Hi.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create awesome-looking mandalas using the Symmetry Tool in Photoshop
versions CC 2019 and later.
Create a new document by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + N or go to File and New.
We can make it any size and resolution.
The Color Mode is RGB and 8 bits per channel.
If the background content isn't black, open the contents list and click black.
If you want to zoom your document in or out, press Ctrl or Cmd and the minus or plus key
on your keyboard or you can type in a percentage here.
Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer.
Double-click the layer to open its Layer Style window.
Click "Gradient Overlay".
The Blend Mode is Normal, and the Opacity is 100%.
Open the Gradient preset list.
For this example, we'll use the most colorful gradient called "Spectrum".
If you don't see it, open the "Legacy Gradients" folder.
If you don't see the folder, go to Window and Gradients.
Open the fly-out list and click "Legacy Gradients".
It'll add itself to our preset list.
Click the Spectrum preset.
Make the style: radial, the angle: 0 degrees, and the scale: 100%.
We won't see anything different yet, but as we draw our mandala, it'll take on the colors
of the Spectrum gradient.
Open your Pencil Tool and Pencil Picker.
Pick a hard round tip.
I'll make its size 5 pixels however you can make it any size you like.
Make the Hardness and the Opacity 100%.
"Smoothing" does what it says - it makes our brush and pencil strokes smooth.
The higher the percentage, the smoother our strokes will be.
Since we'll be drawing free-hand, I suggest making it 100%.
I did an in-depth tutorial on Smoothing, so if you'd like to watch it, I provided is link
in the video's description.
Click the butterfly icon.
As a side note, Adobe added "Radial" and "Mandala" to the Symmetry Tools in CC 2019.
If you're using CC 2018, you won't see them.
You'll only see the ones above it.
If you don't see any symmetry tools in CC 2018, go to Edit, Preferences and Technology
Previews.
Check "Enable Paint Symmetry".
Even though CC 2018 doesn't have the Radial and Mandala tools I did a tutorial that explains
a workaround showing how you can still create radial and mandala images in CC 2018.
I provided the link to that tutorial as well.
Before we create our mandala, I'll briefly explain the difference between the Radial
and Mandala tools.
I'll click Radial.
We can repeat the symmetry up to 12 segments.
As we paint, a single brush stroke is being repeated 12 times around the center point
or radial axis creating a spirograph.
This time, I'll click Mandala.
We can repeat the symmetry up to 10 segments.
When we paint with Mandala Symmetry, Photoshop first mirrors and then repeats a single brush
stroke around the center point or radial axis.
I'll press Ctrl or Cmd + z to undo the stroke, so I can draw a new one carefully.
Keep in mind, you can draw your strokes at any point of the segment.
It doesn't have to be starting or ending at the center point.
The option that I have presently active on the symmetry to tool is the "catch up" feature,
which is why my pencil stroke is lagging.
To hide the Symmetry guide segments, click back on the butterfly icon, and click "Hide
Symmetry".
We can add another mandala on top of this one.
Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer.
Go to the "fx" icon and press and hold Alt or Option as you drag it up to the empty layer.
This copies the gradient overlay to our new layer.
Double-click "Gradient Overlay" of the copy to open it in the Layer Style window.
Click "Reverse", which reverses the colors of the gradient.
Draw out another mandala.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!