How to Draw a Butterfly [FREE TUTORIAL]

One of the most popular how-to-draw subjects is “how to draw a butterfly”. In this tutorial, I will teach how to draw a butterfly using my very practical and easy-to-learn drawing system.

What you’ll learn:

Learn how to draw a butterfly
How to plan a drawing using dots
Line drawing techniques

What you need:

Pencil – 2B softness works best
Blank paper – Doesn’t need to be fancy

Step 1: Plan your drawing like an architect

Planning a drawing the right way will put you in an good starting position. By establishing the height and width of your butterfly first, (using dots, of course), you will have an easier time drawing your butterfly.

Step 2: Create Your Blueprint

Next, consider the outline of the butterfly. Use dots to create a foundation or blueprint to help guide you on your next step in drawing a butterfly.

Step 3: Build on top of your foundation

Now that the planning stage is complete, it’s time to draw a butterfly! You don’t have to trace the dots you created in our blueprint verbatim. Use this as an opportunity to actively edit your drawing, instead. Now you can draw more accurate lines now that the foundation is there to guide you. After that, use your eraser to clean up all the extra marks you don’t need.

Step 4: Include the finer details

Once you’re happy with the way your line drawing came out, begin adding texture by using smaller marks in a consistent pattern. This is very free-form, so just have fun with it!

Step 5: Add observational notes (optional)

This step is explained more in my Nature Journaling workshop. The goal is to add more informational value to your drawing by injecting real scientific data based on your direct observations. This includes date, location, measurements, etc.

How to Draw a Butterfly Video Tutorial

It’s time to draw along with this video tutorial. By the time you’re finished you will have learned how to draw a butterfly!

Play Video

Now you know how to draw a butterfly using the Hike And Draw method! If you found this helpful, consider sharing this article with a friend, or even better – show them what you’ve learned by teaching them yourself 🙂