As part of #mindfultober 2024 I have created 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 create, 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 - I recommend having 3 different types. These could be plain colors, patterned papers, black and white, or anything else! I’ll be using 3 different colored papers.
scissors
glue
a pencil + eraser
scalpel + cutting mat (optional)

APPROACH

The way I want to approach the prompt ‘Symmetry’ is to create a simple folk-inspired botanical collage. When I work with collage, I really enjoy working directly with the scissors and paper to create my image (not by drawing it out first and then cutting around the drawn shapes).

I find this really helps with a mindful approach to collage - because it prompts me to focus on observing carefully and translating what I am seeing in my design to my hand as I use my scissors to cut out the shapes.

I would encourage you to give this a try, but if it feels a little too much, feel free to use your pencil to very lightly sketch out your shapes first - do what works best for you!

STEP 1: CREATE A ROUGH DESIGN SKETCH

Because I intend to work directly with the scissors and paper, having a design to work from is really important so that I know roughly what shapes I am intending to create, particularly with the symmetrical method of paper cutting.

Most folk inspired botanicals are symmetrical and so can be considered as being based around a simple shape like a lollipop: a circle (flower) with a line coming from the centre (the stem) such as those above.

If you start with this shape, and add some leaves, and a simple flower or seed pod head, you should end up with something really effective! Here are some tips to help you:

Keep your shapes simple (don’t aim for it to be realistic)
Play with exaggerating proportions - for example the flower head could be much larger proportionately than a real flower would be
Play with adding more than one type of leaf style to your design
Add decorative details like dots or tear drop shapes to add some folk-inspired style

TIP: If you’d like to learn a little more about designing your own folk inspired botanical, then do check out my self-paced beginner friendly course Drawing With Scissors: Modern Folk Inspired Botanical Collage - it will walk you through the whole process from start to finish!

STEP 2: CUT THE MAIN SHAPE OUT FROM PAPER

It can be really fun to try cutting out the main shape of your botanical in one piece, and seeing as it’s symmetrical, we can do this by folding your collage paper in half to get a symmetrical paper cut by following these steps:

Start by folding your collage paper in half.
Next, fold the paper you have sketched your design on so that the fold is right down the centre of your design, showing you just one half of your design. If you need to, tweak the design at this point to make it easier to see (I needed to re-draw some of the stem on my design as it had disappeared off the folded edge).
Start cutting your collage paper, following what you can see on your design sketch.
Once you have cut out your shape, carefully open out your collage paper to see if the shape needs refining by trimming any parts, and trim them if needed.

STEP 3: CUT SECTIONS OUT OF YOUR MAIN SHAPE

At this stage you should have a silhouette of your design, and we can introduce some of the details by cutting some sections away, so that whatever color you use for your background paper will show through.

It can be helpful to use a scalpel and cutting mat for this part of the process if you have one, or you may need to re-fold your paper silhouette to be able to cut parts out with scissors.

TIP: Only cut out relatively large sections at this point - smaller details can be very fiddly and can be added later once your papercut is glued to a surface and so is less fragile!

STEP 4: GLUE YOUR PAPER CUT TO A BACKGROUND

Next we can stabilise your paper cut by gluing it to a background. This can be really fun, as you can try out different colors or types of paper behind your paper cut before you stick it down to choose an option which really makes your collage pop!

Use scrap paper to very carefully apply glue to your paper cut, and then smooth it down carefully on your background paper, working from the middle to outer edges to avoid any bubbles or creases in your paper.

STEP 5: CUT SMALLER DETAILS TO ADD TO YOUR COLLAGE

At this point you can cut out smaller shapes and glue them to the background to visually represent some of the more detailed parts of your design sketch, and add anything which was too fiddly to cut out from your initial shape. Glue these to the background as you go.

STEP 6: CONSIDER ADDING FURTHER DETAILS IN A DIFFERENT COLOR

At this stage it can be really nice to add a third color into your design to add some further embellishments and detail - this can really help your collage pop, and it’s really fun to see how different colors react together to create really beautiful visual effects - I really loved how this turquoise made both the red and blue feel even more vibrant!

Glue these pieces down as you go.

STEP 7: REFINE AND ADD FINISHING TOUCHES

At this point you may feel as though there are some areas of your collage which need refining or something more needs to be added - it is very likely that your collage will look quite different to your design sketch due to the process we have used to make it, so don’t worry if you are deviating from your design - the design sketch’s primary purpose was to help us create the main silhouette shape.

I felt that my design needed something more in the centre of the seed pod, and I wanted to bring in more of the turquoise color so I added a large additional turquoise shape with small red details on top for interest and texture.

Tune in to what feels right for your collage - this step may not be necessary for you, or you may prefer your collage to be a more simple design which can look amazing too!

Now you should have an awesome folk-inspired botanical collage - I would love to see it and hear about how you got on, so please do let me know!

MINDFULTOBER

If you are taking part in Mindfultober 2024 and want to be in with a chance of winning one of the prizes, don’t forget to share your collage on Instagram, include #mindfultober2024 in your caption and tag me @melrye and the other hosts @shelleyskail @thecolorbirdie 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!

MINDFUL DRAWING TUTORIAL: SYMMETRY