DESCRIPTION: Create a mandala using a photo.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Save often.

1. Open the mandala.ufo that you have downloaded to your hard drive. This will be our guide. Save a copy of it either to your Easy Palette or Save As and give it a new name. With your yellow segment selected, go to Path Drawing Tool and pick Selection from the drop-down Mode box in the Attribute Toolbar.

2. Open an image of your choice. (I used one of my sunsets.) Keeping the Path Drawing Tool and Selection Mode available, Shape Square, drag a square approximately 300 x 300 pixels on the image. Pick an area that has colour and pattern. You will see why this is important when you have finished your mandala. Copy. Close the image without saving.

3. Edit, Paste into Selection. Click to position only when you have moved the image around a bit within the selection to see the best part to use for the mandala. This is what your image will look like so far:

4. Go to File/Preferences. In the main dialogue that comes up, untick Shift objects after doing Duplicate command. To make it easier to move the duplicate into place with the Transform Tool, we want it directly above the original.

5. Click on the Transform Tool in the Main Tool Panel. Set the Rotate by degree box at 72 (and it will stay at this setting for the rest of the tutorial). Next icon along, click on Copy rotate / Clockwise 4 times. Position each segment where it matches the template within its alternative section. (Tip: When you have a segment in place, use the arrow keys on your keyboard to more accurately position it.)

Now we're getting somewhere:

6. Reselect your first triangle. The Transform Tool should still be active. Right click Duplicate. On the Attribute Toolbar, Rotate and Flip / Flip Horizontally:

You can see that it is now a mirror image.

7. Copy rotate / Counterclockwise 4 times and again position each segment where it matches the template. As you can see there will still be some white spaces. (Don't worry, I have tried many different approaches to this tutorial over the years and with some help as well.) We'll fix that…here comes the fun part.

8. Removing gaps: Using the Pick Tool (or the keyboard arrows), move all the segments further into the circle and when you're happy with the result, right click Select All Objects.

9. It might be a good idea to save this in your EP in case you're not happy with it or there are gaps showing when you're done. You will then have a copy to back up to. Open your Easy Palette and drag the multiple objects towards it. Click Yes when it asks if you want to save multiple objects. Drag the whole lot while selected off your canvas and into the workspace to create a new document. Close your original image - discard since you have a copy in your EP.

10. Right click Merge As Single Object. With the mandala selected, go to Web / Trim Object. Activate the Pick Tool and click the Centre Both icon in the Attribute Toolbar. Save this new image.

11. Click off the mandala to deselect. To draw a 3D circle to "frame" the mandala, select Path Tool / Outline Drawing Tool, Shape Circle, Mode 3D round. Right click on the Color box / Eyedropper and choose the colour you want from the image in the pane, click OK . (Or if you wish you can use the Material box and pick a Metallic preset.)

12. Holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard, click and drag from the centre of your mandala to its edge. In the Path Panel, Outline tab / Width, select 3 in the drop-down box.

13. In the Layer Manager, select both the mandala and circle by holding down the Ctrl key, right click Align / Center Both. Move the circle into position with the arrow keys if it needs a bit of convincing. Selecting both again, right click Merge as Single Object. Drag the finished mandala to your Easy Palette while it is still an object. (You might want to store the merged segments and separate circle to your EP as multiple objects in case you wish to change it.) Click off the mandala to deselect.

14. For the background: Go to Edit / Fill / Gradient tab, Fill type and click the circle. Choose your colours by deciding on a main light colour in the first colour box, copy the Hex #, click on the second colour box and paste this number in down the bottom. Bring the slider down so the colour darkens. Click OK and OK again. This will put a glow peeking just around your mandala going to a darker colour away from it. (Tip: the more white space around your mandala before filling, the more glow will appear.)

15. Right click Merge All. Format / Focus / Options and the Level set to "1" will sharpen your image just a little. Go to Web / Image Optimizer and save as .jpg if you wish to show off your mandala online.

Here are my results. The third one has star path shapes included in the centre:

Hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. Warning: This can get very addictive :).

View my friends' beautiful mandalas created using this tutorial. Enjoy!

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