Reflections

For my Black and White Mandala, I created a 16-slice repeating mandala using digital drawing tools, reference lines and circles, repeating and reflecting transformations, and multiple layers. I started with the house and bell tower near the outside of my original section, then worked inward before eventually building back outward. I used grouping, locking, and hiding layers to keep track of the different parts of my design. I also used overlapping shapes, different line widths, and black and white areas to keep the patterns from looking flat or repetitive.
Additionally, a major idea throughout my mandala is housing and architecture. I originally wanted to create a city skyline because I like traveling, architecture, and building homes. Since repeating the same skyscraper looked strange, I changed it into a shorter home with a bell tower and neighboring pool which reminded me of Stanford. In addition, there are small houses inside some of the leaf patterns.I also included smaller references to San Francisco through the Valkyries-inspired shape and the Golden Gate Bridge, along with a clock-inspired pattern around the outside.

For my colored Mandala, I added color to the black-and-white design I created earlier. I used analogous colors and red to bring attention to certain parts of the piece, including the Golden Gate Bridge, leaf patterns, houses, and bell towers.

I used a redish-orange around the Golden Gate Bridge to make it stand out, red for the bell’s sound waves and Roman numeral patterns to connect them back to the bridge, and green for the leaf patterns. I used blue and yellow throughout the houses, garlands, and other details because their analogous relationship makes the piece feel more relaxed. I also chose sandstone and bronze for the main bell tower because they resemble the materials and colors I associate with Stanford and a traditional bell.

To make this timelapse video we utilized Adobe Illustrator and After Effects. After we had finished our Mandala, we hid each stroke/line so that the whole design was invisible to start the video. Then, we did the same process but unhiding everything one by one to get the illusion of making it live. From there, we took the clips and put them together in After Effects along with some titles, some additional photos of the engraved Mandalas and some music. (This was my first time using After Effects– but I am excited to work with it in the future!)

This video summarizes the whole making of the mandala process in about 5 minutes.

When I compared my digital BW Mandala and my physical engraved mandala, it was pretty cool to see it as something tangible! Though I found that it was a little difficult to see every small detail I did online, it makes sense: when in Adobe Illustrator, I was able to zoom in to view and edit the detailed part– but obviously we are unable to do that without a camera once it is engraved. Other than that, it was awesome to see what parts lit up with the LED. For why I chose the acrylic and LED medium, I thought it was pretty unique since I hadn’t seen it a lot. I thought it would also draw emphasis to the detail– having the colored lines but then no backdrop or wood texture. Also, knowing myself, I know I’d want to change the color every day or even hour…

Overall, this project was a lot of fun and very relaxing. Unlike if we did this by hand or without the Adobe Illustrator tools to make it repeat, it might have been a bit more nerve-racking to make everything match. While I do like the colored mandala, I think my favorite one to make, or to even see, was the black and white. With the monochrome, you focus on each intentional stroke or line– the structure of it. I am also really happy I got to have some sort of architecture element in it with the houses. The color definitely makes it pop, but I feel a bit more distracted from the main details with it. I did make a partially colored mandala where the golden gate scene in the middle is the only colored portion. The gate was red, the background was blue, there were clouds making the bridge look hazy, and around that central picture was an orange border. The orange border contrasted with the blue background, making the center the immediate focus.

In total, I’m excited to use the template and make more mandalas later on! Maybe I can try some cityscape like I originally had tried.