Sun Mandala Coloring Pages
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The sun is the oldest mandala there is, every culture that drew it settled on a circle with rays, which is the mandala structure exactly. These 15 sun mandala coloring pages cover that history and then some, from an Aztec-inspired calendar stone to a compass rose and a sun-and-moon yin yang. Each downloads as a free printable PDF sized for US Letter paper.
Simple sheets keep the ray count low and the shapes bold. Radiant Sun Mandala With Detailed Layered Rays, Sun Mandala With a Serene Celestial Face and Sun Mandala With Moon and Stars Cosmic Pattern are the easiest. Detailed sheets pack in fine repeat work: Aztec-Inspired Sun Calendar Mandala and Sun Mandala With Intricate Compass Rose Design are the densest here.
A sun mandala is one of the few designs that genuinely rewards a limited palette. Four colors, deep red, orange, gold, pale yellow, laid from the outer rays inward to the center produce a glow that a full rainbow cannot. If you want something less literal, the sun-and-moon designs invite a split: warm on one half, cool on the other, meeting at the center line.
The middle of the set is where the ray shapes change, and the ray shape is what should decide the palette. Sun Mandala With Fire and Flame Ray Elements and Tribal Sun Mandala With Bold Geometric Rays both want the hot four-color treatment. Art Deco Sun Mandala With Elegant Design is the exception, since deco palettes run to black, cream and a single metallic, and it looks better restrained. Sun Mandala With Bird Silhouettes Woven Into Rays and Sunrise Mandala With Mountain Silhouette Background both keep part of the design dark, which is the easiest way to make the rest of it look bright. Simple Sun Mandala With Petal-Shaped Rays is the gentlest entry point.
More in this direction: Geometric Mandalas, Zen and Spiritual and Outer Space.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make a sun look like it is glowing?
Work from the outside in with a warm palette: deep red at the outer tips of the rays, then orange, then gold, then the palest yellow at the center, keeping the transitions smooth. The eye reads increasing lightness toward the middle as emitted light. Reversing it, dark center, light edges, makes the same drawing look like a hole.
What is the Aztec sun stone?
A carved basalt monolith, nearly 12 feet across, unearthed in Mexico City in 1790 and now in the National Museum of Anthropology. It carries a central face surrounded by rings of day signs and cosmological symbols. The design in this set is inspired by it rather than a reproduction, but the ring structure follows the original.
What colors go with a sun and moon design?
Split the palette. Give the sun half warm gold, amber and orange, and the moon half cool silver, blue-gray and deep indigo, letting them meet cleanly at the dividing line. The contrast is the point of the design, so mixing warm and cool across both halves weakens it.
Are these suitable for children?
The simple designs are. The radiant sun, the smiling sun with floral accents and the tribal sun all use bold rays and few internal divisions, which works from about age six. The Aztec calendar and the compass rose are adult-level projects.