My Creative Process
Inspiration
Throughout my freshman year of college, I often found myself doodling in class, creating small drawings that would spiral outwards as I expanded upon them. These doodles could be found in my notebook, and more often than not, on my body. I had friends, family, and even teachers comment on my body art and suggest that I become a tattoo artist or a coloring book illustrator. Over quarantine, I started transferring these doodles to my sketchbook so they would last beyond my next shower and these more polished mandalas gave me the inspiration to design my own coloring book!
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The art therapy aspect came into play because psychology is currently one of my majors, and I wanted to explore a possible career in art therapy, combining my love of art and my passion to help others cope with their mental health. I myself also struggle with diagnosed anxiety and depression and I wanted to provide an outlet for people like myself to engage in creative at-home therapy.
Techniques
Pencil Sketch
To start off my design process, I would sketch out the mandala in pencil in my sketchbook, being conscious to adequately diversify my designs to appeal to a range of artistic ability.
Pen and Ink
After my pencil sketch was complete, I would trace the design with a black micron pen and erase the pencil underneath to create a neat outline. I would also use micron pens of different line widths to create variations with my designs.
Scanner
After I felt that the design was finished, I would scan the design using my printer and transfer the pdf file to my computer, compiling all designs in my "coloring book design" folder.
Photoshop
If a scanned mandala needed further editing, I would bring the file into Adobe Photoshop and play around with exposure, contrast, and levels to create bold dark lines and minimize shadows on the paper.
...then color!
My Research Process
Artistic Techniques
I drew upon the cultural and historical significance of the mandala, which primarily appears in Hindu and Buddhist cultures. Mandalas often represent self-understanding and self-acceptance, making them a popular art form seen in modern-day coloring books. The doodles which served as inspiration for this project very similarly resemble a mandala, since they both expand outwards from a singular point, making them an ideal artistic technique to learn and experiment with throughout the process of my research.
Traditional Research Methods
When planning the addition of my live Zoom event, I decided to incorporate the popular research method of pre and post-surveys to have participants self-assess their stress levels before and after coloring one of my mandalas and meditating upon its accompanying mindfulness prompt. I sent links to google forms for both these surveys during my launch party, which provided supporting evidence for my intended impact (for more information, see the "Impact" section of my artist statement).