How to Draw a Supercell Thunderstorm
The excitement, fury and danger are overwhelming when a supercell thunderstorm prompts a severe weather warning in the area. These storms can bring flooding rains, deadly lightning, hail, wind and even tornados. Although each storm is different, they all have the same basic features and similar structure. With a photo, or even an actual storm to guide you, you can draw one of these powerful monstrosities. Add them to a landscape drawing or even make your own series of artwork, depicting some of nature’s most powerful beasts.
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Instructions
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Find a basic diagram, photograph, or if you are bold and far away enough, an actual live storm. Gather your materials to begin your drawing.
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Draw a horizontal line close to the bottom of the page. A ruler would be useful here, or you can make the line slightly wavy to represent gently rolling hills.
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Draw another line not far above the horizon line. This is the base of the storm. From the left, draw another line below that, but start closer on the left and move it further away slightly as you go, but level off not far from the edge. This is to add depth to the storm.
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Draw a mountain-like feature above the storm base lines, about a quarter of the way up the page, then drop it back down again. Don’t go all the way to the bottom. This is the flanking line.
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Angle the line up again and then more sharply, alternating with larger and smaller curves. This should generally tilt at a slight angle away from the flanking line. A third to half way down from the top, start a large oval and bring it around the top of the drawing to start the anvil. Still leave some room above it for the overshooting top.
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Draw a series of wavy lines going up along the cloud to add depth. Add curved lines that parallel the anvil on its bottom. These could be striations or rolling features. Draw a series of mountain-like cloud features for the overshooting top, midway across the anvil.
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Draw a semi-conical shape that extends halfway to the ground below where the storm angles up sharply, at the base of the storm. This is the wall cloud. Make the tornado by drawing close parallel lines that extend to the ground from the wall cloud.
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Shade in the base of the storm. Shade even darker for the wall cloud and tornado. Draw a couple of darker lines surrounding the wall cloud to indicate striations that form from the twisting motion in the cloud.
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Draw curvy lines to the right of the wall cloud, but that don’t go as far down to the ground. Shade these in. With lighter shading, sketch in lines and pencil shading between the shelf cloud and the ground to represent precipitation.
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Draw in some more details. You can shade in darkly on the ground near the tornado to make debris, or add jagged lines for lightning. If you want to get even more creative, sketch in small houses and barns, or even roads.
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Tips & Warnings
This is one way to draw a supercell. Feel free to use these steps as a guideline if the photo or storm is slightly different, or be creative if you want.
If you must draw outside, be cautious of how far away the storm is and how close lightning may be. Lightning is very dangerous and can kill you.
Never venture outside if a tornado is near. Seek shelter immediately.
