MINDFUL DRAWING TUTORIAL:TINY

As part of #mindfultober2023 I am creating a series of free Mindful Drawing Tutorials, so that if you 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!

For the third prompt of Mindfultober: Tiny, I wanted to create a little collection of very low-pressure drawings focussed on patterns and textures, which is something which I tend to always be drawn to using in my work. What is also great about structuring a drawing in this way, is that it’s a really good opportunity to just play with your material(s) and find out what kind of textures, marks and patterns you can make with them - so it’s a little like making swatches, with the added bonus that it looks really nice as a finished drawing too.

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, be sure to hop on over there!

SUPPLIES

To follow along, you will need:

• paper

• a pencil

• an eraser

• a pen

• something small and circular to draw around (a coin is perfect!) or a compass

STEP 1: DRAW OUT YOUR CIRCLES IN PENCIL

I really wanted to structure my drawing in grid form, because that’s just me(!) but this could also work really beautifully with the circles drawn on your page in a more random fashion, kind of like a polkadot effect.

This works great with any size paper, and size or number of circles. I’ll explain how I structured my grid in case that helps you arrange yours, but feel free to do it differently!

First I found the center of my paper by measuring the height and width, and drawing pencil lines across the page (so the center is the spot where the two lines cross).

TIP: To make sure you are drawing your pencil lines at 90 degrees to the edge of your paper, use a spare piece of paper which has come straight from a pack or a sketchbook (i.e. which hasn’t been cut by hand) and lay one edge in line with the edge of your drawing paper, and align the other edge with your half way mark. This is essentially a set square, so we can be confident this line will be at 90 degrees to the paper’s edge.

Once you have found the centre of the paper, take your circular object or compass, and draw a circle in pencil at that spot - aligning the middle of the circle with the middle of the page.

Once you have drawn your first circle, draw some guide lines in pencil horizontally and vertically on the page, just touching the edges of the circle. Make sure to use your scrap piece of paper again to do this to ensure that these guidelines are 90 degrees to the edge of the paper. This will form the beginning of your grid structure, and you can decide how much space to leave between your circles (or whether you’d like them to touch, which can also be lovely!).

I decided to space my circles apart by 1cm, so I measured this gap, and then drew more guidelines which allowed me to create the grid showing where the rest of my circles should be positioned.

STEP 2: DETERMINE WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO FILL YOUR CIRCLES WITH

What we are going to do, is fill each circle with a different drawing – and you can really draw whatever you like – I’m going to create a variety of different patterns and textures because it’s what I am most drawn to within my personal work, but you could create say a tiny drawing of a rabbit in one circle, followed by a tiny drawing of a cat – or whatever you’re interested in, or maybe each circle is filled with a different botanical drawing, or a portrait – so that what you create is a collection of tiny drawings which are personal to you.

TIP: Outlining your circles in pen will flatten your drawings - if you want them to have depth and a three dimensional quality, make your drawings fill the circle right to the edges, but avoid adding a solid line around the circle’s outline.

STEP 3: FILL EACH CIRCLE WITH A DRAWING

In my example, I am sticking with one pen, and exploring a variety of different textures and patterns to fill my circles. This can be a great way of exploring a drawing tool, and can act as a lovely series of swatches to use in later drawings, or alternatively, you could explore a variety of different media in your circle drawings - it is entirely up to you!

MINDFUL APPROACH

As we’re getting into this drawing, and creating these tiny little pattern and texture swatches, one mindful drawing technique which can work well with this particular drawing is counting. And that is as simple as it sounds – it works really well when you’re creating a drawing with lots of repetition like this such as repeating marks or shapes – and it is literally counting the marks you make as you make them.

The purpose of this is to keep your mind present with the drawing, in the here and now, which can be very challenging when you’re doing something easy and repetitive because that’s when our brain sees a golden opportunity to disappear off to our to-do list, or whatever else may be on your mind, so just counting your strokes can help to gently encourage your brain to stay with us, so give that a try.

FINISHING

Once you are happy with your drawing, 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.