How to Draw Flames & Fire
The bright light and flickering instability of fire can provide a natural drama to a drawing. But fire doesn't have the structure of a solid, or even the relative form of a liquid or gas; it's intangible and therefore difficult to get just right. Try to pass it off with a few orange and yellow squiggly lines and that inferno will look like a child's drawing. People have expectations regarding some of the features of fire, and keeping them in mind will help your next depiction look convincing.
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Instructions
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1
Determine the direction wind might be coming from in the picture. Even in a relatively still room, minute changes in the air affect the motion of an open flame. Sketch thin lines marking the direction of shifts in the air as a reference for yourself.
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2
Draw a source of the flame, whether it's kindling, a burning house or a pool of gasoline. Draw the exterior lines of the flame coming up from the source as squiggly-smooth "S" lines, wide apart at the bottom and coming closer together at the top. Calm flames will have only a single point at top and aggressive flames will have many flaying points at their top.
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3
Draw one or two interior layers of flame within the exterior lines in a similar manner as the exterior lines were drawn.
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4
Color the part of the flame close to the source blue. Progress to orange and then yellow.
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Tips & Warnings
If there are other objects in the drawing that could be lit by the fire, you can simulate light being cast by creating an area of relatively extreme darkness toward the edge of the drawing.
References
- Photo Credit fire image by Fotocie from Fotolia.com
