On Instagram, I asked if I should do a series of animal exercises. The answer I got was “Yes”. So this mindful sea turtle pattern exercise is the second in the series.
My son is a huge fan of Finding Nemo. One of his favorite scenes is the one where Marlin and Dory meet the sea turtles. So it was pretty clear to me that the next animal should be a sea turtle.
The shell of a turtle is so beautiful and consists of geometrical shapes, which, I recently discovered, are called scutes.
I thought it would be fun to fill these scutes with different patterns. I love drawing patterns, it’s so relaxing and because there are so many scutes you can experiment with a lot of different patterns.
The repetitive motion of drawing the same shape can be an almost meditative and mindful experience and help you focus on the task at hand.
Not only drawing patterns can be relaxing, but coloring as well. Focus on your marker or pencil slowly moving up and down and see your sea turtle come to life.
Please let me know if this mindful sea turtle pattern exercise helped you relax, I’d love to know.
You can find a small video of this exercise on my Instagram @thecreativecooldown
Supplies used:
Bristol paper (Hahnemüle), alcohol markers (Winsor & Newton), fineliner no. 1.0, 0.3, 0.1, 0.05 (Copic).
Alternative supply suggestions:
For this exercise, you can use a regular pen or a pencil to draw the sea turtle and its pattern as well. If you want to add color, use whatever you have, such as crayons, markers, watercolor. You can even use a pencil to color your sea turtle and just add various shades of grey.
Instructions
1. Draw a sea turtle. You can make it as complicated as you’d like. If you want to make it easy, just draw an oval and divide this into several geometric shapes. You can add simple feet and a head. However, you can also make it more detailed if that’s your thing. It may help to look up some images of sea turtles to get inspired and to know more about their shape.
2. Add color to your sea turtle. Choose whatever colors you like or fit your mood. Your colors do not need to match the colors of a real sea turtle. It’s your drawing so you are free to do what feels good. So if you want to make a rainbow-colored shell, please go for it.
3. Now it’s time to fill the scutes (geometric shapes) with patterns. You can find inspiration for patterns all around you. Maybe you want to recreate the pattern on your shirt or the pattern of your wallpaper. You can even get inspired by nature and draw the pattern of a tree trunk. Try to experiment as much as you like. You can even choose a shape and try to use that in every pattern in a different way. For example, you chose a circle and use that in every pattern, but you use small and big circles, overlapping circles filled with circles, circles filled with stripes, half circles, etc. When you’ve filled all the scutes, you have completed this mindful sea turtle pattern exercise!
If you liked this exercise, you might like my Mindful snake drawing exercise as well.
