Butterfly drawing

With bright colors, delicate wings, and whimsical movements, butterflies capture the imagination. In both detailed naturalist drawings and bright and bold Lisa Frank stickers, butterflies are everywhere. “But typically, simple ‘clip art’ butterflies are not what butterflies actually look like. That’s what they look like when pinned to a board,” explains illustrator Kevin Jay Stanton. There’s more to the recognizable butterfly shape than two big wings. They can be a challenge to draw, but with reference photos and the right tools, you can transform simple curved lines into dynamic butterfly wings. Before you jump in and draw a butterfly, you have to understand what they look like. “Analyzing your reference photo is going to be your number one job with any kind of naturalist illustration,” explains illustrator and comic artist Jonathan Case. “Any time you’re drawing an animal that you’re not familiar with, you really need to understand the geometry of that creature.” But not all butterflies look the same. Whether you sketch the simple Cabbage White butterfly, the whimsical Great Windmill butterfly, or the iconic Monarch butterfly, every species has its own markings, colors, and shapes to consider. Take time to do some research before you sketch. Explore different species and images of that species to use as reference photos. Plan your drawing. This is the time to think about the composition of your drawing and consider the angle you’ll want to take on the butterfly. Will you...

Butterflies are a wonderful drawing subject—their wings have a certain pattern that can be reduced to a few rules. Once you know the rules, you can draw a realistic-looking butterfly without any special drawing skills. In this tutorial, I'll show you how to draw a detailed butterfly step by step, right from scratch. We'll create a monarch butterfly, but you can also modify my method to draw any other butterfly! What You'll Learn in This Realistic Butterfly Drawing Tutorial • How to draw the body of a butterfly • How to draw butterfly wings • How to draw the cells of butterfly wings • How to draw patterns on butterfly wings 1. How to Draw the Body of a Butterfly Step 1 Let's start this butterfly detailed drawing tutorial with a realistic butterfly outline. Sketch a vertical oval for the torso. Step 2 Cross the torso in half with a vertical line. This will be the length of the body. Step 3 Draw a longer oval below; this will be the abdomen. Step 4 Connect the abdomen to the torso with a slim waist. Step 5 Draw a circle on top of the body—this will be the head. Step 6 Add two ovals on the sides of the head. Step 7 Add two tiny ovals on the front of the head. These will be the short, furry antennae called palpi. Step 8 Draw a pair of curves for the big antennae. Step 9 End each antenna with tiny "beans." Step 10 You can now outline the body and add all the necessary details. The torso is fluffy, and the abdomen is segmented. 2. How to Draw Butterfly Wings Step 1 Learning how t...

Butterflies are beautiful, fascinating insects. Drawing butterflies can be intimidating because of their colorful, complex wings and segmented bodies. Fortunately, drawing a butterfly doesn’t have to be that hard if you break it down into smaller, easier steps. Whether you’re looking to draw a cartoon butterfly or a realistic butterfly, the key is to focus on one part of the butterfly’s body at a time. Draw 2 curved lines coming off the top of the head with a swirl at each end for the antennae. Make the line on the left side of the head curve out to the left, and make the line on the right side of the head curve out to the right. Draw each line about 1 ½ times as long as the head is tall. X Research source • You can make the antennae symmetrical, or you can have one antenna curve down more than the other! Draw 3 short lines coming off each side of the body for the legs. On each side, draw a line coming off near the top, middle, and bottom of the body. Angle the top legs slightly up, and angle the bottom legs slightly down. Make each line about the same length as the width of the eyes. X Research source Color in your butterfly. You can use any colors you want. Choose bright colors, like purple, pink, blue, and green if you want your cartoon butterfly to really pop. Color the body and head using the same color. Then, choose a different color for the wings. Use a third color to fill in the circles on the wings, or use the same color you chose for the body and head. X R...

Learning how to draw a butterfly easily, will bring you loads of joy as you create beautiful designs and use colors and patterns to make your artwork come alive. Learn how to make a butterfly drawing step by step and use your own creativity to make each butterfly unique. Be sure to check out all the wonderful Butterfly Drawing If your favorite part of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” was the beautiful butterfly at the end, this realistic butterfly drawing lesson is for you! Supplies Needed For Easy Butterfly Drawing For this activity, you will need a few simple supplies • ruler • paper • pencils • colored pencils (optional) • markers (optional) How To Draw a Butterfly Easy In this step by step guide you will learn how to draw a simple butterfly using pencils and paper. This drawing tutorial is great for beginners because it doesn’t require any specialized equipment. This butterfly sketch is made beautiful with the detailed butterfly wings drawing. Get your pencils ready, let’s start with a butterfly outline! Just follow these easy steps. • Draw a vertical slanted or diagonal line with a ruler. This is the body of the butterfly. • About 2/3 down from the top of the vertical line, draw a curved line from the left of the middle line and a curved line from the right of the middle line to make the top part of the upper wings. • About ½ way down from the top of the vertical line, draw another curved line from the left and a curved line to the right like you did for the top edge of ...