Butterfly Pencil Drawings

When you do these butterfly pencil drawings, you are recording your own observation of this magnificent little creature.

This is a drawing of a Common Sulphur Butterfly.

I think it's pretty even though it is labeled as common.

Drawings communicate your ideas and your interpretation of nature.

We (as artists) make it easy for people to understand the beauty of the butterfly, not by words, but by illustration.

Even a butterfly outline can be a pretty drawing.

Features Of The Butterfly

Here's what to look for when you do your next butterfly sketch.

I enlarged this butterfly outline so you can clearly see every feature of the butterfly that I describe below.

A butterfly ranges in size from one eighth of an inch to about twelve inches.

The butterfly has a tongue which is like a long tube. It is rolled up when not in use.

The butterfly uses its tongue (called a proboscis) to suck up flower nectar and water for nourishment. You can see it in the outline above, just under his eye.

All butterflies have 4 wings. Two at the front and 2 smaller wings at the back.

There are 3 main parts to the body:

•  head
•  thorax
•  abdomen

There are 2 antennae on the head.

The 6 legs grow from the thorax. It may look like there are only four legs but the 2 legs at the front are tiny.

The abdomen is hidden by the hind wings.

Use Your Pencil To Measure

Those little bits of information should help you draw the butterfly properly.

Here I drew the Monarch Butterfly.

It doesn't have the same impact without the distinct orange coloring.

With these butterfly pencil drawings, I used my pencil to gauge the width of each wing.

So, with the tip of the lead on the body, I put my finger on the pencil to the edge of one wing. Then, I moved the pencil across to see if it was approximately the same size.

Also, you can check your butterfly outline in the mirror to see if it is lop-sided. It's better to find out when you have only done the outline and not the full sketch.

This is a drawing of a Black Swallowtail Butterfly.

The easiest butterfly sketch to do would be the side-on view. Most of us like to see both wings though.

It's just more beautiful.

It is an interesting exercise, doing butterfly pencil drawings, because you need to concentrate on getting the two sides to be in proportion with each other.

Have faith, it gets easier with more practice.