’t particularly passionate or filled with motivation to work on the mandala specifically, but I loved the freedom it gave to get lost in the work. For me that also meant infusing that ambience I was listening to with the art itself. Much of this was composed of scores and background noise from very naturalistic movie settings, like the Shire in Lord of the Rings or a multitude of Ghibli movies. So, my first black and white mandala was very nature inspired, starting from the roots of a tree and moving through flowers and leaves until it reached a stag, watching over it all (a creature I find particularly magical and almost otherworldly). I was really happy with how the combination of it all came out, different brush strokes differentiating each part, but it's still a little more simple than I might’ve originally wanted. This is also an issue for my colored mandala, where my original idea blended more complex elements to essentially create a more cohesive scene, but I ended up being forced to do something far more simple. For that it was creating a complex blend of colors where one might blend into the next seamlessly through symbols rather than a general gradient. But ultimately I did not have the master over drawing or illustrator to do either of these ideas proficiently.
What I learned about myself in this project was, I think, less about my core characteristics but more how I view and make art: through themes. Throughout this entire project I was looking for themes with the mandalas I made. For my black and white one that was a forest, but for another draft, I did polygons and symmetry, and for my colored mandala, I wanted to do light and color, or try to do that. I always had a specific theme in mind; something to get a message across or convey a feeling. Whether that be wonder or peace, I wanted to tell a story with whatever I was doing. I needed some sort of general focus before I could get to work.
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