Drawing Fire and Flames

First sketch the basic shapes - the candle, the wick, and the main parts of the flame. Use the lightest touch you can, so that you don't press a line into the paper. I've darkened this drawing so that you can see it on screen. Then use an eraser to lift off as much graphite as possible, leaving only the faintest hint as a guide. For a really clean drawing, you might want to sketch the light areas of the flame with a light yellow colored pencil, so that you use no graphite at all in that section of the drawing.

Once you've worked out the basic drawing, add the bright yellows. I've started off with drawing these quite lightly, again darkening the image for on-screen viewing.