The final mandala

Owls

Owls always travel in pairs, so I created a male and female owl. Plenty of influences for their shape and patterning. I have used the original owl design (see 'My owl 2' post) as the shape. I made the owls slighty thinner, by pulling the wings in a bit. However, everything else is the same. If you look at the photo below, you can see dark brown pointy-hearts on his white front...

Using the Blob Brush Tool I made the hearts. Then made them into 4 swatches - 2 large (body, brown and purple) and 2 small (wings and head, brown and purple). See pattern below:

The owls:

Monday progress

Here's my mandala thus far:

Weekend work

I have no internet access at home. So i saved my mandala at different intervals while working on it throughout the weekend. I'm getting to know Illustrator quite well - it is a killer program, as in its sweet as. Here are a couple of progress snapshots from the weekend...

Friday

Saturday

Illustrator

By the way, I now own illustrator.

My owl 1

I made an owl in illustrator using the image of the owl on the mug (shown in previous post). I inserted the original image into Photoshop, cropped it, and used the contrast/brightness tool to take out all colour. This made it easier for me to "trace" (using the drawing tool in Illustrator) over the owl to make my owl. The end result is very simple, but I think that's all I need. The mandala is pretty chaotic, so i think keeping the content/symbols basic is better. Here is the original owl and my owl:

OWL

Owl 1: They dont really look like owls. However, I do like the owls in pairs. Owls never travel alone. Maybe all the owls in my Mandala will be in pairs? i like the upside-down, right-way-up effect too.

Owl 2: IT RULES. I love the eyes. I love the shape. I think there will be a lot of owls' eyes in my mandala. Possibly in the centre? In all the owl images I have, the owls are very prominent, maybe owls' eyes separate a picture of an owl say, from looking like a penguin. Or a bird of similar shape...

Owl 3: Nice design. I like the branch. Will incorporate branches in mandala. An owl's gotta perch.

Owl 4: This is the best design/shape of an owl thus far. I think I'll use this shape for owl in my mandala. it is simple yet classy. The triangular nose, the simple rounded rectangular shape used for the body and 3-pronged feet all add to the geometric nature of the mandala. WINNER.