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Illustrator
TUTORIALS
29 JUNE 2015
27 COMMENTS
Theres a couple of methods for creating complex circular patterns in Adobe Illustrator. One technique
uses pattern brushes, but it involves designing multiple patterns that seamlessly repeat, which can be a
difficult task in itself. Alternatively, you can make use of Illustrators symbol feature to create a pseudo
kaleidoscope effect where a segment of your design is duplicated around a centre point to form a
mirrored effect. Follow my step by step Illustrator tutorial to learn how to create a vector mandala pattern
of your own. Youll be surprised at how quickly you can build extremely detailed circular patterns with this
process.
This is the kind of complex mandala pattern well be creating in this tutorial. It looks like it requires a lot of
tedious drawing, but its actually quite simple thanks to the symbols feature in Adobe Illustrator. With this
technique we can draw just a small segment of the design, then Illustrator will automatically construct the
to bring up the shape settings. The more sides your shape has, the more detailed the pattern will be.
hold ALT while clicking the point of the triangle. Enter 30 in the Rotate window (360 12 sides = 30),
technique works. Any edits to a symbol will be applied to all its instances, so all we need to do is create a
pattern within this one symbol, then it will be duplicated to form a complete illustration.
Remove the black stroke from the triangular shape then lock it to avoid accidentally moving it out of place.
tools to begin drawing a pattern within one half of the symbol area, between the shape outline and the
centre guide. Make use of the Smart Guides to snap the points to other existing points, paths and guides.
Dotted lines can add some interesting effects to a design. Turn on the Dashed Line option from the
Stroke panel, then configure the dash to 0pt and gap to around 4pt.
Press the F key when using the Arc tool to flip the direction. Interesting patterns can be created by
extending multiple arcs from a single point. Add some basic circle shapes with the Ellipse tool to fill any
gaps.
Continue filling one half of the symbol shape with random patterns. Filled shapes and colours could be
used to really enhance the design, but just using single weight lines helps achieve an intricate Henna art
style.
Draw a selection around the paths then Copy (CMD+C) and Paste in Front (CMD+F). Group the shapes
together (CMD+G), then go to Object > Transform > Reflect and select the Vertical option.
Zoom right in to the document then drag the duplicate over to fill the other half of the symbol. Make sure
instances of this symbol will be automatically updated to immediately duplicate the pattern around the
entire design.
If you need to edit or tweak your design, double click the symbol to head back into editing mode. Delete
the duplicate group, then alter the paths and follow the steps to reflect the pattern again before exiting out
distinguish the original paths when theyre viewed as part of the complete illustration.
The final result is a beautifully complex Henna style mandala pattern that looks like it has taken many
tedious hours to draw, but thanks to Illustrators symbols feature, we only had to draw a few random lines
in a single segment.