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Make a Mandala Using Acrylic Paint Pens with Andrew Stiller

  • 4 min read

Make a Mandala Using Acrylic Paint Pens with Andrew Stiller

Chalkola Featured Artist | Andrew Stiller

Andrew Stiller is a mandala artist based in southern New York whose colorful, precise, and highly detailed artworks represent him as a complex, growing, and imperfect but beautiful individual. Aside from creating intricate mandalas, he’s working toward completing his Bachelor of Arts in Dance, which is another outlet for him to express his creativity and de-stress at the same time. 

Read on and get to know more about Andrew’s favorite art technique and medium, and how he finds inspiration in everyday life.

Meet the multi-talented Andrew Stiller.

Make a Mandala Using Acrylic Paint Pens with Andrew Stiller
Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Andrew Stiller and I am a mandala artist based in southern New York. As well as being a mandala artist, I am working towards completing my Bachelor of Arts in Dance. I use both the mandala art form and my dance as activities to express myself and as a form of self-therapy to reduce anxiety and de-stress.

How long have you been an artist? Do you have a story behind it?
I have been making mandalas for eight years. One day when I was 13 I decided to challenge myself to abstractly draw myself on paper. I did not have a remote idea of what would be produced but through that prompt, I drew my first ever mandala. I felt the mandala represented me as complex, growing, and imperfect but beautiful in its own way.

What’s your favorite art technique and medium?
I have always loved experimenting with acrylic painting techniques and my favorite medium to dabble in is acrylic paint pens because of the bold smooth lines they are able to produce.

What inspires you as an artist?
As a visual artist and dancer, I am inspired by the organic flow of nature and by movement. I infuse both inspirations into all of my mandalas. 

What advice can you give on how to find inspiration for art and creating?
I find the best way to gather inspiration is to observe the world around you. Follow your impulses in mimicking the lines you are attracted to. Also, remember it is okay to create without rules. Creativity does not come from confinement!

What’s your preferred Chalkola product to work with and why?
I have always loved creating with acrylic paint pens. With Chalkola paint pens I am able to expand my horizons beyond my typical black and white color scheme to a vibrant array of bold pigmented colors. I also love the fine point of the markers that allow for more detailed work!

Instagram: @spinningmandaladesigns

We’re thrilled to have this chance to watch Andrew create his remarkable mandala artwork in the video he shared with us below. Try it out with us and let’s create a mandala together.

Mandalas are a centuries old art form which are made for the purpose of meditation. Making them is a great way to relax and express oneself abstractly through geometric design. In this video, I will show you how to make your very own with Chalkola Acrylic Paint Markers!

Materials Needed:

Steps:

  1. Lay out the groundwork for the mandala in pencil. Define the center of your paper and then draw four lines, one vertical, one horizontal, and two on the diagonals all intersecting in the center to make eight even pizza-like slices.
  2. Use your pencil and compass to make circles that circle around the center or the paper, making each circle bigger than the one drawn before it. They can be equal distance apart or they can vary in distance depending on how much variation you want with the next step.
  3. Still using your pencil, in the very center draw your first 8 petals with each petal occupying one of the pizza-like slices, with the base touching the center of the page and the tip touching the most inner circle drawn. 
  4. Start drawing petals radiating from the previous layer of petals and repeat until each circle drawn has a layer of petals in them.
  5. Now that you have the pencil skeleton of the mandala made, use the colored Chalkola fine tip markers to color in the petals! You can get creative with your coloring by making each layer of petals the same or by making the colors in a layer alternate.
  6. Once the marker has dried use the eraser to erase all the pencil guidelines still visible.
  7. Ink over the borders of the petals with a black Chalkola marker.
  8. Still using the black marker, start filling in the petals with any details you desire. Get creative by filling the petals in with geometric shapes, organic shapes, or both!
  9. Use the brighter fine point markers to add more highlighted areas to really create contrast and make the mandala pop!
  10. You’re done!

If you enjoyed learning how to make a mandala straight from a professional artist, you might be interested in this tutorial on Delicate Illustrations and Watercolor Painting with Lonna Yen. Happy creating!

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Acrylic Paint Marker Pens - Pack of 40, Fine Tip
Acrylic Paint Marker Pens - Pack of 40, Fine Tip
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