Ornate Calavera Mandala Coloring Page

Ornate Calavera Mandala Coloring Page is the last page in this collection and the fullest. A decorated skull sits at the centre of a radiating mandala, with tall feathers rising behind it and roses, daisies and leaves opening across the bottom of the ring.

How this coloring page was created

The concept we gave the generator was "A calavera centred in an ornate mandala of feathers, flowers and radiating fine patterns" into Colorin AI, in the zentangle style. It was drawn as the closing page of the set, which is why it carries every element used across the other forty nine: skull, feathers, roses, mandala.

The two arcs of small repeated shapes running behind the skull came back with the drawing. They separate the figure from the outer petals, and without them the page would have no depth at all.

What is in this calavera mandala coloring page

The skull at the centre wears a crown of small roses across the brow, with flower eyes ringed in dots, a heart nose and a row of narrow teeth beneath a scalloped line.

Two long feathers rise behind the head, and behind those the mandala opens into two rings of pointed petals reaching almost to the edges of the page.

Across the bottom, two open roses and two daisies fan out with layered leaves between them, closing the circle at its base.

Between the figure and the outer petals run two arcs of small repeated shapes, which act as a frame within the frame.

The whole page is symmetrical around a vertical axis, and the outer ring is scalloped so the circle has a soft edge rather than a hard one.

It is the most complete drawing in the set and the one that takes longest, which is why it was left until the end.

Coloring Ideas and Techniques

Treat it as a mandala, not as a portrait. Colour ring by ring from the outside in, and leave the skull for last.

Four colours across the whole page. On a drawing with this many elements, a fifth is the point where the composition stops holding.

The feathers should be paler than the petals behind them. Darker and they merge into the mandala and disappear.

Give the flowers at the bottom the strongest colour available. The circle needs weight at its base or the whole thing floats.

Leave the skull white with only the rose crown coloured. It is the centre of a very busy page and it should be the calmest thing on it.

The scalloped outer edge takes a light tone or none at all. It is the boundary of the drawing and it does not need to compete.

Allow two hours. This is the longest page in the collection, and it is the one worth framing when it is done.

Fifty pages is a full book, and this is the cover candidate. It carries every element the others use, which is exactly what a cover should do.

One printing note before you start: at 100 percent on Letter or A4 the outer scallops sit close to the paper edge. Choose actual size rather than fit to page or the printer will trim the ring.

If you have coloured your way through the whole set, this is the page where a limited palette pays off most. After forty nine sheets the temptation is to use everything left in the box, and it is the one thing this drawing cannot take.