Fireworks displays are visually stunning and colorful events. Fireworks delight viewers of all ages and the images may last in their memories for years. Realistically capturing the look and feel of a fireworks display with a drawing can be difficult. The contrast between night sky and vivid explosions are difficult to convey, but if you’re looking to draw the essence of a fireworks display, a stripped-down version is fairly easy to represent.
Things You'll Need:
- Colored Pencils Or Markers
- Black Construction Paper
Use a dark background for your fireworks drawing to simulate the night sky and to highlight the many colors used in your work.
Choose an area just off the central point of your sheet to place the first firework burst, then choose the main color for your firework, purple for example. Make a single small dot on the paper to define the center point of your firework burst. Mark arcing lines from this center point outward about two inches arcing to the left around half of the point’s radius then to the right for the other half. Curve the arcs noticeably, but keep the curves gentle without too much or a change in radius form start to end. For some of the arcing rays, break them in two. These arcs represent the colored explosions of the firework.
Switch to a complementary but lighter shade of the main color used and go over the ends of each arc, covering about a quarter to a half of the arc in the lighter color to highlight the arcs. Color the outer halves of the split rays and the center dot with the lighter color as well.
Switch to an entirely different color than the first used, red for instance, and repeat the process with the firework burst. Place the arcs from the center dot, mostly between existing arcs, but with some overlapping as well. Do not place a new center dot. Repeat the highlighting with a lighter color, except use the highlight as a series of dashes along the ends to simulate the falling sparks from the burst. Also, place small half-sized arcs from the central point using the second highlight color as well.
Draw additional bursts following the same pattern near the first to show an active multiburst display. Use different colors to add variety to your displays and vary the size of the bursts to simulate the idea that the fireworks explosions are at different stages in development. Use more of the dashed highlights on larger firework bursts, and fewer colors on smaller. Overlap the edges of bursts slightly to help blend the bursts together as a coherent display.
References
Resources
Writer Bio
Larry Simmons is a freelance writer and expert in the fusion of computer technology and business. He has a B.S. in economics, an M.S. in information systems, an M.S. in communications technology, as well as significant work towards an M.B.A. in finance. He's published several hundred articles with Demand Studios.
Related Articles
