How to draw a butterfly: 15 colorful options

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Simple cartoonish and incredibly realistic insects with pencils, felt-tip pens and paints.

How to draw a simple cartoon butterfly with felt-tip pens or pencils

What do you need

• Paper;
• a simple pencil or black felt-tip pen;
• colored pencils, felt-tip pens or markers.

How to draw a butterfly

1. Draw a circle. Inside, draw two small vertical ovals for the eyes. Draw a mouth under them - a curved line rounded downwards.

2. Draw two long rounded lines down from the head and connect them at the bottom.

3. Draw two horizontal lines inside the body, dividing it into three equal parts.

4. Above the head on the sides, add two vertical lines. Draw small circles around the edges of each of them.

5. From the middle of the head to the right, draw a line rounded to the right. Finish it at the level of the center of the torso. From it, draw another curved line and complete it at the bottom of the calf.

6. Draw the wings on the left in the same way.

7. Color the butterfly with crayons, felt-tip pens, markers, or something else.

How to draw a cartoon butterfly more difficult with felt-tip pens or pencils

What do you need

• Paper;
• a simple pencil or black felt-tip pen;
• colored markers, pencils or markers.

How to draw a butterfly

1. Draw a small circle, and on the right just above - another one. Draw two more small circles inside each. Draw a smooth horizontal line below them and paint over the space above it, leaving them white. Add two vertical lines below the lines.

2. Connect the eyes at the top with a smooth arc. Think about how this line would go behind the eyes, and mark in these places under the circles small strokes. Round them and connect them with a horizontal line. Draw an arched nose between the eyes.

3. Draw two smooth lines above the head. Make curls at the ends that look in different directions. Draw a thin torso under the head by drawing two lines tapering downward.

4. Inside the calf, draw four horizontal smooth lines at the same distance from each other. To the left of the beginning of the first (top), draw a rounded line and complete it at the level of the third, not reaching the body. Draw a similar wing at the bottom and finish it at the base of the fourth line on the body.

5. Form the wings on the right in the same way.

6. Draw additional interior paths along the borders of the wings on the left. From the middle of the upper wing, release a straight line and round it to both sides. To the left, draw a heart at an angle.

7. On the lower wing in the middle, add a long petal shape. Draw two arcs on the sides of it so that you get two more petals smaller. Draw a small circle under each.

8. In the same way, decorate the wings of the butterfly on the right. Draw lines along their borders. Release two petals at the top and three at the bottom. Draw a heart on the top wing and circles on the bottom.

9. If desired, add flowers and hearts around the butterfly, and a wavy dotted line from the body.

10. Color in the drawing with crayons, felt-tip pens, markers, or something else. Do not forget to mark pink cheeks under the eyes.

The author of the video paints the composition with felt-tip pens:

What other options are there

Here is another cute and not very complicated butterfly:

And one more cute insect:

The author of this video shows how easy it is to draw a butterfly from two criss-cross lines:

This option has a slightly more complex pattern than the previous ones:

Such a butterfly can also be colored with anything. The author decided to use paints and even add glitter:

How to draw a realistic butterfly with colored pencils

What do you need

• Paper;
• simple pencil;
• colour pencils;
• eraser.

How to draw a butterfly

1. With a simple pencil, use barely noticeable lines to outline the elongated thin body of the butterfly. On the sides of the upper part of the body, draw rounded lines up and continue them to the middle of the body so that you get oblong wings. Draw small lower semicircular wings below them.

With a black pencil, mark two small round eyes in place of the head. Circle the outlines of the calf, narrowing it just above the middle. Paint the bottom with black.

2. In the upper torso, under the head, draw a short horizontal line. Use the same black pencil to trace the upper and lower wings. Draw curved tendrils above the eyes, with bold dots at the ends.

3. Make thick lines at the base of the upper wing on the right and at the lower corners of both upper wings. Inside, from the middle of the upper body, release small smooth lines to the sides.

With a blue pencil, without going beyond these lines, partially paint over the upper wings so that they are darker at the base. Barely pressing on the pencil, draw in the same color the lower wings next to the butterfly's body.

4. With a turquoise or light blue pencil, continue to paint all the wings to about the middle. To ensure a smooth color transition, slightly overlap the previous shade and do not apply too much pressure.

5. With a red pencil, only slightly pressing on it, paint over a little more of the upper wing on the left. Capture more space at the top right of it than at the bottom. Details can be seen in the photo. Add red to the lower wings as well, but don't paint over them completely.

6. Erase the top corner of the top wing on the right and add a burgundy pencil line in place of the previous one. Paint over the wing with the same color, a little short of the edge. Add a burgundy layer on the left wing, leaving more space on the edge than on the other side. In the upper parts, make the color more saturated.

Paint over the lower wings completely with burgundy pencil, pushing harder against the torso.

7. Darken the corner of the upper wing on the left with purple. Pressing on the burgundy pencil, circle the left edge of this wing with it, draw a few circles at the top and paint over the rest of the space. On the wing on the right, add the same circles symmetrically and tint the unpainted edge, going to the previous color.

Make the burgundy layer on the lower wings bold. With this pencil, trace the lower border of the wing on the right.

8. With a blue pencil, trace again at the base of the upper wings, as well as along the burgundy color at the middle of the torso on the lower wings.

Paint over the top corner and the entire edge of the large wing on the left with purple, going into the previous shade with smooth lines. Paint the wing on the right the same way. The detailed process is shown in the video below. Use the same pencil to tint the side corners of the lower wings.

