Step 3 Use your black pastel to begin drawing the shapes you observe along the terminator the corners of the pastel are good for this. Accurately position light marks for at least three craters in different areas.
Use a dark grey pastel to add approximate shapes for the lunar maria and a white pastel for the highlands. If your sketching window is short, make the outline using a side plate or CD. Use a dinner plate to outline the limb with white Conté crayon. Step 1 Always try to maximise your time by targeting the rising Moon.
MOON SKETCH HOW TO
Step-by-step How to draw the Moon, step 1. This is aided by the fact that the same side of the Moon always faces us, so we never see the far side of the Moon from Earth. In doing so your familiarity with our Moon will become permanent knowledge as you develop your skills as an astronomer. Over time you will build up a collection of lunar drawings. Mountains like Mons Pico appear as pointed bright lights against the grey lunar surface. Plato, a crater in Mare Imbrium, can have shadows cast into it by the Sun that look like flames.
MOON SKETCH FULL
Use an erecting prism to keep things upright.Ī dinner or side plate circle is a good size for full phases, though a scope also allows you to zoom in on craters.Īs the phase of the Moon changes, it can give features different appearances. Introducing a small scope increases the detail once more. This medium allows for blending and the creation of depth, which looks great when your targets are lunar craters and mountains.ĭraw the larger features first and then add additional craters in different areas. Using pastels requires black card, black and white soft pastels and as many greys as you can find. You may wish to continue using pencils or you could try venturing into pastels. As your binoculars will show you more detail you can increase the size of your drawing circle to 120mm. It is then that the contrast between dramatic whites and the black shadows is profound.įor this you will need a pair of binoculars that can be screwed into a tripod as they need to be absolutely steady.Ī pair of 10x50s is ideal for beginners. Rays and other detail on the surface look more stunning when they are located along the terminator. You should be able to see crater rays, caused by explosive impacts on the Moon, kicking up long plumes of dust across the lunar surface.Īn eraser can help with the addition of rays by removing pencil in dramatic flicks. With binoculars, the detail you encounter will increase dramatically.
Credit: Deirdre Kelleghan Observing the Moon through an eyepiece A lunar location sketch drawn from looking through a small telescope, Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. To simulate the effect when drawing earthshine the trick is to remove some pencil markings with an eraser. It causes a faint illumination of the unlit lunar surface to the eye its features show up faintly. If the Moon is a few days before or after a new phase you may see the phenomenon of earthshine – where light is reflected from the Earth back onto the Moon’s unlit section. The terminator then takes up a position around the circumference (limb).Īt this point the far side is in total darkness and the near side is in full sunlight. When it’s waxing away from new Moon the terminator offers a north to south curved line, becoming less curved as it hits a dead straight position at first quarter Moon.Īfter that the curve becomes more pronounced as the terminator moves towards full Moon. Naked eye drawing can tell you a lot about the Moon. Credit: Deirdre Kelleghan Drawing the Moon with the naked eye A binocular dust cap will serve as a template.Always draw the Moon as a full circle, even if the lunar phase means only part of it is showing. When you start your drawing, use a 50mm circle to help you. Your drawings don’t have to be perfect, the point is to learn while having fun making them. Use a Moon atlas to help label the craters and maria you’ll soon learn their names and your way around the lunar surface. Notate each sketch with the date, time in UT, the kit used and Moon phase. Observe the Moon before you begin, paying attention to dark area shapes (the lunar Maria) and the bright areas (the highlands).įor more on lunar observing, reading Patrick Moore's guide to observing the Moonor find out why the Moon sometimes appears during the day.Īnd if sketching the Moon isn't your thing, read our guide on how to photograph the Moon.Ĭlosely observe the shape made by the terminator (the line that separates the lunar night and day).You’ll find that getting the shape of that line correct is a crucial part of lunar sketching. All you need is a clear night, a clipboard, paper and pencils – I would suggest a soft 2B pencil and a hard 2H pencil. Are you new to observing the Moon? If so, sketching our natural satellite will help you find your way around.
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