Lots of black in this one, so it’s quite heavy. I like the scrolls and I think the layers mesh well.
drawing
Monday Mandala 78
Did something a bit different with this one – drew the outside layers first and worked my way inward. I like how it turned out. The inner layers are heavy, but I think it works for this design.
Introverted Hermit on YouTube

Getting a YouTube channel up and running has been a goal for a while now. However, I just never seemed to get it done. So instead of dreaming about this fictional channel and all the fancy (translation: expensive) equipment I’d need to do it, I decided to just get it done.
I sat down and filmed myself drawing with what I had – my phone, my iPad, and some ok lighting. Am I making mistakes?
Oh, yeah.
But I’m learning from them. And that’s the point, right? For instance, I’ve already learned that you can’t upload a video longer than 15 minutes unless you have ‘verified’ your YouTube account. I’m not sure why I have to do that, since really all they want is a phone number, which Google already has.
In any event, I haven’t taken that step. It doesn’t generally take me longer than 15 minutes to draw a mandala, so I don’t need to – yet. I have taken the step of ordering a soft box light to help with my lighting issues. I can’t seem to find a good/comfortable place to draw that doesn’t result in some kind of glare or reflection from the light.
I’ve also learned that dealing with music on YouTube is a pain. I don’t want my videos to be silent, but music ain’t cheap. I’ve looked at a couple of options for *gasp* subscription services for this, but I decided I want to wait for a bit. YouTube has free music options, although they are admittedly not great. But they are free. 😀
So right now I film, use iMovie to edit/remove the audio and then upload to YouTube. Then, I find free music to use and add it. Then I wait a million years for YouTube to process the videos with the added music. THEN I can schedule/post the video.
Finding songs longer than 2-3 minutes also took some searching. And, while I’m not thrilled with the music I found, it’s free and I don’t have to worry about downloading the same song EVERY TIME I want to use it with a video. (Some of the subscription services make you do this – which, to me, misses the whole point. I didn’t want to download a file every time I made a video, so for now, I’m making do with what I have – access to YouTube’s free (albeit not great) music library.)
Filming with my phone has also been an experience. I have an older phone, so there isn’t a lot of space on it for filming videos. I can film one video at a time – then I have to delete it before I can film another one. And then I had to learn how to really delete the videos, because Apple.
Luckily, my husband gifted me his old phone. The screen is cracked, but since I’m just using it to film, it doesn’t matter. And since no one is using it as a phone, there’s nothing on it, so there’s lots of storage space. 😀
Now I can film several videos at once when the creative mood strikes, rather than being forced to do everything one step at a time.
I’ve gotten several done and uploaded to YouTube, so if you want to head over and check them out, click here. These are different mandalas than the ones I do for Mandala Monday, so they won’t be repeats of what you see here.
I am debating whether I want to add the mandalas from the videos to my Etsy shop. They are not necessarily drawn with coloring in mind, but I think many of them would work nicely. Something to think about while I revamp my Etsy listings. 🙂
If you like what you see in the videos, don’t forget to like and subscribe!
Monday Mandala 77
Playing around with different shapes rather than traditional circles. I like how the scroll work came out on this one. So you’ll probably see it again. 🙂
Monday Mandala 76
I like this one. The leaves on the outside remind me of the Federation of Planets logo. I like the inner layers as well – though the balance is off again with this one.
Monday Mandala 75
Got a bit carried away with mirroring the layers on this one, but I really like how it turned out. Should have added a few more circles on the outer layers, but definitely liking the inner ones.
Monday Mandala 74
I really like the swirly layers on this one. The outer layers seem a bit plain, though I like the flowers okay. Wish I would have done something a bit more detailed on the outer leaves, but I’ll try to remember that for next time.
Monday Mandala 73
This one definitely has lots of details for coloring. It’s always interesting to see how different the mandalas look on the blog versus in Procreate. I like the inner layers and the flowers on the outer leaves.
Monday Mandala 72
This mandala was another experiment. Rather than focusing on coloring, I was trying to focus on different design elements – especially the big lotus-type flower in the middle. I like how it turned out, though I’m not sure the overall style is something that appeals to me enough to pursue it further.