How to Create a Mandala in Inkscape - Part 1: Intro and Setup

Quick Access

    01 Introduction
    02 Relevant Inkscape Tools
        02-01 Drawing Tools
        02-02 Selecting Tools
        02-03 Aligning and Distributing Tools
        02-04 Transforming Tools
        02-05 Grouping Tools
        02-06 Coloring and Outlining Tools
    03 Guide Lines Setup
    04 Symmetric Object Creation
    05 Ring Creation
    06 Coloring

01 Introduction

Mandala art is very popular today. Most mandala artists describe the process of creating a mandala, usually drawn by hand with an ink pen, as a relaxing and meditative process. Modern mandalas are generally radially symmetric and often contain floral and/or geometric elements. Mandala designs range from very simple to very complex. Here is an example of a mandala taken from The Spruce Crafts.

I have found that creating mandalas in Inkscape is also relaxing and relatively easy since there are several tools that aid you in duplicating, rotating, and aligning elements, plus there is the added benefit of being able to color the same mandala multiple different ways without having to redraw it.

In this multi-part tutorial I will indicate the Inkscape tools that I use to create mandalas, describe and demonstrate how I create symmetric elements and place them in radial patterns, and talk about object cloning and how useful it is for coloring a design.

02 Relevant Inkscape Tools

In this section I list all of the Inkscape tools that I use and show where to find them. Please make sure you are familiar with the locations of these tools before reading any of the rest of the tutorial.

NOTE: This tutorial was written using Inkscape version 0.92.3 on Ubuntu Linux.

02-01 Drawing Tools

For drawing objects, the tools I use the most are the Create rectangles and squares tool (F4), the Create circles, ellipses, and arcs tool (F5), and the Draw Bezier curves and straight lines tool (Shift+F6). The icons for these tools are found on the vertical toolbar on the left.

02-02 Selecting Tools

For selecting and manipulating objects I use the Select and transform objects tool (Select for short) (F1) and the Edit paths by nodes tool (Paths for short) (F2) which are found at the top of the vertical toolbar on the left. These tools change the icons along the top toolbar.

For the Select tool I use the rotate [1] and flip [2] icons and the width [3] and height [4] entry boxes.

For the Paths tool I use the join and occasionally split icons [5].

02-03 Aligning and Distributing Tools

For aligning objects in various ways I use the Align and Distribute dialog which can be opened from the Object menu or by using Shift+Ctrl+A. This dialog changes depending on whether the Select or Paths tool is currently active.

For the Select tool, the Align and Distribute dialog contains several functions of which I use Align, Distribute, and Remove overlaps. Align [6] lets you align objects relative to the page (a.k.a. document), the first or last selected object, the biggest or smallest object, the drawing, or the current selection area. Distribute [7] lets you set certain types of regular spacing between objects. With Remove overlaps I use the rightmost icon [8] which takes all selected objects that are overlapping and moves them so that they just touch each other. TIP: Make sure all selected objects are overlapping at least somewhat before clicking on the icon because any selected object that does not overlap another one will not be moved.

For the Paths tool, the Align and Distribute dialog contains node alignment functions [9] that can be selected relative to first or last selected node, middle of selection, or min or max value. I leave it on Middle of selection.

02-04 Transforming Tools

For rotating objects I use the Transform dialog which can be opened from the Object menu or by using Shift+Ctrl+M. The Rotate tab [10] lets you enter the angle in degrees, radians, turns, or grads (I use degrees), and select counterclockwise or clockwise rotation. Pressing the Apply button causes the action. 

02-05 Grouping Tools

For grouping objects together so that I can select them all with one click and manipulate them as a unit, the Group and Ungroup tools are immensely useful. They can be both found on the Object menu or you can use the shortcuts Ctrl+G for Group and Shift+Ctrl+G for Ungroup, or simply click on one of the icons on the vertical toolbar on the right [11].

02-06 Coloring and Outlining Tools

For coloring and outlining objects, including setting up gradients and choosing a stroke style, I use the Fill and Stroke dialog which can be opened from the Object menu or by using Shift+Ctrl+F. This dialog contains three tabs which let you set fill colors and gradients [12], stroke colors [13], and stroke styles [14] for selected objects. You can also use the sliders along the bottom to blur objects and change their opacity.

03 Guide Lines Setup

In order to facilitate accurate arrangement of design elements I set up several guide objects. The first and most important guide object is a circle that surrounds the outside of the drawing area. I normally set the document size to 5000 pixels, then create a red circle with no fill and a narrow outline and align it to the page such that it is completely outside of the drawing area and centered upon it. The purpose of this circle is to include it in the selection of an object that is being rotated around the center of the document so that the object is rotated properly to form a ring of objects. The rotate function of Inkscape uses the calculated center of all selected objects to form the point around which all selected objects are rotated. Putting a circle around the outside of the document where the design is going to be centered forces the center point of all selected objects to be the center of the document, thereby ensuring accurate creation of a ring of design elements.

Here is a simple example showing the creation of a ring of objects at 30 degree intervals.

The other guide objects that I use are lines set at various angles. First I draw a vertical line using the Bezier curves tool by left-clicking at the top of the document, then Ctrl-left-clicking at the bottom of the document (which forces the line to be vertical), then right-clicking to finish the creation of the line. I set the color to red and the width to something small (like 2 mm) and center it on the page. I then duplicate the line (Ctrl+D) and rotate the copy 5 degrees. I duplicate this line and flip it horizontally to get a line angling the other direction. I usually also create lines at 10 degrees and 15 degrees. These guide lines are used when drawing design elements to help set their widths so that they just touch each other when they are made into rings. You can set the guide lines to be at any angle that is useful for the drawing that you are creating. I prefer to create design elements in a vertical fashion at the top of the drawing, so I don't use horizontal guide lines or even the bottoms of the vertical guide lines.

In Part 2 of this tutorial I will describe and demonstrate how I create symmetric design elements.