Butterflies are wonderful and very beautiful creatures of our planet. They appear every summer and delight the eye. Today we will learn how to draw a butterfly with a pencil, and then color it. This lesson is suitable for children, adults, novice artists and, of course, experienced artists :)
There is nothing difficult in drawing this beautiful creature. The only difficulty you may encounter is with the symmetry of the wings. But it doesn't matter, the more you practice, the faster you will learn how to draw them correctly.
How to draw a butterfly step by step
Finally, it's time to draw our insect, draw our butterfly with a pencil!
Stage 1
The first step is the easiest step. We draw a straight line, the line must be straight. This is an auxiliary line and it indicates the length of the body and divides it in half.
Stage 2
The second step is a little more difficult than the first, but we are sure that you can still handle it. We draw the torso, divided into two parts. At the same time, the lower part of the body is slightly larger than the upper.
Also in this step we make a circle, which will be the head of our butterfly, and draw a long antennae. 
Stage 3
It's time for the wings. We will draw them in stages, first the upper part, and in the next step the lower one.
So, usually in butterflies, the upper wings are much larger than the lower ones and they grow, respectively, from the upper part of the body. In our case, they are triangular in shape and almost the same size as the bottom ones. If you don't like the triangular shape, then you can easily draw any other shape. 
Stage 4
Now we are working on the lower wings. They are rounded, large and strongly go beyond the line of the body, which we drew in the first step. In case you haven't noticed, the upper wings should extend beyond this line as well.
The most difficult thing about drawing a butterfly is to make symmetrical wings, of course, if you work on a computer, then it will not be difficult for you to achieve symmetry, but if you draw a butterfly with a pencil on paper, then you may have problems. Therefore, be patient and eraser :) 
Stage 5
Now comes the most enjoyable stage in drawing a butterfly. We are working on patterns on the wings! Patterns can be very diverse, namely round, linear, plain, multi-colored, etc.
So, we make the symmetry of the patterns on the right and left. 
stage 6
Patterns are not wings, they can be symmetrical or not symmetrical at all. Even if you want to draw a butterfly with completely different patterns on different wings, then this is quite normal. 
Stage 7
We complete the patterns on the upper wings. 
Stage 8
You already know a lot about the pattern, so try to come up with some kind of your own pattern for the lower wings. 
Stage 9
At the last stage, we color our butterfly and it is ready.
There are an infinite number of variations of drawing butterflies. Experiment with colors, shapes, patterns, sizes and you will get wonderful creations.
Another option for drawing a butterfly
Nature is a combination of different wonders and incredible beauty. Not only animals, but even small insects can be fascinating and unique. Yes, we are talking about beauties - butterflies. Many artists like to pay special attention to the depiction of nature, but everyone needs to learn how to depict her small, but such beautiful elements as well. Someone collects butterflies, someone photographs them, and we will show you how to draw a butterfly in stages.
What is needed for this:
- A simple pencil (preferably with hardness B);
- paper;
- eraser;
- black helium pen (or thin marker);
- colour pencils.
Consider drawing two butterflies at once, but you can choose to draw one.
Draw the outlines of the butterfly by pressing down on the pencil.
Now you need to specify the shape of the wings. Try to draw them symmetrically. An exception is drawing a butterfly with raised wings (an example is a butterfly on the left).
One of the crucial moments of drawing a butterfly with a pencil has come in stages: mark the patterns on the wings with a simple pencil. Take a black helium pen and draw or fill in the body with the antennae.
And now, with a black helium pen, paint over the outlines of the butterfly patterns, as shown in the picture. Try not to leave white gaps. If the question arises: why a helium pen or marker, then the answer is simple - the details will look more expressive and accurate, which is difficult for beginners to achieve with a black pencil.
The most enjoyable stage of work is coloring the wings of butterflies. Choose any color or follow our example and the drawing is ready!
Now you know how to draw a butterfly with a pencil step by step, but we offer you to watch and video how to draw a butterfly with watercolor, which you will find in our other article at the link: (link). Creative success!
Butterfly is a beautiful insect, the Russian name of which comes from the Old Slavonic “babаka”, which, translated into our modern language, means “old woman” or “grandmother”. So, beginner artists, let's start drawing this beauty!
Necessary materials:
- colored pencils in yellow, brown, orange and green;
- simple pencil;
- marker;
- ruler;
- eraser.
Stages of drawing a butterfly:
1. We will start this drawing with simple lines and geometric shapes. First, we need to draw a vertical line on a piece of paper.
4. From the horizontal line with a pencil, draw one arc to the sides, left and right.
5. To the ends of the arcs, we will draw one more from the body. In this way, we get the upper halves of the butterfly's wings.
