SunFlower Mandala Tutorial

“I want to be like a sunflower; so that even on the darkest days I will stand tall and find the sunlight.” Unkown

A beautiful phrase to remind us that we all are like sunflowers with a bright light shining inside that make us naturally turn to the Sun every day and reach for the Light.

I enjoyed very much drawing this Sunflower mandala, which is for me Nature’s perfect piece of Art representing the Sun on Earth. I love to see the duality between the perfection of its center abiding to a perfect equation and the freedom of the flowing shining petals. A little bit like our lives, if we respect certain structural and internal conditions we can enjoy our freedom to be.

There are many symbolic meanings derived from its Nature. It represents loyalty and longevity, for being always directed towards the sun and its duration even after it is cut. Its colors represent Happiness and Optimism. In dreams, it is a symbol of Good Fortune, Wealth, Opportunity and Ambition. Reference from Hubpages.com

As It was so much fun I really felt like showing you step by step how I made it, in case you are interested to try it yourself. But hope you have patience with me as it is my first tutorial. I would love to read your comments on how to make it better for the future.

What you need

• Paper ( I have used a normal sketchbook paper which is perfect for colored pencils)
• Pencil and colored pencils unless you chose to paint it then you will need a different kind of paper
• ruler
• compass
• protractor

Step 1

I calculated the perfect half of the paper horizontally and vertically and drew the two lines to mark the center. I then marked 11.5 cm from the center to the left on the horizontal line and after placing the compass in the center I created the outside circle.

Step 2

With the protractor placed right in the center, I have marked a point every 5 degrees all around. Then I proceeded to mark the straight lines for each one, from left top to bottom right, making sure it passes exactly on the center. 

Step 3

Mark 5.5 cm on the horizontal center line and make a circle with the compass. this will be the outline of the interior circle. Then you mark 0.5 cm from the center and make the first circle. From that circle onward mark 0.25 which will add up to 21 circles in total.

Step 4

With a very pointed dark yellow pencil start outlining a slight curve from the center to the top first intersection between the first circle and the first line on the right after the middle vertical line, from there continue onto the second line and second circle, then third and so on until the 6th circle. Then you change color with dark brown and continue forming an arc or one side of a petal. Do not worry about the center now, you will be able to define it later with a darker color.

Step 5

You do the same on the other side. To make it easier I started from the top and went down. And this should be the result.

Step 6

I advise you at this point to smudge the interior left and right edges of each diamond with the dark brown color, so they look a bit more round. I did it after the yellow and it did not show so much. You can fill up the diamonds drawing a line parallel to the outline so to leave a white space in the middle. The first three lines I have chosen a darker yellow, orange and reddish brown, the rest a light yellow and some degradation with darker yellow until the fourth and fifth line, from the outside.

Step 7

From this picture, you can see the edges a bit rounded up. With regards to the center, I have used a beige brown and then again the light yellow over it. As the space is so tiny there is no room for filling, only the outer ones, so I only went over the lines playing with these two colors until it looked fine.

Step 8

Now the petals. It took me awhile to decide which size I wanted, but after trying two different ones and taking pictures I opted for this one. As you can see the size is two lines on each size. You can draw them directly with the yellow color.

These are the colors I have used for the petals. Curving a little bit the end of the petals so that it shows a bit of movement. Although the petal of the Sunflower picture I was looking at looked very different, this is the way I felt comfortable expressing them, so feel free to experiment, maybe start in a separate paper.  I made a few different trials on a different paper until I decided this was the one I liked.

I have started drawing lines with dark yellow, then using the brown, reddish brown and orange at the bottom and outlining the petals. Finished with light yellow and orange and dark yellow on the points.

And this is the finished drawing. I hope you have enjoyed it.

I hope the explanations have been easy and that have sparked your curiosity to make one too. Happy creating.

If you can and think appropriate you may