Madhubani, also known as Mithila, is a centuries old art tradition which inspires many. Nowadays, Madhubani art is accompanied with eco-friendly designs and contemporary themes. Madhubani art traditionally has natural colors, extremely symmetrical and geometric patterns and you can recognize it with its bold outlines. There are some easy methods with which you can make it at home. It is a living ritual which is connected to tribes in Bihar. There is no leftover space, it is completely filled with designing. The painters originally painted with the help of twigs from plants. Sometimes you would be able to see repeated patterns.
Materials that you Need
If you are making a Madhubani painting for the first time, you do not need to buy extremely expensive materials. At first, you need a base like handmade paper or a cartridge sheet as you would require a canvas to paint on. Moreover, if you do not have either of these things, the cover of a handmade notebook could be used. Also you would require certain outlining tools like a black marker or black acrylic paints bottle with a brush that has a fine tip or markers that are waterproof in nature. You need acrylic colors, water colors or colored sketch pens. For creating the initial outlines, you need a pencil and an eraser. You also need round brushes from size zero to two and rulers, compass, stencil for geometric symmetry.
Step One
Firstly, you need to choose a theme. If you are just beginning, you should not choose something too complicated. You can paint a pair of Fish in concentric circles. You can paint a peacock that is surrounded by floral motifs. Other ideas include painting a village wedding scene Or Goddess Lakshmi or Goddess Saraswati or the sun with similar, radiating patterns.
Step Two
You must draw a basic outline of your theme. First, please draw the central figure with a light hand using a pencil. Remember that a Madhubani painting has no empty spaces. Thereby, very lightly draw the secondary figures like flowers, vines, trees and plants. If you still have any space left, fill it by geometric shapes like vines, dots and circles. Please note that borders are an extremely significant part of your canvas. You can add circles, triangles or diamond shapes in a singular line. Repeat this four times on the canvas. This will enhance the artistic appeal and add geometrical symmetry to Your painting.
Step Three
Go over the primary pencil sketch of your painting with either a black waterproof marker or a fine brush with black acrylic paint. Make sure that the outlines are bold, consistent And steady. You can try adding little extra details like dots in the flowers or lines inside the leaves or you can try drawing crosses Inside clothing. This will add some extra impact on your painting and give it a greater stylised look. Then you should fill in the colors. Make sure that the colors are bright and flat. Do not do any shading, keep the tones of the paint smooth. You can also add colors in the background like waves and parallel lines.
After that, you should let the painting dry absolutely and you should outline in black so that it looks very sharp. If you are painting on handmade paper, you should also frame it so that you may preserve it for a long time.
In conclusion, please remember to be patient with your art because every great artist was once a beginner. The more you practice patterns, the better you will get at it. Having faith in yourself is a must.
Author
Shreeja Mukherjee