6. Now let's draw the lower parts of the wings in the form of circles.
7. Draw a line through each section of the winglet, which will slightly go beyond the circle.
8. Draw the tips of the wings below, make them wavy.
9. The upper parts of the wings are changeable in shape. We make them necessarily symmetrical and without sharp corners. Everything should look gentle and beautiful!
10. We detail the body of the butterfly: draw the eyes in the form of tiny circles, the ends on the antennae, smooth out the shape.
11. At this stage, you should remove all unnecessary auxiliary areas and prepare the drawing for contouring and coloring. In these sketches, you can already recognize the future butterfly!
12. Next, with a marker, we begin to circle each wing and antennae, and also do not forget about the torso, where the head with eyes is located. In some places, you can make a beautiful thickening of the edges. This is very easy to do: just draw the marker on this area not once, but two or three times.
13. Then we begin to decorate the butterfly - in the middle of each wing, we apply patterns with a pencil at our discretion and desire. You can also leave them in this untouched form and simply paint them with bright colors.
14. If you prefer patterns, then they should be circled with a black marker or felt-tip pen.
15. Now we begin to paint the upper wings in yellow.
16. Let's add bright orange accents.
17. We paint the lower wings with green pencils.
18. Draw the torso and head with brown pencils.
Now we have a beautiful step-by-step drawing! We were able to draw a winged butterfly!
If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.
Drawing a butterfly is not difficult if you break the whole process into stages. The main difficulty lies in drawing symmetrical parts, but by following the instructions, you will cope with this task.
Take a sheet and place it horizontally. A4-A3 format, depending on the size of the butterfly you are going to draw. In the center we draw a vertical line - the axis. We retreat 2 cm from the upper edge and make a notch on the axis. We retreat 4 cm from the bottom edge and make another notch. Through the serifs on the axis we draw 2 lines parallel to the edge of the format. Now we need to determine the wingspan of our butterfly. To the left and right of the axis, on the top line, we retreat 10-12 cm and put a point. On the bottom line we take 3-4 cm less and put dots.
The size of the wings and the shape can be changed to your heart's content. The main thing is to understand the general construction of the butterfly and you will succeed.
We will start our drawing with the initial contours, namely the images of the body and head. Such initial contours will help to correctly depict the butterfly. Performing the first stage of the drawing, you should also draw a few lines, which in the future will become the wings of a butterfly.
2. Let's start drawing the wings and the head of the butterfly
You need to draw the antennae first, try to depict their edges with slight thickenings, so it will be clear that you are drawing a butterfly. Then you need to draw lines that will become the upper contours of the wings. After that, our task is to draw the lower fender liner. You also need to depict the upper part of the lower wings, we draw it rounded. Try to depict all these contours with great accuracy, because the initial markup will indicate the entire drawing.
3. We are engaged in drawing general contours
I would like to note that this is quite easy to do. You just need to connect the previously drawn lines, thus depicting the outline of the wings. No need to put pressure on the pencil with your hand, so drawing is easy.
4. Working on the silhouette of our butterfly wings
The next step is also easy to draw. In fact, the shape of the wings of a moth is "wrong", so there are no special rules for their implementation. These lines can be drawn arbitrarily, at your discretion, as you like. The main requirement is that the wings of a moth must be symmetrical.
5. Lines on the wings of a moth
Probably, you have noticed more than once that the wings of a moth are tender, sometimes it even seems that they are transparent. However, there are streaks inside the wings, it is them that we need to draw. These veins can also be drawn arbitrarily, but there should not be many of them. So step by step we got a charming butterfly, very similar to the real one. It is not difficult to complete this drawing if you follow the step-by-step instructions with accuracy. True, first you need to come up with patterns, and then apply them to the wings. For example, there are butterflies with patterns in the form of large eyes on their wings. With the help of these huge eyes, butterflies successfully defend themselves from various birds that want to feast on them.
6. Getting Started Drawing Patterns
If you have never used paint to draw, we recommend coloring the butterfly with colored pencils. You can also try shading the drawing using a simple pencil. As you have seen, drawing a butterfly is easy and simple. Of course, this is not without certain difficulties. For example, when drawing the rough surface of the wings, everyone had a little difficulty. To facilitate this task, you need to depict the surface of the wings with pencil strokes, directing them in one direction. Then you can try to rub the strokes made with your finger.
The variety of patterns depicted on the wings of a moth is very large, so you can use those that are best for drawing. In addition, you can invent patterns yourself. I would like to note that almost all garden butterflies have a black stroke on their wings, but the cabbage butterfly has lines with circles that are not observed in other butterflies.
