How To Draw a Butterfly: Step by Step Guide

Easy step by step guide on how to draw a beautiful butterfly. This guide will help you to improve your drawing skills, just give yourself time to practice and follow the tutorial.

About Butterflies

Butterflies are insects but beautiful, unique and amazing ones. They have beautiful colors and unique designed wings and are in different sizes and shapes.

The life cycle of a butterly is made by four steps: egg, larva (or caterpillar), chrysalis and adult. Eggs are laid by female butterflies on the stems or the leaves of plants and hatch into a caterpillar. After some time spent in eating leaves and grass, the caterpillar turns into a chrysalis. In this stage, that can last weeks or months, it changes to become a beautiful and magnificent adult butterfly. The life cycle of butterfly from being an ugly caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly is really fascinating!

What is the most important role of butterflies to humanity? They pollinate plants. Butterflies are attracted by flowers. If you have a garden full of flowers from trees or a plants, you will surely see butterflies. Butterflies fly from flower to flower for drinking the sweet nectar using their long tong, called proboscis. Going from one flower to another they bring with them the pollen that remains attached to their bodies, exactly like bees do. Pollen carried to another flower will let plants to produce fruits and seeds Thanks to this beautiful creature, people can enjoy eating fresh fruits and vegetables and looking and smelling the scent of fresh flowers.

Down below you can follow an easy step by step tutorial on how to draw a butterfly. At the end of the tutorial you can download a printable PDF file for you to have a hard copy reference to practice your skills. Things you need before you start the tutorial are pencil, eraser, ruler and bond paper or white paper. Be sure to do this on your desk or table on where you are comfortable. If you like to put color after you complete the drawing, you can use sign pen, watercolor, crayon and coloring pen.

And so, let’s start…

Step 1: Draw Middle Line

On your white paper, use a ruler to draw a vertical broken line as your guide for the next steps. The broken line should be drawn in the middle of your white paper. Use only pencil so that it is easy to erase it when you finish the whole drawing.

Step 2: Draw Body Left Side and Antenna

Draw the half head, body and antenna of the butterfly on the left side of the broken line. Start drawing the head down to the body, then draw the antenna on the top of the head.

Step 3: Draw Left Wing Outer Line

Draw the first layer of the wing. Start from the top of the body going down.

Step 4: Draw Left Wing Border

Draw the second layer of the wing. Start from the top of the body going down.

Step 5: Draw Left Wing Inner Spot

Draw the inner layer of the wing, starting from top to down. This is the last step for the left side of the butterfly.

Step 6: Draw Right Body Side and Antenna

You already finished the left side of the butterfly. Now, start to draw the right side, from the head to the body, then the antenna. You should mirror what drew on the left side.

Step 7: Draw Right Wing Outer Line

Draw the first layer of the wing on the right side, always mirroring the left side.

Step 8: Draw Right Wing Border

Draw the second layer of the wing, mirroring the left line.

Step 9: Draw Right Wing Inner Spot

Finally draw the inner layer of the wing.

Final Step: Trace Your Drawing

Here is the complete drawing of the butterfly. You made it! If you are not satisfied with your result, you can go back to step 1 and practice again. Do not stop practicing… You can download the PDF file below.

Adding Some Color to Your Butterfly Drawing

If you want to put color on your work, here is our sample colored butterfly. You may choose your preferred colors, make it more bright and colorful. Let your imagination fly!