How to Color a Mandala

Mandala coloring pages have a special appeal. Their rings of repeating shapes feel orderly and calm, and the finished page looks impressive even if you have only used a few colors. They can also look intimidating. Where do you start when there are hundreds of tiny spaces? This guide covers where mandalas come from and a simple, step-by-step way to color one.

What a mandala is

Mandalas come from religious art in Asia, and the coloring-page versions we enjoy today borrow their shape and symmetry.

The Rubin Museum of Art (opens in a new tab), which focuses on Himalayan art, explains that the Sanskrit word mandala can be roughly translated as "circle," and that most mandalas feature geometric patterns of circles and squares radiating out from a central point. In Tibetan Buddhism, a mandala represents the home of a deity. Its structure works like a map or blueprint, essentially a bird's-eye view of a palace:

• The deity sits in the center, surrounded by attendant figures.
• Moving outward, a square has four gateways, one on each side.
• Around the square, the largest circle is a ring of five alternating colors, representing a protective moat of rainbow fire.

The Rubin's lesson adds that five main colors (green, blue, yellow, red and white) are used for the five directions, north, east, south, west and center, and that each color corresponds to an element. Mandalas are made as religious tools for visualization. Practitioners picture the palace in their minds and imagine moving from the outside to the center.

The Museum of International Folk Art (opens in a new tab) notes that Tibetan Buddhists adapted the mandala from the Hindu tantric tradition. It describes a mandala as a model of symmetry, concentrated around a central axis. From that axis, the design is generally divided into four equal sectors made of concentric circles and squares that share the same center.

Some mandalas are made to be temporary. In January 2002, twenty monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery came to the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery for three weeks to construct a healing sand mandala (opens in a new tab). Once it was completed, it was destroyed, an act the museum explains symbolizes the impermanence of existence. The monks gave some of the sand to visitors and poured the rest into the Potomac River.

Most mandala coloring pages are decorative designs inspired by this form, not sacred objects. Knowing their history adds meaning to the page, and it is a good conversation to have with older children who are curious about where the patterns come from.

Before you start: choose a palette

Mandalas reward planning. With so many repeated shapes, a random mix of colors can quickly look busy. Choose three to five colors first:

• Analogous colors (neighbors on the color wheel, like blues and greens) give a calm, flowing look.
• A complementary pair (opposites, like violet and yellow) makes rings pop against each other.
• One color in light, medium and dark versions creates an elegant, monochrome design.

Make a quick swatch strip in the margin to see the colors together. Our guide to color theory for coloring pages explains each of these palettes.

Step 1: Work from the center out

Start in the middle and move outward one ring at a time. Working this way has a few practical advantages:

• The center is usually the focal point, so it sets the mood for the whole page.
• Your hand rests on uncolored paper, so you are less likely to smudge finished work.
• Each ring is a small, finished goal, which makes a large design feel manageable.

You can also work from the outside in, which echoes the way practitioners imagine approaching the center. Either way is fine. Just pick one direction and stick with it.

Step 2: Use the symmetry

Symmetry is what makes a mandala look like a mandala, and it is also your best shortcut.

• Color one ring all the way around before you move on. Every matching shape in a ring gets the same color.
• Count the repeats. If a ring has eight petals, you can alternate two colors (four each) or give them all one color.
• Mirror your choices. If the top of a ring uses a dark color, the bottom should too.
• Keep spacers simple. Small dividing shapes between rings often look best in one neutral or light color, which gives the eye a place to rest.

Step 3: Build a gradient

A lovely and very forgiving approach is to move from light to dark (or dark to light) as you go outward. The Wisconsin 4-H Drawing and Painting guide (opens in a new tab) includes a color exercise built on this idea: start from the center and gradually work out to the outside edges, light to dark.

Try it with one color family. Start with the palest yellow in the center, move through gold and orange, and finish with deep red at the edge. The rings automatically look related, even if each shape is a different color.

Step 4: Add depth with simple shading

Once the base colors are down, a little shading makes petals and shapes look layered:

• Darken the inner end of each petal, where it tucks under the ring before it.
• Leave a sliver of the outer tip lighter.
• Use the same shading on every repeat so the symmetry holds.

If you are using colored pencils, our guide to colored pencil techniques covers layering and blending.

Keeping patience on detailed patterns

Detailed mandalas can take hours. These habits keep the process enjoyable:

• Work in sessions. Color one or two rings at a time and stop while you are still enjoying it.
• Mark your place. A small pencil dot in the next ring tells you where to restart.
• Keep a sharp point and good light for tiny spaces.
• Let tiny areas go. Not every space needs its own color. Filling a cluster of small shapes with one color often looks cleaner.
• Turn the page so you are always coloring at a comfortable angle.
• Coloring online? On our free pages, the fill tool, zoom and the "Big fills" option (fills stop only at strong lines) make detailed designs much quicker.

For more strategies, see How to Tackle Detailed Adult Coloring Pages. If you color mainly to unwind, Coloring for Relaxation: What Research Says looks at the evidence.

Try it

• Start with the free mandala coloring pages and pick one with fewer rings for your first try.
• Ready for a challenge? The advanced mandalas, Celtic knots and florals in Enchanted Designs are a good next step.
• Practice symmetry on smaller repeats with the pattern coloring pages.