MINDFUL DRAWING TUTORIAL: GROW
As part of #mindfultober 2025 I have created a free Mindful Drawing Tutorial, 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 create, so you can just relax and enjoy the process, this is 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, all you will need is:
paper
any drawing materials you enjoy using
APPROACH
For this drawing, I’d like to take a really loose, free approach and let my pattern organically grow across the page - there is no pre-planning, just a simple and fluid approach to let the pattern unfold.
STEP 1: BEGIN WITH A SHAPE
I love love love using circles in my mindful drawings, but this approach can work beautifully with any shape - triangles, squares, ovals, hearts, flowers - and shape which pulls at you. Draw your shape somewhere roughly near the centre of the paper. Repeat the shape again near the first shape.
STEP 2: begin connecting your shapes
Create connecting lines or shapes between your original shapes - this can be a really lovely way to create an effect of the drawing ‘growing’ across the page. Experiment with using different types of line for the connecting lines - for example if you have drawn squares or triangles, keep your connecting lines quite straight so they go well with those, whereas more curved lines look best with more rounded shapes like circles and ovals.
Continue drawing more shapes and connecting them to the shapes already on the page.
TIP: To keep the drawing looking balanced and organic, keep rotating your paper at different angles so that it makes all the shapes look slightly different from each other.
STEP 3: ADD A SECOND COLOUR (OR MORE)
Next you can try adding in a second colour to embellish your pattern (completely optional but I love the way this adds a bit more interest!). You could keep it simple with one colour, or go for it with a wider colour palette.
STEP 4: CONTINUE TO GROW YOUR PATTERN!
Keep adding more shapes to your pattern, remembering to keep rotating your paper as you go. You can take 2 approaches to finishing your pattern:
Leave the pattern as a free-form shape in the middle of the paper or
Completely fill your paper with the pattern
Both options are lovely - in my example I opted to keep my pattern organic looking in the middle of the page which I really like.
And that’s it! Super easy, really relaxing, and I think it’s such a lovely versatile pattern you can draw in so many different ways depending on the shapes, colours and materials you use.
MINDFULTOBER
If you are taking part in Mindfultober 2025 and want to be in with a chance of winning one of the prizes, don’t forget to share your collage on Instagram, include #mindfultober2025 in your caption and tag me @melrye and the other hosts @shelleyskail , Fatih MISTAÇOĞLU (Fab for short!) and @ju_he_sch on Instagram *in your images* so we can see your lovely pieces (Instagram no longer notifies people of being tagged in captions! Argh!)
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 caption how you found the process - all the details can be found in this blog post.
Happy creating!
