Artist Frodo Álvarez creates giant sky painting using only five drones

The big picture: When you think of art mediums, some of the first that come to mind would be oil, clay, or maybe watercolor. One of the last things one would think of as a physical art medium would be drones. However, one artist recently used drones to paint a gigantic neon picture in the sky.

Intel’s drone light shows are a sight to behold. Images are drawn and animated in real-time with anywhere from 200 to 1,000 lighted quadcopters. They have performed at the Super Bowl, CES, and other events. Last year, Walmart commissioned the show for a touring holiday light festival.

While Frodo Álvarez’s light paintings may not be as spectacular as watching drones animate in real-time, the process of his latest work is nonetheless interesting (below). Álvarez, who runs a professional light painting service called Children of Darklight, recently painted a massive soccer player in the sky with the help of a Madrid-based drone light show service…