How to Draw a Monarch Butterfly Realistically: Step-by-Step Tutorial

The monarch butterfly is also very beautiful. It is called the world's best-looking butterfly. Every year when winter comes, it will fly thousands of kilometers from North America to the warm south Mexico for winter. This habit is also unique among insects. Therefore, the monarch butterfly is also known as the most famous butterfly in the world.

Today, we will learn how to draw a beautiful monarch butterfly on XPPen Artist 15.6 Pro.

How to draw a monarch butterfly video tutorial

How to draw a monarch butterfly realistic step 1: Sketch (Body)

First, make a rough composition of the monarch butterfly to be drawn. Divide it into three sections, the head, the thorax and the tail to understand it, and roughly understand the structure and orientation of the main body of the butterfly. Like this, use simple geometric shapes to outline the body of the butterfly.

How to draw a monarch butterfly realistic step 2: Line drawing (antennae, mouth, limbs)

Next, we need to add some details to the body, such as drawing antennae, mouth and limbs, like what I drew, two one two two. Here is the angle of the back, so pay attention to the right part will be blocked by the body. Now it looks like a body shape.

How to draw a monarch butterfly realistic step 3: Line drawing (left wing)

The most important feature of the butterfly is of course its beautiful and attractive wings. First, we use the appropriate proportions to grow from the upper and lower wings of the left thorax, and use the lower wing to block the upper wing, reflecting the front and back hierarchical spatial relationship.

How to draw a monarch butterfly realistic step 4: Line drawing (right wing)

Then, draw the right wing of the butterfly in turn, and block it in the same way, but you need to pay attention to the upper wing blocking the lower wing on the right side.

How to draw a monarch butterfly realistic step 5: Line drawing (details)

Next, we need to add more details to the wings of this butterfly to make it look more beautiful and vivid. At this time, pay attention to the shape and distribution of the patterns on the wings of the monarch butterfly, and draw along the direction of the wings. Like me, add more textures and patterns to make the wings more layered!

How to draw a monarch butterfly realistic step 6: Coloring

The following is the most important coloring link. A drawing with color is like having life. We first create a new blank layer under the line drawing layer, fill the background color, fill the butterfly with black along the traced line.

How to draw a monarch butterfly realistic step 7: Coloring

Of course, details determine success or failure. After filling the main color, we can add some elements to the details, such as adding some white spots on the butterfly body and wings to make the butterfly look more three-dimensional and the color more recognizable.

How to draw a monarch butterfly realistic step 8: Enhancement

In order to make our monarch butterfly cooler, we can add a color filter layer to the right wing of the butterfly to increase the brightness and open the layering, and make the left wing gradient to increase the volume and make the left and right contrast stronger. 

Finally, fill the wings with orange, It feels like the butterfly is about to fly out of the screen.