9. Brighten up the red layer at the top of the large wings. Add this color along the bottom edge of the small wings.

10. With black pencil, draw the bases of the upper wings near the head. Continue the lines outlined just below, making them curved. Connect them with short oblique lines to the edges of the wings. Add from the corners on the resulting shapes one more line to the sides, drawing them until they are purple.

11. From the beginning of the shapes drawn in the previous step, draw horizontal smooth lines to the edges of the wings. Darken the corners between them with black.

Select the lower borders of the large wings. Where they touch the small ones, make the lines thick. Circle the edges of the lower wings with the same black pencil.

12. In black, highlight the upper tips and side edges of the large wings, outlining the white circles. At the bottom, above the horizontal lines, add some slanted strokes.

Draw several horizontal small lines along the lower border of the small wings. Add some black dots below. Select the burgundy layer on all four wings.

13. Finally, draw black thin veins on all the wings and tint the spots on the sides of the bottom of the calf. Use gray and lilac pencils to add a shadow from the butterfly.

The detailed process is shown in this tutorial video:

What other options are there

Here the author draws a beautiful blue and black butterfly:

Here's a simpler black and green sample:

This video explains how to depict a black and yellow insect from the side:

How to draw a realistic butterfly with felt-tip pens and colored pencils

What do you need

• Paper;
• simple pencil;
• orange felt-tip pen;
• thin black felt-tip pen or pen;
• eraser;
• colour pencils.

How to draw a butterfly

1. With a simple pencil, lightly pressing on it, draw a straight, vertical line at an angle. From the middle to the right, draw another one up, and below it - a horizontal one. Connect them with smooth curved lines to form a wing.

On the left, draw another similar element. At the bottom right and left, paint in two smaller teardrop wings.

2. Between the wings add an elongated thin body, narrowed downwards. Draw two tendrils with bold tips on top.

Brighten the border of the wings. Draw thin lines along the upper wings from the inside. In the lower ones, also draw additional outlines at the borders.

3. In the upper part of the figure obtained on the wing on the right, draw two horizontal thin ovals. From the latter, draw a smooth line down to the body. Add a horizontal smooth stroke just above the bottom of the shape, and three more above it. Round off these lines from the right edge. Details are in the photo and in the video below.

4. Along the edges of the wing on the right, draw two rows of small circles. Repeat the same pattern on the element on the left, mirroring it.

5. On the lower wings from the body, extend down four lines, each of which is longer than the previous one, and round them. Draw some petal-shaped shapes around them. Details can be seen in the photo and video below.

6. Along the edges of the lower wings, as well as on the upper ones, draw small circles in two rows. Use an orange felt-tip pen to draw details on all four wings.

7. In the same color darken the bases of the large wings, approximately to the middle, and the lower edges of the small ones. With a thin black felt-tip pen or pen, trace the tips of the upper wings and paint over the space between the circles.

8. Draw the borders of the lower wings and the pattern on them, outlined earlier with a pencil. Paint in the spaces between the circles. Use the same color to highlight the pencil pattern on the upper wings.

9. Circle the body of the butterfly, paint the head and the bottom tip of the body. Add a few small circles under the head on the sides and draw a narrow long oval between them to the middle of the body.

At the top of the large wings, add a small slanted line. From the side of the head, just above the antennae, draw two horizontal flowing dynias on the inside on the wings. Place two small circles between and above them.

10. Carefully erase the pencil lines where they are visible. With a black pencil, shade the space between the circles from the previous step. Lightly touch up the corners of the patterns at the edges of the wings. Draw the center lines on the small wings and add two dark droplets at the bottom of them. Paint over the body of the insect.

If desired, add a shadow from the butterfly, as shown in the photo and in the video below.

11. With a red pencil, highlight the base of all the wings next to the torso. In yellow, go around the edges of the patterns on the wings.

The whole process is shown in accelerated mode in this video:

How to draw a realistic butterfly with paints

What do you need

• Paper;
• water;
• brushes;
• paints;
• palette.

How to draw a butterfly

1. Lightly dampen the paper. Draw a smooth line in light yellow. Draw another curved downward from it, as shown in the picture.

2. Connect them at the bottom and draw the tip of the wing on the right.

3. Draw another one down from the first line, rounding it to the left. Mark in yellow the patterned edge of the lower wing. Go along the left line with red paint and make the base of this wing more bold. Use a thin brush to paint on its edge with strokes.

4. Mix the red and yellow colors and paint the lower wing with wide strokes.

5. Draw a darker shade for the outline of the upper wing. Add more water to the paints on the palette and make a wide stroke along the upper border.

Use the same color to mark the small delta wing to the left of the top one. Then go over it with the same shade as for the outline of the large wing.

6. Add red strokes along the carved edge and in the middle of the upper wing. In burgundy color, paint on the left of the wings, in the middle, a small elongated body and head. With a thin brush with burgundy paint, go over the body again and add two straight tendrils on top.

7. Use the same thin brush to darken the edges of the front wings. With the first brush, paint reddish strokes on the bottom of the lower wing and the top of the larger wing. Draw a thin brush around the edges of the rear wing and paint it with red color.

8. To the right of the body, at the base of the wings, draw a few thin dark strokes. Paint the torso and head of the butterfly with an even darker burgundy color. Make the base of the hind wing light yellow.

9. Slightly lengthen the bottom lines from the torso and brighten the edge of the lower wing.

The whole process is shown in this video:

What other options are there

Incredibly beautiful blue butterfly:

And another blue-green butterfly in a completely different technique: