MINDFUL DRAWING TUTORIAL:CIRCLE
As part of #mindfultober 2023 I wanted to create a series of free Mindful Drawing Tutorials, so that if you like the idea of joining in with Mindfultober but don’t know where to start, or perhaps you just like to have a little bit of guidance and support as you draw, so you can just relax and enjoy the process, these are for you!
This tutorial can also be found as a real-time draw with me style tutorial on YouTube, so if you prefer to digest this in video format, feel free to hop on over there!
SUPPLIES
To follow along, you will need:
paper
a pencil
an eraser
a pen
something circular to draw around or a compass
STEP 1: DRAW A CIRCLE IN PENCIL
To get the main structure of our circular pattern drawing, you will first need to draw out a circle on your paper. It doesn’t matter what size your paper is, or the circle - this can work at any size, but you need your circle to fit comfortably on your paper with a little space around the edge. Use your circular object or compass to draw a nice even looking circle on your paper in pencil.
TIP: Don’t press too hard with your pencil, as we will be erasing the pencil lines later!
STEP 2: DRAW A WIGGLY PENCIL LINE OVER YOUR CIRCLE
Now we want to divide up your circle by drawing a wavy, wiggly line over it - this wiggly line can go outside the circle shape (remember we’ll be erasing the pencil lines later). Aim to divide up your circle into smaller shapes - as a rough guide, you don’t really want your shapes to be any larger than about 2 finger widths, but also avoid them being too tiny which will make filling them very fiddly.
STEP 3: DRAW LOOPS IN PEN TO FILL EACH SHAPE WITHIN YOUR CIRCLE
Now you need to switch to your pen, and begin in one ‘corner’ of one of your shapes (this is just a point where 2 of your wiggly lines cross) and create a loop which starts in the corner, follows one edge of the shape, loops across and follows the other edge of the shape to finish back at the corner.
Repeat this with a slightly larger loop, still making sure that your loop is following the pencil line of your shape. Keep going, creating more loops which start to fill your shape.
MINDFUL APPROACH
Because we now have the structure of our drawing ready to go, and know how we need to fill all our shapes, the tendency is to rush and draw really quickly to get the drawing filled in and finished. Resist this urge to draw quickly and slow down! Drawing intentionally slowly can allow us to take a more mindful approach to the drawing - pay attention to how it feels to be drawing this pattern. For example:
How does the pen feel in your hand?
Can you hear the sound the pen is making on the paper?
How to the lines look?
Try to tune into all your senses as you draw, and intentionally slow yourself down if you notice yourself starting to hurry. Really enjoy every line you create - it doesn’t matter how long it takes you to complete the drawing, and it does not matter if you don’t finish it - really try to be present with the process rather than focussing on the finished result.
DEALING WITH IRREGULAR SHAPES
At some point, you will come across a shape where it feels tricky to make your loops align with the edges, or get into the corners at the opposite end to your starting point.
To align your loops with an awkward shape, try making them less evenly positioned in order to bend and flex them to fit your shape.
Where you have corners to fill, split your loops from the large shape so that they can continue to go in different directions to fill your shape, right into any awkward corners.
WORKING WITH THE EDGE OF YOUR CIRCLE
As you approach the edges of your circle, it is a good idea to erase any pencil lines which are outside the edges of your circle so that you don’t start to fill in shapes which should be left blank.
As you continue to fill the shapes which are at the edge of your circle, try to be quite accurate with these ones, so that the overall circle shape becomes very clear and defined.
FINISHING
Once you have filled in all the shapes in your circle, erase the pencil lines underneath and voila! I hope you enjoyed this drawing!
If you are taking part in Mindfultober and be in with a chance of winning a free year of Skillshare Premium membership, don’t forget to share your drawing on Instagram and tag both Shelley @shelleyskail and I @melrye on Instagram so that we can see your gorgeous art! You’ll also need to save the image below and re-post it when you share your art (it can be the second image!) and let us know in your image caption how you found the process - all the details can be found in this blog post.
