In this mindful leopard spot pattern exercise, we’ll decorate our paper with lovely leopard spots.
This is a wonderful exercise to relax and forget about perfectionism for a while.
Leopard spots are beautiful and if you really look at pictures of leopards, you’ll notice that not one spot is the same. So when you’re drawing these spots, there is not one specific way to paint the perfect leopard one. This means you can play and experiment and see what comes out.
It will look more realistic if all the spots are different in size and in shape and the outline is not perfect but wobbly and only partially drawn. Since there is no right or wrong way to paint a leopard spot, you can stop thinking and just paint. Let go for a while.
The repetitive motion of drawing the same thing over and over will be really relaxing as well. It will help you to be in the moment and forget about the things that worry you.
Have fun with this mindful leopard spot pattern exercise! Please let me know if you’ve tried this one, I would love to see it.
You can find a small video of this exercise on my Instagram @thecreativecooldown
Supplies used:
Glitter watercolor paper 300gr (Paul Rubens), watercolor (Kuretake Gansai Tambi and Finetech), paintbrush no. 16 (CreArt), paintbrush no. 2 (da Vinci), paintbrush 3/0 (Princeton, washi tape, jar, paper towel.
Alternative supply suggestions:
You can use your kids’ watercolor paints. They may not have as much pigment as the ones in the art stores, but it’s definitely something you can start with at the beginning.
Of course, you can use crayons, alcohol markers, or watercolor pencils as well.
If you only have regular paper, please be aware that your paper cannot hold that much water and will probably warp. Try taping it down to prevent it from warping too much.
Instructions:
Step 1
Before you start, breathe slowly in and out a few times to clear your head. Tape down your paper and make sure you cover an equal part on all sides of your paper with the tape. When you take off the tape in step 5, you’ll have a nice white frame around it. Also, add some diagonal lines of washi tape to your paper as shown in the picture above. This will make sure these parts are not covered with watercolor and will divide your page into different sections. This will make your pattern more playful. If this is not your cup of tea, you can skip this part and just cover your whole page with leopard spots. There is no right or wrong here, just do what feels good.
Step 2
Choose a color that makes you feel good or reflects your mood. Paint your whole page with this color.
Step 3
Let the paint dry. Choose a darker shade of the color you picked in step 2. Now it’s time to paint the spots. These spots are kind of weird-shaped blobs. Fill all your sections with these blobs. It will look better if the blobs are not all similar. So don’t think, just put these spots on your paper, there’s no need to be perfect.
Step 4
When your blobs are dry, it’s time to add the outlines of the leopard spots. Make sure you choose a color for the outline that is darker or more opaque. I used a really opaque gold color.
I don’t know if you’ve ever really looked at leopard spots in detail, but these spots do not have a perfect outline. Every spot is different and usually, they only have a partial outline. So there will be parts where there is no outline at all. To simulate this, make sure the outline is not connected. Just add part of the outline at the top part of your blob and part on the bottom side, but don’t connect them. Also, make sure the outlines are a little wobbly.
Step 5
When your paint is dry, slowly remove your washi tape. When you’re pulling, keep the washi tape parallel to the paper to prevent ripping.
Now you’re done with this mindful leopard spot pattern exercise. Well done!
If you liked this exercise, you might like my mindful leaf pattern drawing exercise as well.
