In this mindful fish pattern exercise, we’ll discover how relaxing it is to draw a simple fish.
Did you know that there are patterns all around us? Even the bricks of your house or the stones of the pavement form a pattern. If you pay attention to the details around you, you’d be surprised how many different patterns you see every day.
This is also a really mindful exercise and helps you to be in the present moment because you’re not just in your head but using your senses to observe the world around you. Let me know if you’ve tried this. How many patterns did you spot?
A lot of animals have beautiful patterns as well. A few weeks ago, we did the Mindful leopard spot pattern exercise and now we will look closer at a fish for this mindful fish pattern exercise.
The fins of a fish have a pattern of parallel lines and its scales form a beautiful pattern as well.
Let’s draw a fish and relax by drawing these gorgeous, simple patterns. Concentrate on the repetitive motion of these patterns and let your mind relax for a bit. Have fun with this exercise!
Please let me know if this mindful fish pattern exercise helped you relax, I’d love to know.
If you have any questions about this exercise, please leave a comment below and I’ll help you.
You can find a small video of this exercise on my Instagram @thecreativecooldown
Supplies used:
Bristol paper (Hahnemüle), alcohol markers (Winsor & Newton), fineliner no. 0.1, 0.3, 1.0 (Copic), pencil.
Alternative supply suggestions:
You can use a regular pen or a pencil to draw the lines for this exercise. If you want to add color, use whatever you have, such as crayons, markers, watercolor. Even if you only have a pencil, just try it. You can simulate different colors by using different shades of grey.
If you don’t have fineliners with different-sized tips, you can also use a blunt pencil for thick lines and a sharp one for thinner lines.
Instructions
1. Before you start, slowly breathe in and out a few times to get more relaxed. We will start by sketching a simple fish. It doesn’t have to be a real fish, you can make one up as well. As long as it has fins and a tail, you’ll be fine. Of course, you can look up reference pictures of fish as well to help you. Add an eye, mouth, and some gills, if you like. I sketched out my fish in pencil first and then traced the outline with a large-tipped pen.
2. Now it’s time to color your fish. Choose colors that you like or calm you. Go slow and just enjoy this part.
3. Grab a smaller-tipped pen for your patterns. First, we’ll start with the fins. Slowly draw parallel lines from the tip of your fin to the body of your fish. Just focus on your lines. It doesn’t matter if they are a bit shaky, that makes them even more interesting.
4. Now we’ll draw the scales of our fish. I started at about 1/3 of the body, just at the base of the fin at the top. Draw small semicircles next to each other. When you start the next row make sure it is shifted halfway in a horizontal direction. This means that the semicircle starts in the middle of the semicircle below. It is a bit like a brick pattern. Take your time and go slow. Enjoy the repetitive motion!
5. Lastly, we’ll add some depth to your fish by adding some shadow to your scales. Outline the outside of your semicircles with a darker shade of the color you chose in step 2. Or if you used alcohol markers, like me, you can just add an extra layer with the same color.
If you like, you can add extra patterns to your semicircles but I opted to leave it like this.
Now you have finished the mindful fish pattern exercise. Well done!
If you liked this exercise, you might like my Mindful circle lineart exercise as well.